[78-L] Damage Control on Acoustic 78s? - PART II

[David Lennick]

lotsastuff at iinet.net.au wrote:
> On Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:39:02 -0500
> David Lennick <dlennick at sympatico.ca> wrote:
> 
>> Mistracking is something best described as "you'll know it when you hear it". 
>> If you hear surface noise or groove noise that's inconsistent or swishy, 
> 
> 
> "Swishy"  is such an accurate term - pure onomatopoeia.  Easily recognisable when you hear it.
> 
> Another more subtle type of mistracking can be heard as simply distortion, especially at higher frequencies, or during loud passages.  Hard to tell, because sometimes it's just a poor recording in the first place, or damaged grooves.
> 
Also known as break-up. This may be due to worn grooves or overmodulation, and 
it may be more noticeable on one side of the groove than the other if you're 
using a stereo cartridge (I assume you are) and summing the two channels. By 
the way, a couple of years ago I found that many early mono Mercury Living 
Presence LPs played much better with a 1-mil stylus than a .7 mil. Breakup was 
the worst problem presented and this often disappeared with a 1-mil tip.

dl

> 
>> that 
>> is mistracking. I don't know the cartridge you're using, but a 3 mil stylus 
>> should be okay. Some prefer 2.5 mil, some like 3.2..depending on personal taste 
>> and experience. The stylus should indicate the optimum tracking force it's 
>> designed for. Don't forget, acoustical records and most records made before 
>> 1940 were designed for very heavy tracking forces and unless they were played 
>> repeatedly with dull steel needles, they've survived very nicely. If they're 
>> worn, tracking at a heavier weight will do no harm and probably get more sound 
>> and less noise, but many modern styli cave in at heavy forces and you'll hear 
>> noise from the stylus base touching the shellac. 
> 
> Glad to hear you mention this. I was wondering about it myself. The Stanton is specified at 2 - 5 grams, and I run it at 5 most of the time, but have found it will take quite a bit more before bottoming.  I do wonder, however, whether the change in sound might be partly to do with the moving magnet riding in a less optimal part of the coil's field, due to the extra deflection of the heavy tracking weight.  Still it makes some ripply surfaced 78s playable and that's good.
>