[78-L] Lee Wiley jilts one guy to marry Jess Stacy

[Michael Biel]

Dan Van Landingham wrote:
> I built many a Revel model car kit as a kid in the early to mid sixties.Would polysterene made a good sub-
> stitute for vinyl in the record business?
It was OFTEN used instead of vinyl.  From the mid-50s on, almost every 
Columbia 45 was injection moulded Polystyrene, and it was used for some 
Harmony and Golden/Silver Crest LPs. Many late 50s Decca LPs were 
compression moulded styrene.  Little Golden Recordas were a styrene. 
mixture.  Styrene had the advantage of being much quieter than the 
average vinyl pressing -- for the first play.  The problem is that it 
was very easily damaged by a bad stylus and wore out quickly. 

Radio DJs cue up records by starting them then stopping them and backing 
up when they hear the first notes.  Thus the first seconds of a record 
is played by a radio DJ were played a minimum of three times for every 
full play.  This wore the starts out very quickly.  We called it "cue 
burn".  So DJs insisted on getting vinyl pressings from the record 
companies, but vinyl 45s were usually high in re-grind content and were 
noisy. If the station recorded their records to tape cartridge, they 
would really have been better off with styrene pressings for the one 
play to dub onto the cart. 

Styrene could be re-melted and re-used  without adding noise, but 
re-melting vinyl results in a grainier and nosier pressing.  Styrene was 
usually used for injection moulding where it is melted to a liquid and 
squirted into a closed press.  This helps the stampers last longer 
because they do not have to be heated and cooled for each pressing.  
Compression  moulding of shellac or vinyl requires the softened material 
to be heated by the stamper and then cooled by the stamper.  The 
constant repeat of heat and cool is what wears the stampers out quickly. 

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com