[78-L] Cetra-Soria (was: My second phonograph)

[David Lennick]

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> Columbia mastered and pressed Cetra-Soria, VOX and probably all the other indies except Mercury.

 

Columbia even pressed some of Decca's first LPs. I have copies of "Carousel", "Manhattan Tower" and a couple of others that are unmistakeably Columbia pressings, down to the font on the labels.


> At the beginning, I think they worked from metal parts, not from tape. The deal was that they wanted
> to really establish LP's, so they charged all of one dollar per finished disc, including mastering and
> preparing and printing the labels. The cardboard jackets were not included. I was out of there and 
> back in school b/4 Soria sold the company to Capitol. If my memory is correct, the 12" Columbia price
> was $3.85; Soria decided on 5.95 and got away with it for a while. VOX split the difference.
> Back to 78's; most imports cost 2.50 plus tax, Soria charged 3.50 plus tax but Tagliavini was the hot
> name then. Lets see, I think domestic Cetra-Sorias were remastered by Thomas Valentino and Reeves
> was involved somewhere in the process. The Cetra 78 was 30cm, not 12" and they would fall thru
> some automatic changers.
> Bob Pinsker
> 
> 

Domestic Cetra-Soria 78s are very delicate pressings. Very sharp edges too.

 

dl