[78-L] Long playing early lacquer

[Elizabeth McLeod]

on 10/6/10 12:27 PM David Lennick wrote:

>I've just played an early lacquer 78RPM aircheck (July 1934) that runs four 
>minutes and fifty seconds AND has a large label, meaning that at least 
>another 
>minute could have been accommodated. It looks almost microgroove. This was 
>cut 
>by Sound Reproductions, 67 West 44th Street, New York. Was anyone using a 
>really small groove experimentally at that time? Edward Wallerstein says 
>this 
>was happening, in a memoir that a few people have questioned for credibility 
>and timelines.

I have a 12" lacquer aircheck from "Super Sound Recording Studios" in New 
York from March of 1935 which packs a full fifteen minutes onto one side 
at 33 1/3, which seems to be pretty tightly grooved -- the sound isn't 
especially Super, however, and gets positively fuzzy as it approaches the 
center of the disc. It's not microgroove in the modern sense, but it 
plays best with a 2.0 stylus.

Elizabeth