[78-L] 45s (was: 78-L Digest... Columbia EP numbering System was Wingy On Columbia)

[Michael Biel]

On 12/16/2010 11:09 AM, Ron L'Herault wrote:
> I remember reading somewhere that the RCA 45 player was designed with a very
> quick changer to minimize interruption in long programs and that the large
> hole meant that music would not be played back from close to the center of
> the disk where the sound would deteriorate.
>
> Ron L

As others have said, all of this is correct except that the hole was not 
an inhibiting factor in keeping the grooves away from the center.  The 
original system licensing rules required the grooving be no more than 
about a half inch, inner groove about 6-inches in diameter.  This kept 
the surface speed fairly similar from outer to inner groove, MUCH better 
than on the Lp and other discs.

In order for the changer to be quick it had to be designed for ONLY 
7-inch records.  Three-speed changers with room for large discs could 
not change the records fast enough, which is why early RCA 45 consoles 
had two changers.  In fact, the very first changers were TOO fast, and 
had to be regeared to be slowed down!  The hold-and-drop mechanism is 
totally in the large spindle.

And once again, the 45 was not a reaction to Columbia's Lp.  The 45 had 
been in development since before the war, and I have some of the 
experimental ledger pages from as early as 1942.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Robert M. Bratcher Jr.
>
> Any idea why RCA, Columbia (&  perhaps other companies in the 50's) put out
> classical on 45 rpm sets instead of just doing it on LP's? And yes I have a
> few 45 rpm classical sets in my collection which I bought used years later after
> they were released.
>
>
Because the records changed so lightning fast, RCA meant the 45 system 
to be used for extended works.  They determined that the musical rests 
where many side changes happened were often longer than the 3/4 to 1 1/2 
seconds of the side change.  But once 3-speed changers came out the side 
change time returned to that of 78s which was not fast enough to be as 
unnoticeable.




>
> ________________________________
> From: Nigel Burlinson<burlinson at orange.fr>
> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Sent: Thu, December 16, 2010 8:21:22 AM
> Subject: Re: [78-L] 78-L Digest, Vol 27, Issue 31 - Columbia EP numbering
> System
> was Wingy On Columbia
>
> The A series of EP's below A.999 are generally derived from
> the MM series and are mostly classical box sets.
>
> > From A.1000 to about A.1120 they continue as Box sets
> but the catalog numbers bear no relation to an Lp or 78rpm  equivalent.
>
> The B. series began as the EP equivalent of items in the old 'C' series of
> 78rpm albums (up to about B.548 or so) but the C series had petered out
> by C.516/C.517/C.518 (Fess Parker)
>
> Beginning with B.1500 they are all single EP's and if the selections
> were:
> Classical... they took an "A" prefix
> Childrens.. they took an "J" prefix
> Country.....they took an "H" prefix
> all in the same number sequence.
>
> The highest # in this block is B.2157
>
> There is a separate block B.2500-2644 "Hall of Fame" series
> and for the "Country&  Western Hall of Fame" series the
> numbers are B.2801-2837.
>
> Numbers between about B.672-1 and B.1568-3 (last issue)
> are derived from the equivalent CL "Pop" series;
> sometimes the whole album was issued as three
> separate EP's (B.1568-1-2-3 Mitch Miller), sometimes just
> a single EP was issued (B.1370-1 Charles Mingus)
>
> The numbers written thus:  B.15681, B.15682, B.13701)
>
> Nigel Burlinson
> burlinson at orange.fr