[78-L] Old Geezers

[Matthew Balcerak]

I'm 25, and definitely a lurker.  I am full of "stupid questions" but I
usually try to get them answered elsewhere before I bother this esteemed
body.

On that note, I have one for you all.  I have not discovered a definitive
answer about steel needles.  I have a variety of different gramophone, and
of course a modern turntable.  I've read: acoustic recordings sound better
with medium tone needles, electric recordings with soft tone, and if you
want you can mix and match for loudness however you want.  Using that as a
rule of thumb has been great for all my early records.  However, when do I
have to stop using steel needles and only use an electric pickup?  Thus
far, if the record hasn't been orthophonic (or one of their breed) or
before, I've kept it off a gramophone.  Everything afterword, I've used a
modern turntable.  I know they produced gramophones well into the forties,
and in some countries into the sixties.  Does this mean I can throw my
later Chinese records onto a gramophone and be OK?

Also, is it different for different labels?  Do bluebirds handle better on
gramophones than okehs?  I have read that records have a grinding agent in
the opening grooves to make the steel needles ideal for the individual
record.  When did they stop doing this?  Will this grinding agent effect a
modern turntable stylus?

Essentially, with at least fifty years of play time ahead of me, I don't
want to leave my grand kids with a bunch of old coasters.