[78-L] Old Geezers

[neechevoneeznayou at gmail.com]

I guess it really depends on your objective. Do you want to hear as much 
of the sound of the records as possible? Play on a modern phonograph 
with proper equalization. If you want to hear the sound of the 
phonographs themselves, play on those.

Steel needles tend to wear the records out and track at very high 
weights. The records wear faster than when played on a modern 
lightweight player.

Stop using steel needles when you want to make your records last as long 
as possible. If they are old worn out records anyway and you want to 
show off the phonos, or if you want to buy records just for that 
purpose, proceed. Back when I had some machines I played anything on 
them that I did not perceive as being a valuable record.

Also, electrically recorded records will not realize their full 
potential played on an acoustical machine.

joe salerno


On 3/22/2012 9:48 PM, Matthew Balcerak wrote:
> 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.
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-- 
Joe Salerno