[78-L] Old Geezers

[David Lennick]

But many electricals sound wonderful when played on a Credenza. and many 
acousticals turn up looking pretty clean if the original owner was diligent 
about changing the needles.

dl

On 3/23/2012 1:53 PM, neechevoneeznayou at gmail.com wrote:
> 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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>