[jsaliga]

Here's another one...



It's clear to me that I have to start screening sellers very carefully before bidding or buying.  The record that was trashed here was a pair of Bea Wain sides.  It pisses me off because someone's carelessness is destroying a relatively scarce resource.

--Jerome

[SET Man]

Hey!

    Damn! That's suck Jerome! 

    I've bought some 78s off eBay and so far I've been pretty lucky that none got broken up.

    From the look of this one of which is very bad.. did the seller have enough cushion in it with cardboards on both side of the disc? Also there is one more thing to consider is maybe the mailmen  at you local post office could be pretty rough handling package. Luckily those at my local post office seem to be OK with handling my stuff.... at least so far since I moved here.

Take care,
Buddy

[jsaliga]

Well, the record was taped between two thin pieces of cardboard (from a Priority Mail mailing box) and wrapped in two layers of thin bubble wrap.  IMO this no where near enough to protect a shellac record.  And packing it in a mailer meant for vinyl LPs only increases the chances that the record will get broken.

--Jerome

[Scott F.]

Jerome,

That sucks 

I'm not sure if you are going to be able to rely on 78s arriving in one piece after shipping since they are so brittle. the best luck I've had buying 78s are in local antique malls and flea markets. Sure, they may not be as clean as the ones you see on eBay but at least they make it home in one piece.

     BTW.. Scott F... that's one hell of dedicated 78s playback system you've got there.

Hiya Buddy,

Yep, it's plenty fun to listen to. Not to mention, the sound is a lot better than most might imagine.

I'm in the midst of trying to repair a mono amp for Blackmore so he can get his dedicated 78 system up and running. I found a Heathkit WA-P2 mono pre in an antique store for like $20 and Thunderbrick donated a Heathkit W-7M mono amp to the cause. Mark is going to mate these to an Electrovoice Aristocrat (or was it the Regency  ) Mark has a new Thorens that plays 78s.







Anyway, I've been trying to get the old W-7M tuned up but for the life of me I can't get it to hold a bias. No doubt I've something (a resistor) that is out of spec but I haven't found the time to chase it down yet. I will though..one of these days soon.

Should be another cheap and great sounding system for 78s 

[jazzcourier]

Gee,now you are making me miss my old 78 collection.After years of not playing a single disc and the cruelty of the Northridge earthquake i got a great offer and baled out.That big box there you picture shows care in packing the little mailer is a nightmare and borderline negligence.For many years i cleaned 78's with lukewarm water,a shaving brush and Ivory baby soap followed by a careful rinse.They were laid to dry on clean sheets,first one side for about an hour and then turn them over for the other side.I also set up a fan to increase the drying procedure.In 1974 a friend and i had a huge Buick station wagon and a trailer and drove 7,000 miles,from Pasadena to Memphis and back and all around buying out stocks of old juke box vendors and haunting junk and thrift stores.We found big collections by word of mouth in African American neighborhoods,they were always on the maps behind the railroad tracks and around the streets with presidents names.Just amazing how often that happened.The third day out we hit Amarillo Texas and found a goodwill that had just sold a huge load of 78's.We tracked down the buyer and it was a teen age kid who,dare i say was "retarded", he had purchased  these several thousand records and had finished separating them in piles of keepers and discards,his mother was really pushing him to get rid of these "damn dirty old things" so in the usual collector fever mania we insisted upon going through at least some of the "keeper" pile,we were dying to find out what this kid was holding on to.Record after record it was Perry Como,the Harmonicats,Carmen Cavarello,in a word -dreck. Now our eyes were on the "discards" and one after another it was amazing Post war Blues-John Lee Hooker on Sensation,Otis Rush on Cobra,tons of Chess and Checker and lots of pre war Country records.Upwards of 1,000 killer records at 5 cents each.
        So that is one of my 78 RPM record adventures,so get out there in the boonies and shake the trees and see what falls down !

[jsaliga]

It isn't all bad news.  Here are records that I took out of a very well packed box.  The records were divided into groups of no more than 4.  Each group was sandwiched between two layers of very heavy cardboard and taped together so the records were immobilized.  Then the pack was wrapped in 4 layers of bubble wrap and sandwiched between another two layers of cardboard.  This was a pain to get unwrapped...but not a single record was cracked or broken.



And there were three 12" Benny Goodman 78's, a pair of Kay Starr sides on Lamplighter, and a pair of early Decca Jack Teagarden sides.  The Benny Goodman 12"ers look like they have never been played.



This seller doesn't specialize in 78's, but he sure knows how to pack and ship them so they stay protected.

--Jerome

[SET Man]

....
Hiya Buddy,

Yep, it's plenty fun to listen to. Not to mention, the sound is a lot better than most might imagine.

....

Hey!

     I agreed. It is fun spinning these old 78s. And in my case it takes  some muscle power to get it started too 

    OK, now I cant' helpf to show off my dedicated 78s playback system too 









  1902 Victor "Type E" This one came with 11 3/8" G horn and double springs motor. Can play three 10" discs in a single full wind or one 12" disc on it 8" platter.

    Since it is an acoustical machine I only play acoustical recording process 78rpm discs.Pretty much any 78s made before 1935 after that they switched to softer vinyl based(?) disc to be play on electrical pick up.  But ideally I like discs made 1925, after that most record companies switched to electrical recording process.

   Not quite the type of playback fit for this thread but hey it plays 78s... well older one. 

   Anyway, here are some clips of it in action on youtube...

http://www.youtube.com/user/SETman007

    Enjoy.

Take care,
Buddy

[Scott F.]

Buddy,

Your Type E  is extremely cool.  I followed one of the threads in the NYAR where you brought it to a Rave.


Jazzcourier,

Cool story. Most times when I travel long distances by car, I try to male it a point to stop at the old junk stores and flea markets especially in the small towns. It's amazing the stuff you find, and for give away prices. Trouble is my wife isn't into what I call 'Junkin'. It drives her nuts. Probably because she isn't up on the collectible value of things. All she sees is literally junk.

I can't begin to tell you how much cool audio related stuff I've found over the years while I was junkin' Well, my 78 system is one good example. I think I've got all of $150 in the whole thing, including about 150 78s. It's always a treasure hunt.

I may have to break out my 78s again after reading this thread. It's been a while. 

[jsaliga]

A terrible end to a bad week.  The turntable showed up today.  A beautiful example of a classic deck was ruined because the people who packed the deck for shipment used heavy packing tape to secure the dust cover directly to the deck.  In this heat and humidity the adhesive in the tape bonded to the dust cover.  Tape residue was left on the woodgrain finish but I was able to remove that.  They also covered the spindle in tape too and I had a helluva time getting that clean.

Any ideas on how I can get the tape residue off the dust cover without trashing it.

--Jerome

[Scott F.]

Jerome,

I just did a quick search and found something on one of the aquarium forums. One of the guys had glue on his acrylic tank and he cleaned it with isopropyl alcohol and cotton balls.

[Ericus Rex]

Naptha (Zippo lighter fluid).  It eats away sticky gunk without hurting plastics.  Just to be safe, I'd recommend applying some to an inconspicuous spot on the dustcover, just to be absolutely sure it won't react to that plastic.

[jsaliga]

Thanks guys.  I already tried alcohol to no avail.  I'll run to the convenience store later and grab some lighter fluid and give it a try.

--Jerome

[thunderbrick]

Mostly for the GAS guys I have a floor-standing oak Victrola that I am thinking of selling. Not ornate, but in beautiful original condition.  I can send photos if anyone is interested.

[jsaliga]

The good news is that the deck works as advertised.  Here it is playing a Tommy Dorsey record from 1940.



--Jerome

[jsaliga]

Naptha (Zippo lighter fluid).  It eats away sticky gunk without hurting plastics.  Just to be safe, I'd recommend applying some to an inconspicuous spot on the dustcover, just to be absolutely sure it won't react to that plastic.

The lighter fluid did the trick.  It took a lot of elbow grease but the dust cover is clean and there's not a mark on it.

Thanks.

--Jerome

[Ericus Rex]

 

[jsaliga]

I have been spinning a lot of 78s today and so far its been a real hoot.  Sound quality has been all over the place: from surprisingly good to unlistenable.  I have learned that the visual appearance of the records don't really tell you much about how they are going to sound.  For instance, one of the Benny Goodman 12"ers I bought looked absolutely pristine, but sounded just plain awful.  Conversely, a Johnny Mercer record that looked pretty beat and had some gunk on it that would not come off played nice and cleanly. 

About half of the records from the 1930s and 1940s that I have played so far sound a lot like this Les Brown Orchestra recording of Leap Frog from 1945.

Les Brown and His Orchestra - Leap Frog (Unprocessed sample)

Yes, it's pretty noisy and there are a lot of clicks and crackles.  I was expecting this so there are no disappointments.  I didn't get into 78 records for their stellar sound quality.  I got into them for access to music that interests me and might otherwise be difficult or impossible to obtain.

Here's the same clip after it has been processed by three tools that I have: DeNoiseLF (removes rumble), Denoise (lowers nosie) ClickRepair (removes pops, clicks, and crackles).

Les Brown and His Orchestra - Leap Frog (Processed sample)

I still need to tweak the EQ a little but the second clip is much more listenable and I'm satisfied with it.

--Jerome

[jazdoc]

Jerome,

Thanks for sharing your journey.  It's been fun to watch from afar and I admit to glancing at my stack of 78's and wondering.  Hmmm   Please keep posting as you continue!

[jsaliga]

Here was a nice find....the Johnny Guarnieri Trio on Savoy.  I bought this 4 record set  on eBay for $4

Guarnieri sat in the pianist's chair for Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey.  He played stride like Fats Waller and blues like Count Basie.  He was also known for the sessions he recorded as a freelance with Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, and Louis Armstrong.

In the mid 1940s Guarnieri led a trio that featured Slam Stewart on bass (known for his singing bass technique using a bow) and Sammy Weiss on the drums.  The music on these records has been issued on CD by the French label Chronological Jazz Classics, but it has been out of print for over a decade and that disc is virtually impossible to find.



The records were in pretty nice shape.  Sound was slightly above average for what one might expect for music from the early 1940s.

--Jerome

[jsaliga]

And here's some early Benny Goodman on Brunswick, recorded in 1929.  It sounded quite good, actually.



--Jerome