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78s

rstloup

pfm Member
Does anyone on here actively listen to and collect 78s?

I got into 78s about five or so months ago and it's been a real joy -- collecting early+hot jazz and Latin music. Honestly has been more exciting than LPs have been in a long time!
 
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I’ve got a HMV 102 and a small stack of jazz 78s, mainly Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Count Basie, Stan Kenton etc. Not a huge amount, and mostly given to me by a neighbour who’s a big 78 fan, but far more into classical & opera. I like being able to play pretty much any format!
 
49916135692_987f7d9ded_b.jpg


I’ve got a HMV 102 and a small stack of jazz 78s, mainly Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Count Basie, Stan Kenton etc. Not a huge amount, and mostly given to me by a neighbour who’s a big 78 fan, but far more into classical & opera. I like being able to play pretty much any format!

I have that same Bud Freeman album! The Prince of Wails rendition is great.
 
I have a load to sort through. They look interesting and not scratched to buggery. Unfortunately I have a load of albums to sort through first. Then 45’s.
I might have a razz at them though, just to see what’s what.

I like the old 78 sleeves, many have advertisements for long gone record shops on them.

If I remember tomorrow, I will report back.
 
I like the old 78 sleeves, many have advertisements for long gone record shops on them.

Yes, me too. And fun when it suggests a record hasn't travelled more than a mile or two in seventy years.

I like playing 78s - though I've never gotten seriously into it and invested in a phono stage with adjustable EQ or even in getting suitable styluses.

The main problem being in the UK is that interesting jazz from that era is in short supply - most of the 78s I stumble across are classical or (the majority) dance bands.
 
Yes, me too. And fun when it suggests a record hasn't travelled more than a mile or two in seventy years.

I like playing 78s - though I've never gotten seriously into it and invested in a phono stage with adjustable EQ or even in getting suitable styluses.

The main problem being in the UK is that interesting jazz from that era is in short supply - most of the 78s I stumble across are classical or (the majority) dance bands.

Yes, not sure what I have, definitely some jazz, maybe some rock n roll? If it looked boring then I wouldn’t have kept hold of them, so hoping my quick look filter has worked.
I have two record players that will play 78’s but nothing specialized.
Also often there has been broken shellac , and I do recall chucking the broken records away.

I have kept hold of a pile of spare 78 rpm sleeves as well. Got to find them, fairly sure I know where they are.
 
I have a few hundred 78s. Many are 1930s and 40s swing etc. Some very early 1950s pop. The other major group are Rock and Roll stuff from 1956 to about 58. Most are in very good condition and a good few are sought after enough to warrant £50+ ratings in the HFN&RR Price listings.

As a kid, I was fascinated by the whole concept and practical application of recorded sound. My first foray into it was way back in the 1960s. I ached with longing to own a Cylinder Phonograph, or dictaphone type machine, but they were thin on the ground and beyond my pocket.

I had a couple of portable 78 players, similar to Tony's pictured above.. which I lovingly stripped and cleaned. Trying to get the main power spring back into it's housing could be fun and I lost control of one, as I was getting it out..not in.. I was working in my bedroom.. the spring was lathered in some form of graphite grease. The whole room, bedding and carpet were splattered with the stuff and as the spring housing ricocheted around the room it missed decapitating me by a small margin. It was also touch and go whether my old Mum would decapitate me when she saw the mess. What ensued was my first lesson in interior decorating....

When we finally acquired a record player (A Dansette Major or similar... 3 valve amp, two elliptical speakers and separate bass/treble controls) .. it had the then standard TC8 type 'flip-over' stylus... and 78 speed.. so playing 78s became simpler.

The BSR Autochanger in the Dansette worked at a speed directly proportional to replay speed, such that a stack of a dozen LPs would change very sedately, but 78's would change in a frantic and clattering rush. The Autochanger was a minor work of genius, in the way that it detected the size of the discs being played and... if correctly adjusted, placed the arm and stylus neatly in the 'run in' groove. What was not catered for was the change in VTA as the stack of records on the platter grew in height after each change.

More recently I held on to the Lenco B55 which was in my old Bush Arena 40 music centre. I mounted it in a simple plinth, minus its simplified and not very good Lenco arm. By turning the deck through 180 degrees I was able to mount a rough but functional SME 3009 SII in correct geometrical relationship to the deck without resorting to surgery on the deck's thick steel top plate. The controls are now in the wrong place, but that's no 'biggy'. I added an Ortofon OM5 or somesuch and fitted an Ortofon 78 stylus.
The EQ doesn't sound far wrong to me, using my EAR 834's MM setting.

Sadly, lack of space means that my 78s are all stored in lofts and wardrobes, as is also my crude 78 player.. such that playing 78s is a bit of a hassle.
 
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I’ve got a HMV 102 and a small stack of jazz 78s, mainly Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Count Basie, Stan Kenton etc. Not a huge amount, and mostly given to me by a neighbour who’s a big 78 fan, but far more into classical & opera. I like being able to play pretty much any format!

I'm guessiing that is a quite late model Tony. The pop out plastic (Bakelite?) needle tray is something I've not seen before.. and the black v chrome/nickel catches and corner plates also look very modern.

I don't know what happened to it, but I had a 'speed tester'. It was a die cast metal device maybe 4" long. At one end it sat over the spindle, and a weighted lever inside it would swing out under centrifugal force. That in turn would raise or lower a gold painted disc maybe 1/4" diameter. Theoretically, when the disc was level with the top of the device, the speed was 78. It clearly pre-dated 'strobe discs', but would have worked in homes lit by gas or oil lights.. before universal electricity.

My R&R discs are a real cross section of late 50s stuff, covering Elvis, Cochran, Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Connie Francis, Rick Nelson, Hollywood Flames, Dreamweavers, Bobettes, Charlie Gracie, Jerry Lee Lewis, Wee Willie Harris.. Sparkletones etc.. etc..
 
I'm guessiing that is a quite late model Tony.

Well spotted, it is the final variant of the 102, I can’t remember the date on the build ticket, but from memory it is either 1956 or 58, i.e. the vinyl LP was well established by this point. I went for it as it is in such exceptionally good condition.
 
I’ve got hundreds which belonged to my Grandfather. All opera / classical. Lots of Caruso, somewhere in the pile is one signed by the great man.
 
Having a look through now.

Sinatra & Bing (from High Society) 1956

The Mudlarks ‘Lollipop’ 1958

Les Paul from 1952

Sidney Bechet and his New Orleans Feetwarmers 1943 jazz

Tennessee Ernie with Cliffie Stone’s band 1953

Winifred Atwell and her other piano :) 1957

Tommy Steele and the Steelmen 1957 ( my mother has had a snog with Tommy o_O)

Humprey Lyttelton, etc. Nowt that exciting.

also a few 12” shellac ‘For reference recording only - Audio Devices, Inc. New York white label discs with one centred spindle hole and 3 other holes on the label. very odd? Don’t know what is one them?
 
I inherited a few from an Uncle in the States.
The most interesting one is from a Jazz Orch called The Buddy Bolden Orchestra.








;)
 
also a few 12” shellac ‘For reference recording only - Audio Devices, Inc. New York white label discs with one centred spindle hole and 3 other holes on the label. very odd? Don’t know what is one them?

After a bit of research, I think they are acetates (?)
Cleaning a few up to see what is on them.

From Discogs re: Audio Devices Inc. New York.

“Audio Devices, Inc.
Profile:
Audio Devices made blank acetate discs under the trade name Audiodisc for home-cut recordings (such as the "V-Discs" popular during World War II), as well as lacquer blanks for the professional recording industry. When tape recorders entered the consumer market in the 1950s, Audio Devices also began manufacturing magnetic tape. After the invention of Muntz's 4-track cartrdige Audio Devices made carts under the brand name "audiopak". ”


Interesting to see what on them.
 
I do record pricing for Oxfam and we do quite often get 78s coming in. We have tried selling them in the shop but it’s not really worth it — we might sell one a month or so. The majority are classical (12” and some 10”), as well as 10” easy listening (Victor Sylvester and other orchestras and big bands), crooners (Bing Crosby, etc.), military bands and novelty/comedy. Most of these are from the 1940-50s. We end up disposing of them. We sometimes get rock and roll (Elvis, Bill Haley, etc) and earlier or more distinguished jazz bands (Duke Ellington, Count Basie, etc) and these tend to be worth more, so they go onto the Oxfam Online Shop (https://onlineshop.oxfam.org.uk). If browsing the site, you can limit your results to vinyl (there isn’t a shellac section), then by record speed. Hope that helps.

You could always ask at your local Oxfam shop if they will hold any 78s for you to look at. If you give them a phone number, they will call you when a pile comes in.
 
I do record pricing for Oxfam and we do quite often get 78s coming in. We have tried selling them in the shop but it’s not really worth it — we might sell one a month or so. The majority are classical (12” and some 10”), as well as 10” easy listening (Victor Sylvester and other orchestras and big bands), crooners (Bing Crosby, etc.), military bands and novelty/comedy. Most of these are from the 1940-50s. We end up disposing of them. We sometimes get rock and roll (Elvis, Bill Haley, etc) and earlier or more distinguished jazz bands (Duke Ellington, Count Basie, etc) and these tend to be worth more, so they go onto the Oxfam Online Shop (https://onlineshop.oxfam.org.uk). If browsing the site, you can limit your results to vinyl (there isn’t a shellac section), then by record speed. Hope that helps.

You could always ask at your local Oxfam shop if they will hold any 78s for you to look at. If you give them a phone number, they will call you when a pile comes in.


Good for you. It is good to read of someone doing a similar thing.

Headway don’t have the online presence of Oxfam, the Oxfam record shop has a massive selection.


this is who I volunteer for > https://www.headway.org.uk/

:)

(using my brain :p)
 


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