The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls

Steve E.

I got into the whole obsession with home-cutting because I wanted to create records that I could play on my Brunswick Ultona, a hand-cranked record player that can handle Victola, Edison and Pathe discs. My hope is to create an archive of modern-day performers on 78's. (The idea is that when the "Big Blackout" happens, Victola-compatible recordings will be the only lasting audio record of our times. There are all sorts of problems with this idea, I know, but I'm playing with it anyway....)

The problem, which I discovered quickly, was that the materials soft enough to be cut with a recording lathe are also soft enough to be cut by a heavy, acoustic playback arm.

Harder vinyl records wear out less quickly, but can wear down a Recordio's cutting needle in less than the length of a 5.5 minute 12" side.

Peter Dilg, Long Island scholar of Edison acoustic recording technologies, (and proprietor of Wizard records, a modern cylinder record label!!) recommended that I cut lacquers, squirt liquid Pledge onto a t-shirt and wipe 'em into the grooves (to reduce friction), and play them back ONLY with cactus needles. Incredibly, I found a 50 year old package of Victrola-ready cactus needles at Waves in NYC (Victrola store), and indeed, they do less damage, but they still do damage. He also recommended getting quiet-play steel needles, burnishing them by playing a Decca record from the 40's, then using that on the acetates without readjusting the needle in the reproducer. Worked OK, but maybe had more wear. A good policy for vinyl cuts, though!

Vinyl records seem to squeak as the cut gets closer to the middle. It must be a combination of the slower speed of the material under the stylus and the increased tracking force. When I hear that squeak, I suspect my stylus is getting trashed. Peter Dilg says that heating the cutting medium, even under a lightbulb before cutting, can cut down this problem somewhat.

Someone else recommended squirting Teflon in the grooves to reduce friction.

Anyone else trying this sort of thing?

Amishman35 · Joined: 24 Jun 2005 Posts: 2 Location: Tiverton RI USA

This board is hiccupping. Use a fine wrap of wire to heat up the cutting stylus when recording a record. Use some sort of variable power supply to make the heat adjustable. Adjust for the quietest grooves when cutting silence. Are you using steel needles to cut records?

Steve E. · Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2005 12:37 am Post subject: Re: Heat up the record.

Guest · Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 4:12 pm Post subject:

Unnfortunately, I have never seen an old bottle of the stuff, but it is my understanding that at one time, back in the early heyday of acetate recording, there was a chemical compound that could be coated onto an acetate after it had been cut that would harden the lacquer, thus rendering it somewhat less susceptible to wear and damage from the heavy pickups of the period (one ounce!). I expect this also would raise the noise level of the discs so treated by a slight amount. Sadly, I have no idea what the compound was made of....

Steve E. · Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2005 2:15 pm Post subject:

That is VERY intiguing. If anyone can supply any more info on this, or any links, book titles, etc, I would be super appreciative. That's the first I've heard of that, and it may be the answer I'm looking for.