The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls

Mike Frost · Joined: 29 May 2007 Posts: 10 Location: Eindhoven, NL

Hi there,
I've been browsing this board for a while now, as i've been looking into starting to cut discs for some time, but I never had a reason to register.. and now I do, as I have a question.
As I run a couple of small independent record labels (largely because it allows me to release my own music on vinyl) I started mastering tracks for vinyl out of necessity, as the raw tracks initially sounded pretty crap once they were cut. From there I started doing this on assignment, and I think I know a fair bit about the possibilities and limitations I have to take into account when preparing tracks to be cut, but as I don't own a lathe myself or have access to one I can use for experimentation purposes I find myself having to make educated guesses more often than i'd like.
For this reason i've been casually browsing the web for a while, looking for a reasonably cheap lathe to get started with and see if the whole cutting thing agrees with me, with the possibility of upgrading to a more pro-style lathe if I find that it does indeed agree wth me. For a more hi-end lathe i'm inclined towards a Scully, as these can cut inside out and double grooves and such. The problem is that most of the interesting lathe's i'm finding are in the US, and having them shipped to the Netherlands would probably cost more than the machine itself, which got me thinking: I'm pretty sure there were records being cut in the former Soviet Union, and I very much doubt they would use a US-made lathe to do it with. As with synths, where russians basically reverse engineered popular synths and then made cheaper copies of them under a russian brand name, I can imagine the same happening with a record cutting lathe.
So my question is: what brands or makes of lathe were used in the former Soviet Union/Eastern Europe, and where are they now? The same question could be asked for Asia, and for that matter for Southern Europe (spain, Portugal) too.
I look forward to hearing your responses!

cuttercollector · Joined: 11 Jun 2006 Posts: 286 Location: San Jose, CA

I am from the US and probably don't know what I am talking about with regard to this, but I had always heard that they used West German equipment brought in some how or perhaps the East German parts of those companies split by WWII continuned their own parallel design efforts as with the microphones. On a related topic, I have never seen much about the development of Japan's lathes.

Mike Frost · Joined: 29 May 2007 Posts: 10 Location: Eindhoven, NL

cuttercollector · Joined: 11 Jun 2006 Posts: 286 Location: San Jose, CA

I had seen that quote from Denon before.
I believe that they and JVC both made lathes. I think both companies had pre WWII ties to American record companies. Denon to Columbia and JVC of course stood for Japanese Victor Coropration (or company).

Aussie0zborn · Joined: 11 Mar 2006 Posts: 76 Location: Australia

Melodiya Records, the then-state owned record label in the former USSR, used Alpha-Toolex record presses (made in Sweden) , so I would not doubt that they used European lathes. If you look at the quality of the cuts, I would expect that they were using Neumann lathes like every other professional record manufacturer.

Where are they now??? Well, there is a Neumann VMS66 lathe helping the landfill situation in Sydney (ie: it was taken to the local dump).

Lots of lathes ended up in private ownership with enthusiasts or recording studios. Most however were dumped or stored and later dumped.

Amp Doc · Joined: 21 Jun 2007 Posts: 109 Location: UK

Didny Lyrec make a very good lathe. made in sweden I think? used ortofon electronics. Conisure or somthing like that also made lathes in england never see a pic just a carrage with leadscrew
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Mike Frost · Joined: 29 May 2007 Posts: 10 Location: Eindhoven, NL

Yup, they did. There was one for sale on eBay a couple of months ago, and I know of a belgian cutter who has one.

andybee · Joined: 14 Aug 2006 Posts: 63

yes, foon:

http://foon.be/analog%20disc-cutting.html