The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls

djmeverett · Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 3:35 pm Post subject: New member

Hi there:
Great site I stumbled upon here.....it amazes me sometimes how important the internet has been to provide places like this to exist and flourish!!
You have to wonder what people did to find other individuals interested in their hobby before the internet!

Anyway I have just acquired a Meissner Model 9-1065 record cutter and am excited to get into restoring it and using it.

My story is similiar to some of the other members here in that my Dad (83 now) started a recording studio in Vancouver, B.C. Canada back in the 40's and the machine they purchased for recording discs was a Meissner!
Back then people would come in to record their voices on the small size discs (6"-7") for a couple of dollars which were then sent off to their sons fighting in the war. (WWII)
My Dad just recently dragged out me some old discs of different recordings they had made....ranging from comedy spoof vocals to East India groups playing sitars to radio broadcasts recorded off the built in radio which the Meissner had!!
Of course they all have seen better days, some are damaged some are very scratchy and noisey, but it was fascinating listening to these 60+ year old recordings.
I would love to re-sample these onto my sampler and computer and attempt to restore some of these sounds and eliminate some of the noise using my audio recording software.
I would really enjoy hearing from anyone who has any experience doing this and/or working with the Meissner to give me any tips or tricks on getting things rolling.
I would also like to go thru the website and find information on restoration of these old discs..
My other plan is to get a new blank disc and have my Dad record the story of his adventurers in recording using the Meissner cutter.....I think that would be a very cool thing to have!
One side note was that my Dad had recored both his mother and father on one of the discs and he didnt realize he had a recording of their voices from the 40's when they were still alive!......that was a real shocker for him and I think it took him back to a fun period in his life when he was involved with that business.....I told him about this website as best he could understand and of course he couldnt believe there were people all over the world still interested in these machines or really comprehend all the people worldwide Ive seen in this site.....he was truly amazed!

I'll see if I can attach an old photo of the studio which may still be standing in Vancouver....I will have to drive up there soon and see....

Thanks for the oppurtunity to be a part of this fun site!

Aussie0zborn · Joined: 11 Mar 2006 Posts: 63 Location: Australia

Hey that was good to read about your Dad. Some pics would be good.

djmeverett · Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2006 3:27 pm Post subject:

This photo was taken in 1944 by my Dad who used a Meissner Model 9-1065 record cutter and two microphones.....