Re: arsclist Cactus Needles

[Michael Biel <m.biel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Steve Green wrote:

> I've been very interested in the Speak-O-Phone Company that made
> personal disc cutting machines and aluminum alloy discs back in
> the 30s.  My interest stems partly from the fact that many field
> recordings of American folk music were recorded on these aluminum
> blanks and survive today in archives around the country.  I've not
> researched the company at all, but perhaps some ARSCers have.  I
> know they were based in New York.

There are a number of us who are working on these discs and this
company.  Nicholas Bergh out in California has come up with a lot of
very interesting paperwork, and this has helped us trace the public
use of this company's discs and recorders back as far as November
1928 in a set-up at a St. Louis department store.  Thru the mid-30s
Speak-O-Phone emphasized the leasing of equipment to stores and
repairmen to set up franchised recording studios, although they did
sell a machine to Columbia University's English dept in early 1929.  

> Because of the soft aluminum used in the discs, steel needles are
> not appropriate for playing back the records.  Instead needle
> made of cactus thorns, bamboo, or other fiber material are needed
> in order to avoid damaging the record. 

Graham Newton has answered this very well.  I also do not recommend
playing these discs on anything but good modern turntables with high
compliant cartridges like Shure or Stanton.  But there is one other
thing to mention.  You have to be VERY careful to make sure that the
stylus is really IN the groove.  It is very easy for the stylus to
ride up on the land between the grooves and indent its own little
groove in that land.  This would tend to increase the print-thru
echo from adjacent grooves.

> I have a package of 1930s
> Speak-O-Phone fiber needles and they have a triangular profile.
> The package says "Keep Point Sharp."  How would a triangular
> needle be kept sharp by a home recordist in the 30s?

You can use a razor blade to just slice off a sliver of the top of
the needle to "expose" a new point.  Victor sold a sharpening
machine, and it is sometimes pictured in their catalogs.

> Is there anyone out there that specializes in working with these
> aluminum discs?  I don't have any myself but have been interested
> in issues pertaining to them. 

Steve Smolian is doing restoration of a LARGE group of them right
now.  Those are the recordings of Rabbi Stephen Wise.  Nicholas
Bergh has been lucky enough in the last month or two to get a number
of the recording machines that were specifically designed 
for embossing aluminum.  Most were made by Universal Microphone in
Englewood, Calif.

> For one thing, since they don't
> have any coating, there is no coating to peel off.

This was something that was specifically mentioned in the
advertising at the time by the companies which continued to champion
the use of uncoated aluminum following the introduction of the
coated disc by Presto in late 1934.  They were mentioning even then
that the metal discs would probably be far more stable in archival
storage.

> I've seen problems with oxidation 

This happens once in a while.  These discs were to be rubbed with
wax or oil prior to recording, and I am not sure if this might
eventually cause problems or if it might have ended up protecting
the surfaces.

> but by and large they seem to have held up very well
> (if not abused by playing with the wrong type stylus)
> Steve Green
> Western Folklife Center  sgreen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

If unplayed they can sound quite good.

Mike Biel  m.biel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx   mbiel@xxxxxxx