Re: [ARSCLIST] Cracked Cylinder Record

[George Brock-Nannestad <pattac@xxxxxxxx>]

From: Patent Tactics, George Brock-Nannestad

Hello, Parker Dinkins wrote:

> on 7/26/07 6:35 PM US/Central, Tom Fine at tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> wrote:
> 
> > Back in ye olde tape splicing days, it took about as much time as Terry
> faces,
> > but one cut and splice did the job for each click.
> 
> Actually, Jack Towers and others used a jig made from ebony wood, using an
> full track Ampex head set in the middle. There was a supply and takeup
> reel
> that could be rocked to find the offending click.
> 
> A China marker was used to mark the location, the tape was flipped, and an
> X-Acto knife was used to scrape off the oxide layer at the chosen spot.
> 
> Lather, rinse, repeat. Endlessly almost.
> 
> But no splicing was ever required.
> 
> I am almost certain this method was inspired by John R.T. Davies.

----- it is years since I looked at his construction drawings, but his 
approach was more sophisticated than mere removal of oxide where the click 
was. He only removed the oxide partially, until the sound of the click (which 
he heard as a phase reversal on the monitor loudspeaker) merged with the 
background. There was a certain amount of use of stick-slip through the 
fingers in re-creating the click on the almost stationary tape, and the 
marking was a pin-prick, not a china marker. This was in opposition to the 
early approach of Ward Marston, who apparently removed bits of tape when 
creating the reissue of the Catalan Piano Tradition from cylinders for Gregor 
Benko (that is how I read the liner notes, anyway).

Kind regards,


George