A thought to add to this. Years ago I bought a 78 rpm record for a few coins in order to hear it. It appeared to be in poor condition. and played very poorly. After cleaning with detergent and a shaving brush, it looked excellent and played very well. I might have retired it to the garbage bin if I hadn't cleaned it.
It also might be pointed out that very rare records, today, can be processed with audio software, often producing a very good result. A cracked record, if it hasn't been played a lot producing damage along the crack, or a record with bad needle scratches can often be run through audio software removing the clicks that are heard on each rotation. A lot of records that were thrown out in the past, today, would have new life thanks to the digital revolution.
How the records are played is another factor. Some records that play very poorly with a standard size stylus play well with a custom stylus of the right size. A friend years ago who issued LPs from rare 78s sometimes copied them to tape played in reverse - from the inside to the outside. This sometimes made a considerable difference.
There are examples of unpublished records that are better versions of the music than the same titles published. Some appear to be unpublished because the singer was too close or too far from the horn. Unlike the times when these recordings were made, they play well on modern equipment.
Malcolm Smith.
On Aug 6, 2008, at 7:59 AM, Clark Johnsen wrote:
To my mind there are two types of problem.
-- Surface blemishes are relatively easy to see and span the range from actual cracks and gouges and dimples, to small-area abrasions of different depths -- plus fingerprints and mold, never good signs.
-- Groove wear in a well-handled (or machine-handled) disc can easily escape notice until a grayish pall from too much use overtakes the usually hard surface of the groove walls. This condition is far less easy to rate in its intermediate stages, although a corollary indicator can be the condition of the center hole.
clark
On Tue, Aug 5, 2008 at 2:01 PM, John Ross <johnross@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Is there a set of established standards for visual evaluation of 78 rpm discs? I'm working with the owner of a significant collection to catalog the discs and ultimately transfer them to digital form. I would like to include a preliminary note about the apparent condition of each disc as part of the preliminary catalog.
Obviously, the ultimate evaluation of each disc requires playing it, but as a first step, I want to go with a visual examination.
So I will welcome your pointers to any kind of commonly accepted terms for describing 78s. Thanks in advance.
John Ross