I just recieved 3 disc in the mail today.A Brunswick 3373 Savannah Syncopators,red Okeh 40755 Boyd Senter & Eddie Lang and a Paramount 2056 early acoustic Hawaiian.I have a Audio Technics 120 with a Shure m78s cartridge.Anyway first two sound great however the Paramount there is ALMOST no sound coming out of the disc.It looks vg+ and I have another Hawaiian in the Paramount series that sound fine. So what gives? Can the audio in the grooves have been washed away in some cleaning,Is this a Paramount problem.We all know thier quality was low but no sound? Any feedback would be appreciated,I would like to be able to return it to the guy I traded with and have some kind of idea what happened.
I have never seen a Paramount in my far-off lands. I would guess that washing wouldn't remove the groove modulations (not to say that it hasn't been improperly cleaned). I would guess that it's been literally played to death on a gramophone with a very worn steel needle which has gouged out the variation in the grooves.
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It wouldn't surprise me if the surface noise was so high on a paramount disc that it washed out the hints of anything audible. They almost do that on loud recordings, this might've been a quiet one.
Is it maybe a Vertical cut record? I made a switch box that takes the stereo cartridge and runs the coils in series so the stylus picks up the up and down movement for these types of records.
Played to death was my first thought.But it looks bright and shiny.And most played to death discs have tons of service noise.This just sounds like played without having the amp turned on.QUIET.
As far as I know Paramount did no Hill and Dale and no Vertical Cuts.But I admit my Paramount knowledge is limited.
I believe that only Edison and Pathe made vertically cut records in the early days of records. I don't think that Paramount ever did. I have a Pathe Hawaiian music 78 which states on the label that it is "needle cut", but I don't think that it is a vertical cut. The sound is also weak so it may be an acoustic recording. If an old shellac 78 is cleaned with an alcohol-based cleaner, it will take the sound right out of the groove, but leaves the record still looking great. Found this out through personal experience.
I thought that vertical cut records applied more to those 1/4 thick records so I'm just throwing it out there. From what I know though, that's the type of sound you'd expect to hear if it was cut that way. Even when I wired my cartridge to play mine, it still sounded like crap.
If an old shellac 78 is cleaned with an alcohol-based cleaner, it will take the sound right out of the groove, but leaves the record still looking great. Found this out through personal experience.[/QUOTE] I think this alcohol cleaning is the culprit.An me being sober 12 years,where's the justice. Thanks guys for all the good feedback. Gives me reason to stick around another 14 years.