Are you using the Wrong Stylus?

Got a price list in the mail today for some collectors records. On the back is a little blurb from the owner ( a 30 year collector of records)

Here is the blurb: (and I think he is talking about playing 45s only here)

"Why do many pressings on labels such as Sun, Modern,RPM, Specialty, etc sound so poor?
Could it be we are not using the equipment they were intended to be played back on, such as large tipped needles? You may think playing them with 78 RPM needles could improve the sound, but only do this if You do not care about your collection. Ripped grooves here we come!!! The 45 needle back then was sized about halfway between the 45 RPM needle of today and the 78 needle. Sam Phillips would not have released those records if they sounded that way"


Ok......anybody ever hear of this??

Mikey

 

So noted!!

 

Steve.....thanks for answering.

One more question for ya:

This Summer i will be archiving some 350 45s on the old HIT Label (the Nasville knock off label) to DAT

Now I know to use a conical stylus, but what cart would you recommend? The 45s are the real old, nice HEAVY ones, and they are something called "Compatible Stereo" meaning they will play back in stereo on a stereo cart. mono on a mono cart.

What cart would you recommend that can be fitted with a Conical stylus?

thanks much!

Mikey

 

Thanks, boss. Much appreciated@@

Have a super weekend.

Mikey

 

Thanks for the tip, Steve. I know, I know...I should've been paying attention to your earlier posts.

This is the cartridge to get, correct? I was searching Shure's website and almost didn't find it because it's now marketed as a DJ/scratch cartridge. I have about 250 old 45's I'd like to put on CD and this will really save my other Shure and A/T carts.

 

Okay, thanks! I'll keep searching for that better price. You know, at first I thought we just had different concepts of cheap-o.

 

Wow...that's exactly the combination I've been using.

 

I actually have two of those M44s with the "-7" tip. (If I had to guess, the 7 might mean a 0.7mm conical tip, or something similar?) I only use one of the carts now, though, with the green 78RPM stylus, to play what little shellac I still own.

I am curious, though: I play all of my 45s with the V15V-MR, and haven't heard anything that can reproduce my 45s with such low distortion. In fact, I recently purchased some Esquivel RCA 45s dating from the mid to late 50s, and the one I cleaned on the vacuum plays back so cleanly and quietly, you'd think it was from a tape and not a 45RPM single. Some of my 45s are 80s reissues of oldies, but my 60s A&Ms and late 50s to mid 60s RCAs are originals.

My thinking is that with the tighter groove geometry of a 45RPM single, wouldn't it be better to play them with a "line contact" type of stylus that would more easily track the high frequencies? Or do some of the old 45s have wider grooves where today's standard stylus would bottom out in the groove? (Which is why some might try to play them with a 78RPM stylus...?) The only thing I ever noticed when switching from my other elliptical carts (Shure, Dynavector, Grado) to the V15 was a very noticeable drop in distortion.

Just a curious gearhead asking questions tonight.

 

Rudy....wanna sell me one??

Mikey