Playing cracked 78s

I have one 78 stylus I used for my Stanton 500, and I have never played a cracked 78s on it (although I have a few I'd love to). Is there any method around that makes it passably safe for the stylus? The records I have that are cracked aren't particularly valuable, and I have thought about trying to glue the edge, but that seems like it would be haphazard at best.

 

vanmeterannie:

I don't know if my answer will help, but my parents had a large number of 78 rpm records when I was a kid (Mom still has 50 or so, the other 400 or so were broken by movers ). Several of the records were cracked and we still played them on our old Silvertone stereo console with little apparent damage to the stylus; however, that was a ceramic cartridge and replacement styli were only $4-5 dollars and my Dad replaced the stylus assembly (remember the flip-over type? Lp on one side 78 on the other?) about every six months as we played a lot of records. I do know this: if the crack isn't jagged and the record sits perfectly flat on the platter, you may be able to play it without any problems (you will hear a tick every time the stylus passes over the crack). At any rate, I would keep an old, worn stylus for the purpose of playing those records only. You aren't really going to hurt it any worse, and 78's are amazingly durable: after all, during the heyday of 78's most record players were equipped with steel needles, and most of these records will still play, albeit with rather "scratchy" sound quality.

 

Yeah, when I was a very small kid, I remember our phonograph had little metal needles that looked soft of like the point of a compass. I think they were less than 1/2" long and there was a little set screw that you loosened to change them. They actually wore out fairly quickly. I remember you'd buy them in this little envelope that had a bunch of them in it. I remember that, since apparently "play records" was among the first things I ever said as a kid.

 

One thing to be aware of with cracked 78s: sometimes you can carefully wiggle the broken parts into alignment. Or if you can get it close, make sure the stylus would ride from a high side to a low side. If you do the opposite (going from the low side of the a crack to a high side), you can chop that stylus right off of the cantilever! Yep, I've done it, but it was with a cheaper cartridge a loooong time ago. I have a 78RPM stylus for my Shure M44-7, and so far it has played everything I have thrown at it.

I did hear once that you could super-glue the lead-in area of the disc to help stabilize the crack. If I did that, though, I would immediately copy it to a CD.

 

Any glue other than epoxy is very fragile in comparison to the shellac/carbon matrix, and will not be a permanent fix. I have glued the rim with a metal 'link', but the disk can still flex and the 'other side' can crack. With good equipment and a flat platter, the sound can be good, even quite quiet.

 

An interesting chance to try Steve's trick of pouring oil on the disc .. since you're transferring it (right?) and throwing it away anyhow. Just make sure the oil doesn't seep thru the crack and make a mess of the turntable. But it seems to me like it could help in giving the stylus a smoother 'ride' over the crack.