Tips for Playing 78s

In their day, General Electric made the absolute best cartridges, either in the RPX series or the VR II series. The VR 1000 was a turkey, as were General Electric's other attempts at stereo models, but that's understandable because the developer of the mono models, Roy Dally, left General Electric to form Audio Dynamics Corporation (ADC), where he used the same principles developing his ADC stereo cartridges that he used with his previously developed GE models. Upon their introduction, ADC cartridges appeared to rave reviews from professionals and consumers alike. Alas, ADC fell on some hard times and found itself sold to BSR, the British makers of cheap plastic record changers.

 

Here's the first-ever recording of Irving Berlin's "Always," which was given a shot in the arm by Frank Sinatra's 1947 recording on Columbia 38686. This early Orthophonic electrical recording from 1926 on Victor 19959-A actually has some bass from a tuba and traces of sibilance, although early microphones didn't reproduce sibilance well, and most singers weren't close-miked. These early recordings were made with a single microphone that captured what the engineers hoped would be everything!

 

I realize that you are 100% correct, but I really don't notice much of a difference with this video. I do notice soon after the switch to AES that there is an irritating tinny sound in the background. That is a great record though and the sound quality is excellent. I'm not a fan of Columbia 78's from the 1940's and 50's due excessive surface noise and am surprised that this 78 of yours sounds so great. The Columbia 78's with a later of cork sandwiched between the shellac layers are the worst. In reference to one of your other posts, I have a bunch of Frank Sinatra 78's on Columbia, many in mint condition, and the sound quality, to me, is irritating with all the surface noise. Frank did a couple of 78's on RCA's Bluebird label and they sound so much better to me.

 

OUCH! That Brunswick 78 sounds worse than my Edison standard cylinder player with a signet horn. It was also converted so it could play the later 4 minute cylinder, which sound a bit better. I have a bunch of Brunswick Bing Crosby 78's and they don't sound nearly as good as his later Decca recordings, eventhough, by that time, Brunswick had gone to electrical recordings. Maybe that was the result of the inferior recording system Brunswick used, which you mentioned. I have been around Brunswick phonographs which had a optional reproducer to play the Edison discs. I feel that the Edison disc players had a superior sound, especially the low consoles which were similar to the Victor Orthophonic console. The first time I heard a Victor Orthophonic console, I have no idea that it was acoustic. The sound was loud, clear and full-bodied. It was playing a late pre-WWII 78.
Onto your side trip on Capeharts. The 400 series was their premier series. Some like my friend, who's name is also Bob, has one with the first series flipover changer with the tru-tangent 'TON' arm, it was heavy. It has a multiple speaker system and has 2 amps. By the time those Capeharts were made, or close to it, Capehart was now owned by Farnsworth. As far as the GE cartridge is concerned, that was a later factory upgrade. With the original cartridge, the shank of the needle was actually soldered to the cartridge and was only factory replaceable. I don't know what Capehart was thinking. If you sent your cartridge/head shell back to Farnsworth, they would replace it with a GE cartridge with a replaceable stylus.
Capehart was no stranger to phonographs which placed multiple records in succession. Back in the 1920's Capehart introduced their 28 series, which, I believe was named that because it played both sides of 28 records. The first ones were acoustic but later adopted the magnetic cartridge that other electric phonos were using. They were manufactured in coin-op, home, commercial and amp-less versions, with or without radios.
Homer Capehart went on to found the Packard jukebox company, competing with Wurlitzer, whom Capehart used to work for. The Pla-mor and Manhattan models used unconventional record changers, which had mechanical similarities to the Capehart flipover changers, but only played one side of the 78's. They also had superior sound to the Wurly 1015 and had so until the Cobra-equipped 1100 came out.
The final flipover changers could play 78's or 33's. To change types of records they would play, there were 2 separate tone arms, and by unplugging one and replacing it with the other also changed the speed. Of the ones which were converted over aftermarket, I've seen them that used the same GE cartridge that your Collaro has and that beautiful Capehart headshell had a hole drilled in the middle of it to accommodate the stylus change knob. Such a travesty!
Currently, I am looking at a Capehart 115 which a friend has. I am unsure if the cartridge had been changed over, but the cartridge is shiny metal with a bent-nail stylus sticking out of it. I may end up with it, but it scares me playing playing any record with that kind of needle, but I definitely am not going to destroy the headshell by drilling a hole through the top and putting in one of my mono GE VR II's.

 

Not all Brunswick "Light-Ray" recordings sound bad:

 

The Capeharts of the mid 40s came stock with a GE RPX-040 fitted with an RPJ-001 sapphire 3.0 mil stylus. Later 40s models came with an RPX-046 with the same stylus, however a diamond replacement was available as RPJ-003. Both of these models were single-tip cartridges that did not offer a turnaround bar into which a microgroove stylus could be mounted. Rock-Ola jukeboxes also used these cartridges in their 78 rpm models AND their microgroove models, just with different tips on the styli. The VR-IIs only came as dual tipped cartridges. I'm sure there are RPX-040, RPX-041 and RPX-046 cartridges out there that can be installed in the Capehart 115 if you wind up owning it.

chrome General Electric GE VR variable reluctance RPX or 1RM6C | eBay

[QUOTE="Currently, I am looking at a Capehart 115 which a friend has. I am unsure if the cartridge had been changed over, but the cartridge is shiny metal with a bent-nail stylus sticking out of it. I may end up with it, but it scares me playing playing any record with that kind of needle, but I definitely am not going to destroy the headshell by drilling a hole through the top and putting in one of my mono GE VR II's.[/QUOTE]

 

[/QUOTE]
I'll need to look at it again, I do remember the cartridge being chrome, but it had a dog-leg needle coming out of it.

 

It’s very rare that I find something exceptional just browsing now…the junk shops where you could waste a rainy saturday browsing through tonnes of 78s have mostly thrown them all out now, unfortunately, although I found a whole pile of Louis’ Okehs as excellent local Parlophones at one of them once.
You also sometimes see the 1926 Jelly Roll Mortons on Ausse HMVs pressed from the original metal around sometimes, I found some of them at a bazzar in Bendigo not that long ago, along with a whole lot of Ellington Brunswicks and Masters on Aussie Columbia/Parlo.
And sometimes you’ll take a chance on a box of mostly forgettable records and get lucky with some Okehs on Aussie Parlo, or some good Deccas or Columbias. That’s how I got a laminated Louis Oriental Strut, from 1926 Okeh metal on a very late Aussie Columbia. It sounds amazing.

For those who don’t know, all of the above labels - HMV, Parlo, Decca, Columbia, Regal-Zonophone, London etc. were pressed by EMI from 1931 to the end of the 78 era, almost always from original metal sources, and were excellent laminated pressings, of the calibre of late 20s Okehs/Columbias - not the cheap and nasty Columbia 40s laminated discs - and sound wonderful.

But the days of junking for great 78s in Australian cities are well behind us, I think.

 

You've had some great finds, I would love to come across these!
I've been acquiring 78's for only about 4 years, and have been reflecting that nowdays I don't see anywhere near the quantity or variety that I used to. I can still find the Mario Lanza's though, probably because no-one (including myself) is interested in them.

 

I’m sure this is simply because of the times - it’s slightly morbid but let’s say an 80 year old goes to the great record store in the sky this year. They were born in 1939, a teenager at the birth of rock ‘n’ roll and came of age at the end of the 50s/early 60s. Unless they were a specialist collector, in which case their records will be carefully sold off or sold to a specialist dealer, the chance of them having a whole swag of classic jazz records for their family to give to op shops or an antique store are pretty low.

When I started junking in the early 2000s, your dearly departed 80 year old would have been born in the early 20s and might have bought some of those 40s classic jazz reissues for their family to get rid of - and I presume that’s where a lot of those sweet Parlophone pressings of Okehs I turned up came from, sorting through acres of John McCormack, Richard Tauber, Winifred Atwell and her Other Piano, etc, etc, etc.

Although those Morton HMVs in Bendigo were a surprise! I spent more than I was expecting to that day!

 

This is a Collaro component series changer, apparently a Conquest. These changers exist, but far less common than the Magnavox Micromatic counterparts are (Magnavox later purchased Collaro of Barking, England).

 

Our main local Magnavox dealer had everything that Magnavox made and did have a component section, although I wasn't interested at the time. Then, they opened a short-lived stereo component-only store and had everything there but Magnavox. I got my copy of the JVC "Super Record" there. They had all the JBL speaker models, including one I have never seen since, a huge floor-standing model they called the "Studio Monitor" which had multiple speakers in them, maybe 7 or 9? Anyway, they were awesome and I've never heard better.

 

Oh, and concerning the Magnavox console I mentioned, I still haven't got to the record changer yet, but the radio works and plays great. Last year, I acquired a Capehart radio-phono console, with the famous Capehart "filp-over" record changer which I have turned my sights to. The electronics end of it is done and I have the record changer on a stand, going through it. Luckily, mechanically, it is OK, but needs a few tweeks but I still have to do something about the standard GE VR cartridge, which is dead.

 

Seems like you need specialized training to care for and play 78’s

 

I covet Les Paul 78s on the purple Capitol label. The fidelity is superior however you still need to turn the treble down and the bass up to get a balanced sound. A CN5625AL with a 3 mil diamond works well. An AT-3600 also works good with a 3 mil stylus.

 

You need a little easily read know how and the right stylus to play a 78 properly. It's easily learned, ask, and we're here to help.

 

Major Magnavox facts. For me, they were a major part of life in my area. Magnavox in their prime era was the 4th largest employer in Tennessee. They had their major factories in Greenville, Tennessee, their furniture factory was in Jefferson City, Tennessee. The EV Ceramic cartridges used in the changers, were made in Newport, Tennessee.

 

Les Paul was ahead of his time. His experimentation with recording techniques is well known. He had Ampex build him one of two 8-track recorders in the 1950's, the other went to Atlantic Records. His recordings with his wife Mary Ford were filled with technology. Eventhough double-tracking vocals was already being done, with Patti Page at the forefront, if you listen to "How High The Moon" Paul and Ford go way beyond the usual.

 

Les Paul and Mary Ford were doing disc to disc overdubbing before even Patti Page. Les Paul invented it.

 

I’m glad this got resurrected! Reminding me of 78s and Les Paul, I pulled out one of my favorite old tunes - It’s Been a Long Long Time by Bing Crosby with Les Paul guesting.

My goal now is to try and grab some of the old jazz/swing/ragtime examples I’ve been hearing.

 

Interesting article and video on how the Internet Archive cleans and digitizes 78s using a Keith Monks RCM and a turntable with 4 styli:
Here’s how the Internet Archive digitizes 78rpm records

 

For those who can't afford a $1000 record cleaning machine, here's an alternate method of cleaning 78s, with before-and-after results demonstrated:

 

In the thrifts I pick up nice examples of these cheap for myself and friends who dabble in 78's. Califone and Audiotronics seem like two brands that turn up a lot. They have those flip needles that one side plays 78 and the other 45/LP. I also use them to play 45's and worn LP's. It's my 78 solution and hopefully doesn't harm the records.Travels well too.

 

Yes, a warm water solution of Dawn dishwashing liquid is great. I have used a soft toothbrush for application and scrubbing as well as a sponge for rinsing. Always protect the labels and never get them wet! On cleaning solutions, if it has a blue tint, it has Dawn in it. Do not apply alcohol to a shellac 78, it will dissolve it. There are dedicated record cleaning pads to lay the records on for cleaning. Chamois work great for dying. Never let a record airdry. You can use this method to clean any record.

 

McLover pretty much nailed it, but I'll elaborate slightly: as with LPs, it all depends on what kind of results you want. Leaving aside antique spring-driven phonographs, which are an adventure of their own, for electronic playback, at a minimum, you need a turntable that spins at 78 RPM and a ca. 3 mil stylus, and you can have a lot fun with just that. More sophisticated gear applied with more knowledge will get you better, more truthful sound. It's the same principle as with LPs: at a minimum, you can go to Target, buy a Crosley, plug it in, and you're playing records. You'll get better results with a more capable turntable, a better cartridge, a better stylus, a better preamp, etc., etc. Or with digital audio: you can buy a CD boom box or subscribe to a low-bit-rate streaming service, and you're playing music. A component CD player or lossless streaming is better. Then you may want to improve further by adding a component DAC to the CD player or upgrade the DAC for your service. Then you learn about high-resolution files and upgrade the DAC to play those. Or you add SACD. Anyhow, as with anything, knowledge is power, but you needn't know everything just to have a happy start. Indeed, I've been collecting 78s for pushing up on 5 decades, and I still learn new things about how to play them all the time. And oh, by the way, up until college my gear was a turntable with fixed 78 RPM speed and a generic "78" stylus, and I had a blast.

I'll not go into detail here, but if you want to pursue matters I've written a string of articles on the subject of 78s and their playback, and at the risk of immodesty this will take you to a page that links them (and a few others that I didn't write): [Vintage column] On an Overgrown Pathé I'm in the process of writing up another handy little gadget for the 78 collector; I imagine that article will appear sometime in the next few weeks, and a link should go onto that same page.