Edison diamond disc collectors

At what point (chronologically and index number wise) did they switch to electrical recording? Going through a large lot that came when I bought my player I found one in the 8000s with a big red star printed on the label.

 

I don't think that any of the thick ones were electronically recorded. They switched to a lateral cut stylus when they started recording electronically and had thinner discs. From what I've seen, those electric discs are quite scarce these days.

Where's David (drh)? He'd know!

 

There were electrically recorded hill & dale 1/4 inch Edisons made starting in 1927.
Lateral "Needle Cut" electrical thin Edisons were produced for a short time in 1929. I don't know the other specifics of the OPs question.

 

Edison's electronically recorded disks

Edison's electronically recorded (a very inferior system as compared to Western Electric's) diamond disks made it to market prior to the introduction of their last gasp 'needle cut' shellac pressings, which are inherently more noisy than the best Victor pressings of '29, and of course, even more inferior to Columbia's laminated pressings.

Note that early "DDs" (with the photo-engraved labels) have surfaces that are significantly inferior to the later ones (with the paper labels)

They also had extremely narrow groove "long playing" diamond disks that could run about 24 minutes per 12" side @ 80 rpm.

They also made 12" store samplers with bands of different recordings available for sale. So, a phonographic emporium could have music running unattended for multiple sides.

The earliest DDs were shipped in costly boxes as compared to much more common paper sleeves. Such enclosures are extremely rare.

 

Here are the earliest electric numbers in various series:

popular--52089
light classical--80885
classical/opera--82351
German ethnic--57025

Note that Edison had another operatic series that started at 82500; none of those are electrically recorded, so the electrical 82xxx records are between 82351 and 82360, the last of that particular series.

The red star has nothing to do with electric recording. It was a flag to dealers that the company considered that record unlikely to sell well; hence, as the dealer had been warned, unsold "red star" dealer stock was not returnable for credit, unlike the records not so marked. Curiously, some of the best DDs got the red star treatment.

As to the recording quality, well, that's in the ear of the beholder. I have a few of the Edison electrics, and in general they sound quite good, although the earliest ones show signs that the company was still feeling its way with unfamiliar technology. The LP discs, now, really *do* sound inferior, but they were all dubbed acoustically from standard issues and played back with a sonically inferior reproducer.

One last interesting tidbit: the sole commercial electric recordings of the celebrated soprano Frieda Hempel were two sides that she cut for Edison in early 1928.