10 Aug
2019
10 Aug
'19
10:50 a.m.
| From: Alvin Starr via talk <talk@gtalug.org> | The old 78RPM recordings were made of a shellac material that I believe was | more resilient than vinyl but both the masters and produced records were | subject to degradation with use. I gave away my grandmother's 78s to someone who promised to digitize them and give me a copy. That has yet to happen. The needles in 78s are quite different from 33 RPM LPs. Much cruder. They were typically steel or cactus thorns! Mixed in with the shellac was an abrasive, intended to keep the needle sharp! Imagine where the filings ended up! In the stereo LP world, great care was taken to avoid anything abrasive. The needles were made of very hard materials like diamond.