I also believe that RCA's pre-grooved discs were purely vinyl. I bought a box of new ones a few years ago, and tried to make a recording off of the sir on the RCA 381 phono combo I have. The result was, that there was a recording on the disc (using the proper styli, of course), but since the disc was hardened from age. I had to drive the slats out of that pichup head to get a signal on the disc.
The only way to get a decent disc recording would be to get some freshly lacquered blank discs, or get one of the old disc recorders and cut a master on the big wax cake, and .......let's not be silly. I have several blank discs. I've tried to cut a new recording on one, but the groove is so screechy, it's ridiculous to even try, and that's on a Presto K-8! Anyway, the stories tell that, since shellac had been a critical material during WW II, Victor and a few others began to resort to vinyl as a substitute. Vinyl is cheaper that shellac. and made quiter surfaces, so RCA pressed quite a few of their classical records on transparent red vinyl, and called them "Red Seal Deluxe" and charged double the price of the sheelac discs. It wasn't long after that that Dr. Goldmark (CBS) launched his LP discs. > [Original Message] > From: Robert Wright <esrobe...@hotmail.com> > To: Phono L <phono-l@oldcrank.org> > Date: 11/20/2010 12:01:23 AM > Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Really Vinyl? > > > Actually, the Victor Home Recordings discs are straight up modern vinyl in every perceivable way -- exactly as flexible and plasticky as today's records. And those were what, 1929? Vitrolac, MGM's Metrolite, and other branded fomulations were part vinyl, part shellac-type something-or-other, and were certainly more flexible (less breakable) than shellac discs, but they were still more like shellac than pure vinyl. Meanwhile, the V-Discs from WWII (many of them but not all) were fully PVC like modern records. Vinyl didn't become common until the LP in 1949 as far as I remember. > > > > From: cdh...@earthlink.net > > To: phono-l@oldcrank.org > > Date: Fri, 19 Nov 2010 21:52:47 -0500 > > Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Really Vinyl? > > > > I was surprised a few years ago to see that RCA used Vinyl on their LP > > discs of the early thirties. In many places, the material for those Program > > Transcriptions was identified as "Victrolite" whatever that was supposed to > > have been. But, I have the RCA Victor dealer fact book from 1932, where the > > Long Playing records were anounced, and they said that the discs were made > > of "Vinylite". It's really interesting how vinyl plastics ahve been around, > > in one form or another. > > > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.oldcrank.org
