Just to add to this informal compilation of Diamond Disc records with the unground edges, I have seven that I've accumulated at random over the years, all etched label. The fin is still there, so obviously, no number was stamped on the edge. Of the seven, five are the flattened shield style, one is the no shield style, and one has the first style shield that's shaped like a US Highway sign. Of this last, one side has the first generation frosted etching but the other side is glossy with the full shields. I've always assumed that they were all factory rejects, but most of them play with very good volume, and with no notable indication of audible flaws. They even have less noise than many of the black etched label DD's, but I can't imagine that they were for tone tests because most of the subjects seem unlikely for that kind of demonstration. If anyone has any further insight, I'd be most interested to hear about it. The titles are as follows:
Under the Double Eagle - March (Band) -Frosted full shield label. I See Thee Again Waltz - New York Military Band -glossy full shield lable. Bear's Oil - Golden & Hughes The Two Poets - Golden & Hughes The Old Oaken Bucket - Knickerbocker Quartet Moonlight on the Lake - Knickerbocker Quartet Madelon - Arthur Fields -etched no shield label Memories - Burton Lenihan -etched no shield label, R side Snoops the Lawyer - Maurice Burkhart I Come From Get-It-Land - Al Bernard & Ernest Hare My Friends, Morris and Max - Maurice Burkhart Pittsburgh, PA - Monroe Silver Feather Your Nest - Lenzberg's Riverside Orchestra Whispering - Green Bros Novelty Band This is the first time I've put these all together in one place and made a list, and I see something that could indicate a third possibility, Tone Tests and factory rejects being the first two possibilities: Two different records feature the same artist, so I wonder if some recordings were pulled from production if an artist's contract were cancelled for some reason? In that case it's possible that the flip sides were retained but paired up with a different recording. If this last were true, then the same title by the same artist would appear in more than one pairing. Is anybody aware of multiple pairings on DD records? Regards, Andy Baron On Sep 19, 2006, at 6:29 PM, [email protected] wrote: > Robert: > Since your pressing has no label of any kind, I'd presume that it > was a test > pressing rather than a reject; a rejected regular pressing would > have a label. > I'm really not making any blanket assertions as to Tone Test disc > characteristics. After April 1921 I'd presume that Tone Test > records would have paper > labels like the rest. I noticed nothing unusual about my discs > except the > unground edges. I don't know for sure if any Tone Test records > were made up with > the same selection on both sides, but such a configuration would > make more > sense for a test record - used to determine which take was > preferable. What > little I THINK I know about Tone Test records has been learned in > the Wile book > and Ron Dethlefson's books and my own limited observations. I > haven't seen > anything written about them elsewhere. > > George Paul > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > [email protected] > > Phono-L Archive > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org/archive/ > > Support Phono-L > http://www.cafepress.com/oldcrank
