I have done it. I used glass based discs during WWII, and as you've already said, the acetate flakes off the glass very readily. It's hard to get a good bond to the glass with what amounts to paint! As you might suspect, glass was a wartime substitute for aluminum.
Now, on the Victor pre-grooved discs. The system did work, as long as the plastic disc was soft enough for the recording stylus to re-shape the top of thr grooves. I've bought several packs of recording styli off of eBay and at rather reasonable prices. I have several of the early RCA sxets with the home recording, including an RE-57. Today, the discs have hardened enough that, while you will get a take on the disc, the modulation will be faint. Acouple of years ago, I did a quickie off the air on an RCA 381 (1935), and it does play back, but not enough to crack the plaster. My equipment consist of a few W-G Recordios, and a Presto K8. I have plenty recording blanks, but again, the acetate has hardened to the point that a cut is very noisy.......screechy. When I used to buy new blanks in the fifties, as a kid, the test of freshness was if your fingernail could make a little dent in the acetate. Another thing to think about is whether your recorder (a cutter) has a crystal cutter head or magnetic. Most home recorders of the forties had Astatic X26 crystal heads, and they're all dead today. There is a guy in Canada who rebuilds cryatal pickups, and I believe, crystal cutters. The Wilcox-Gay and other recorders had crystal cutters on them. > [Original Message] > From: Andrew Baron <[email protected]> > To: Antique Phonograph List <[email protected]> > Date: 12/2/2006 11:05:00 PM > Subject: [Phono-L] Glass recording discs and home recording systems > > I have a bunch of the acetate-surfaced 12" glass recording discs, > NOS, still in their original wood crate, ca. WWII. They're > interesting in that you can hold one up to the sun or other strong > illumination and see right through the disc. The light shining > through the acetate layers and glass appears as a deep, dark blue- > gray. The recording surfaces are a perfect mirror-- I'd say smoother > than the Wilcox-Gay or other home or commercial recording discs or > acetate transcriptions I've seen. A couple of these have the acetate > unbonded in great flakes, revealing the clear(er) glass core, but > most are perfect. Some day I'll see how well they record on the > Recordio, in relation to their aluminum-cored brethren. > > Home recording has interested me, in its various evolutions from > Edison cylinders to the commercially unsuccessful RCA Victor pre- > grooved discs of the early thirties to the more successful acetate > coated disc systems of the late thirties to early fifties. I've > accumulated all the apparatus to record on these various systems; > machines, cutting styli, blanks, etc. Have done some experimentation > with the cylinders and the acetates. I've played around a bit with > the wire recorders (what a pain that system was! -- Very crude > arrangement of friction bands and spring tension to regulate speed, > etc.), but haven't yet attempted recording on the pre-grooved Victor > system of 1930-31. Those blanks and cutting & playback needles are a > bit harder to find. I also need to do a full electronic restoration > on the RE-57 before I can get my feet wet on that system, but it > intrigues me nonetheless. > > Are there any on this list who have experimented with these systems? > > Andy Baron > > > On Dec 2, 2006, at 6:49 PM, estott wrote: > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Walt Sommers" > > <[email protected]> > > To: "'Antique Phonograph List'" <[email protected]> > > Sent: Saturday, December 02, 2006 7:21 PM > > Subject: RE: [Phono-L] Glass record > > > > Sorry if I'm wrong, but it sounds like you might not be aware that > > recording and transcription discs were made on glass cores during > > the war, to save on aluminium. Given an acetate coating the glass > > blanks functioned just as well as the metal cored ones but they > > were heavier, thicker, and of course they broke. > > > > Now, in reality the government had plenty of aluminum in stock, but > > attention to scrimping and saving was good for morale and kept > > people's minds occupied. > > > > Eric Stott > > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > [email protected] > > Phono-L Archive > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org/archive/ > > Support Phono-L > http://www.cafepress.com/oldcrank
