The "rule of thumb" here is the same as that for playing lateral-cut
records: Use whatever stylus size sounds the best. That's not a flippant
remark. Depending on where the wear has been inflicted on the groove walls,
you can use a non-standard stylus size to ride on an unworn portion of the
groove and get better sound. This may mean you need to use a smaller one to
ride lower in the groove or a larger one to ride higher in the groove,
whatever gets around the worn portion better. And you never know when you
begin on a particular record what stylus is going to sound the best until
you try several of them.
The case with vertical cut records is a little different because the
wear is nearly always at the very bottom of the groove. In this case, you
can get better playback if you use a very large diameter or a special
truncated stylus to try to bridge the worn area, but it's a bit more
difficult. For vertical records in good condition, you can use just about
any size stylus you want, so long as you are using a low tracking force, say
2 grams or less, which is no problem for modern cartridges and tonearms. I
tend to use a conventional LP stylus (0.7 to 1.0 mil radius) for starters
when playing DDs or Pathes and it usually works pretty well. You have to
adjust your anti-skating force on the tonearm pretty carefully to prevent
skating or groove skipping, especially when playing the VERY shallow Pathe
grooves.
Likewise, an LP stylus should work well for playing celluloid 2 or 4
minute cylinders. Use of a smaller stylus tip will reduce tracing
distortion and improve high frequency performance.
However, I would advise that you use a large, original sized stylus when
playing any wax cylinders, even with low tracking force. This would be
about 3 mil for 4 minute and 6 mil for 2 minute. The wax is so soft that a
sharper stylus will cut the wax even at 2 grams tracking force. The 3 mil
styli are fairly easily obtained from several sources for the popular Shure
and Stanton/Pickering cartridges. But you just about have to go to Expert
Stylus in England to get a 6 mil size.
Greg Bogantz
----- Original Message -----
From: <[email protected]>
To: <Phono-L at oldcrank.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 1:40 PM
Subject: [Phono-L] Styli
>A friend has asked me to record electrically some of my vertical-cut Pathe
>records & I also want to record electrically Edison Diamond Discs & two &
>four-minute cylinders. I have sophisticated equipment for playing 78s
>electrically (for 17 years I produced a weekly show
> for the local FM station of Classical 78s) including a Packburn Noise
> Suppressor which has switch for playing vertical-cut recordings but I
> need styluses to play Pathe, Diamond Discs, & two & four-minute cylinders
> (using a Rabco tangential tracking arm & the mandrel &
> motor from an Amberola 30) that will fit either a Shure M44 cartridge,
> Shure M78S cartridge or Shure Model "V" cartridge If any of you all
> have had experience in electrically-reproducing vertical-cut records of
> various types & can advise me on sources for such styli I would greatly
> appreciate it. (I know of Expert Pickups in England but their prices are
> out of this world so I hope to find a more affordable source.0
> Thanks!
>
> Jim Cartwright
>
> Immortal Performances
>
>
>
> jimcip at earthlink.net
> EarthLink Revolves Around You.
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> http://phono-l.oldcrank.org
