78'' inch collectors on GmG, are there any into collecting LP prior to 1950?

[Carlo Gesualdo]

You guys have seen the movie Ghost World , whit Steve Buscemi (one of my favorite actor), he collect them and have his nerdy friends into it.

But finding 78'' is hard in 2021 there all gone almost even on Amazon, Ebay, Discogs. So I wonder whom in GmG has a collection including 78' or people whom has a Turntable whit a Cornet to hear, perhaps old folks, common tell me what LP you got prior to 1950.

Once I seen two vinyls on Ebay, that were  super old and look awesome, a Stravinsky of 1927 of the famous '' Spring rite'' and a 1938 Alexander Mossolov: Iron Foundry But they were so expensive, the Mossolov was 80u$, the Stravinsky was 125u$ + insane shipping of course, I gave up... 

I wonder now if these old rustic vinyl made in the 20''-40'' are still around , I'm looking for the very first Gesualdo or Monteverdi LP.

[André Le Nôtre]

I have a few sitting around. Some of them had very interesting covers--specially-commissioned paintings. I have a 10" (Pathé ?) signed by Maggie Teyte, one of my favorite singers. I had--at one time--a very nice Thorens table with SME III arm and Shure V-15 cartridge (not my main 'table/arm setup) for playing these, but I only played them a handful of times. I will be God Damn Ned if I know where that 'table disappeared to.

Needless, to say, they are very much a specialty item these days and are not really worth the hassle to most of us LP cognoscenti (not "nerds"). Sure, If I had endless money and time and space, I would probably play (and FLAC) more (i.e., more than zero)...

Prior to the mid-20s, when the 78 rpm speed was standardized, there is some really interesting chit for which the correct speed is a matter of conjecture.

It is interesting to think of all the recordings that never made it from 78 (or earlier) to LP or CD.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I have a few sitting around. Some of them had very interesting covers--specially-commissioned paintings. I have a 10" (Pathé ?) signed by Maggie Teyte, one of my favorite singers. I had--at one time--a very nice Thorens table with SME III arm and Shure V-15 cartridge (not my main 'table/arm setup) for playing these, but I only played them a handful of times. I will be God Damn Ned if I know where that 'table disappeared to.

Needless, to say, they are very much a specialty item these days and are not really worth the hassle to most of us LP cognoscenti (not "nerds"). Sure, If I had endless money and time and space, I would probably play (and FLAC) more (i.e., more than zero)...

Prior to the mid-20s, when the 78 rpm speed was standardized, there is some really interesting chit for which the correct speed is a matter of conjecture.

It is interesting to think of all the recordings that never made it from 78 (or earlier) to LP or CD.

"Borrowed" by a child perhaps?  Have you done a recent purge of attic/basement/storage areas?  Or perhaps boxed-up in a closet in a guest bedroom?

I got rid of the few that I had...she said pondering a bit further.  I know that I at least tossed some of them...probably all.  At one point, I was wanting to purchase an old Victrola.  Space does get to be a consideration at some point in time. 

PD

[André Le Nôtre]

Hi PD.

Some of those Victrolas are really beautiful, but I regard them more as furniture/antiques than music reproducers. If you are serious about listening, archiving, and digitizing, I would really recommend you buy a modern 78rpm-capable TT with a decent arm and magnetic cartridge. The old players had very heavy tracking weights and the cactus or metal needles became blunt pretty quickly.

I have not listened to too many of these old players, but I think that aside from good acoustic vocal recordings, the sound quality is certainly not going to be anything special. Some of the vocal recordings from the acoustic era were shockingly good: There is a story of one audio dealer at a show playing recordings through his 100K$ system. Then, some guy in another room played an acoustic vocal recording on an old hand-cranked player from the same era. The guy from the 100K$ system reportedly said, "I must now go commit hari kari!"

In addition to Victrolas, there were many companies making players. Some of the later ones had electric motors. My favorite is an old Pathé from the 1930s--pure class.

I highly recommend this book if you can find it. I did a search, and the website is interesting too:



http://www.gramophones.info/grambooks.html

Damn, embedding does not work. The title of the book is Phonographi e Gramophoni. It is a small book, but the pictures are great and the collection is impressive.




https://www.ebay.com/itm/274606703894?hash=item3fefd5c516:g:fQEAAOSwSXdf0HsV

[Stürmisch Bewegt]

I had a Victrola (inherited from my grandparents) along with a collection of slightly over 100 78s until I sold kit and kaboodle several years ago preparatory to a move.  Its craftmanship was superior to any other single possession and it was gut-wrenching to part with, but something that had to be done (esp with rather large CD collection in tow I can't give up just yet).  I will say that I saw many 78s, pre-Covid at least, classical and popular, in Goodwill stores.  The most coveted - and I believe valuable - genres now are "race records", blues, and jazz of which I have never seen a single one.   

[steve ridgway]

There are several collections of digitised 78s on archive.org.

[Szykneij]

I have a bunch of 78s stashed away somewhere and an old Newcomb machine that can play them, but I haven't had the inspiration to visit them in a very long time.

A warning for anyone buying them on line:

The weight and composition of 78 RPM records present some shipping issues.  A while back I ordered a couple of Ernesto Lecuona 78s on Ebay and they arrived shattered because the seller had bound them too tightly together. When I contacted him, he was unsympathetic because "that's how I ship all my vinyl with no problems". When I explained to him that 78s are made of shellac and not vinyl, and they don't have the same flexibility, it didn't quite seem to sink in.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Hi PD.

Some of those Victrolas are really beautiful, but I regard them more as furniture/antiques than music reproducers. If you are serious about listening, archiving, and digitizing, I would really recommend you buy a modern 78rpm-capable TT with a decent arm and magnetic cartridge. The old players had very heavy tracking weights and the cactus or metal needles became blunt pretty quickly.

I have not listened to too many of these old players, but I think that aside from good acoustic vocal recordings, the sound quality is certainly not going to be anything special. Some of the vocal recordings from the acoustic era were shockingly good: There is a story of one audio dealer at a show playing recordings through his 100K$ system. Then, some guy in another room played an acoustic vocal recording on an old hand-cranked player from the same era. The guy from the 100K$ system reportedly said, "I must now go commit hari kari!"

In addition to Victrolas, there were many companies making players. Some of the later ones had electric motors. My favorite is an old Pathé from the 1930s--pure class.

I highly recommend this book if you can find it. I did a search, and the website is interesting too:



http://www.gramophones.info/grambooks.html

Damn, embedding does not work. The title of the book is Phonographi e Gramophoni. It is a small book, but the pictures are great and the collection is impressive.




https://www.ebay.com/itm/274606703894?hash=item3fefd5c516:g:fQEAAOSwSXdf0HsV

Years ago I went to an antique show and stumbled across a booth in which there were various brands of old 78 rpm players.  Lots of beautiful cabinet ones...all types really.  In fact, the booth consisted of only 78 record players!  And like in your story above, I was amazed at how good they could sound!  That encounter implanted the maggot:  "Oh, it would be so cool to own one of these and start collecting 78s!"   

That looks like a fun book too; thank you for mentioning it. 

Speaking of books, I did purchase this one (probably around the same time as I was getting interested in hearing old operatic recordings).  It's fun read/browsing:  https://www.amazon.com/Herman-Klein-Gramophone-GRAMOPHONE-SINGER/dp/0931340187

I used to be able to play 78's on my parent's old Magnavox, but that's long gone. 

PD