78 rpm

I think someone on this group poo-pooed the value of 78 rpm recordings a
while back. Check this one out. I love the old time country but this seems
amazing.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=4762278681

William W Western wrote:
I think someone on this group poo-pooed the value of 78 rpm recordings a
while back. Check this one out. I love the old time country but this seems
amazing.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=4762278681


I just put another lot of 1000 records 78's up on ebay last night. Got
one heck of a collection here, from a few estate sales and a few flea
market vendors. The most valuable ones were the 1950's Elvis Presley
78's- they all went to Scandinavia for $50 each.

That one you found is some SERIOUS dough though...wow !

78's are like 8-tracks, another orphaned format. They were in use the
longest of any though- from around 1900 to 1960. So there's quite a
lot of them out there still.

I am amazed at how GOOD the electric recorded 78's sound. Definitely
superior to any CD, vinyl, or analog tape. About the only thing that
could give them any competition is the studio masters.

there was good music back then- the singers really could actually sing-
and you can understand the words to the songs...(smirk...)

On Mon, 12 Sep 2005 03:15:24 GMT, "William W Western"
wrote:

I think someone on this group poo-pooed the value of 78 rpm recordings a
while back. snip

That would be me. They are fairly worthless, as they're fragile and
sound like crap. Fewer and fewer collect large production 78s
anymore. However, some of the acoustic, early Berliner and early
Edison disks are worth a fortune in good condition.

I did a quick check of this one...it is *extremely* rare in any
condition, as it was a very low production run in the '30s, and is a
target for any serious early 78 collection.

As far as fidelity, 78s had none, except for those very late
production vinyl 78s recorded with RIAA EQ circa 1953-54. Many of
these were as good as the high groove modulation 45s of the same cut.
Example: Margaret Whiting, "Moonlight In Vermont," Capitol,
1954...vinyl disc, RIAA equalization with modern tape mastering, full
frequency range. I know...I have a copy. In the postwar '40s,
London/Decca did a lot of research into what became their "ffrr"
system, with all kinds of different equalization curves, but still
were noisy shellac pressings. By the time they got around to using
various experimental themoplastics, Columbia had invented the LP and
RCA invented the 45, and it was all over for the 78.

The Elvis vinyl 78s released by Sun are very sought after and usually
bring hundreds per disk in E to NM condition, and even a hundred in
VG. This is one area of 78 collecting where fidelity and surface
condition matters a lot. By about 1957, the only 78 production was
children's records, usually on colored plastic, and even these do have
their collectors and varying rarity.

I have one of the later 78s commercially pressed, and it's
in...gulp!...stereo! It's the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on Liberty,
released in 1970, with "Mr. Bojangles." Many copies of this
circulated in the record promotion biz and still others were handed
out by the band while on tour. There's nothing to point to how many
were pressed, since most of the Liberty records were lost or destroyed
after the UA/MCA takeovers. They generally can bring $150 in NM
condition. Fidelity's good, but noise due to reground vinyl gets
obtrusive at 78 RPM, partially offset by the heavy groove modulation,
which is about on a par with a promo/radio play/jukebox 45. The
master is the same as the LP cuts of the two numbers. Someone else
was releasing 78s after this, but I've momentarily forgotten his
name...cultish stuff, not terribly rare.

dB

ps- there is at least a few dedicated 78rpm collectors in every town-
the prices those disks fetch are much higher than any more format-
because they are more rare

they actually sound quite good- play a few on a good turntable,
epiphany will strike. there is detail on a 78 disk that isn't apparent
on analog tape or vinyl

and 78's simply KILL DVD audio or Cd's for sound quality.

that hobby has exploded just like the 8-track hobby, via the net- check
all the ebay ads, or just put "78 rpm record" in google or yahoo search
engines- an entire industry is springing up to cater the 78 crowd

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=78r...b-t&fl=0&x=wrt