I Found This Very Odd Single-Sided Record...

by **J. S. Bach** » 22 Jun 2011 17:10

...at a thrift near Philadelphia and am quite curious as to what it might be. I initially bought it for the
embossing on the back as it reminded my of some ols acoustic 78s and would make a neat wall display:

A close-up of the embossed RCA Victor logo:

When I got it home, I looked more closely at the recorded side and noticed the odd label :

A close-up of the label (it is really white), note the word "SAFE" stamped on it:

Any ideas as to what this might be would be nice to read. I am thinking test pressing or something similar. It
is the "SAFE" and the reversed numbers that intrigue me. BTW, I do not know what speed it is, due to the
embossing on the back, I am thinking 78.

by **Spyes** » 22 Jun 2011 19:34

Play it and see! If it's any good, I would even suggest transfering to the PC and uploading for the rest of us to judge

That's some neat stuff right there, never seen anything like it! But that's what is cool about vinyl, you can even design the medium itself to be art... very cool indeed!

by **Blue Angel** » 22 Jun 2011 21:26

Nice, interesting find. Must be 78rpm as I have one with a large "Angel" logo embossed on the back.

ba

by **wintermute** » 24 Jun 2011 02:17

Might even be one of the 'inverse' 78's.

by **abelb** » 24 Jun 2011 11:07

Hmm very interesting. Is it shellac or vinyl? It looks like a 16" disc for use in radio stations in the 40's / 50's? It could even be a radio advertisement. Nice find.

by **abelb** » 24 Jun 2011 11:18

Some info from Google:
"16-inch coarse groove 'transcription' disks were widely used in the USA for programme distribution and, if processed, were made of vinyl. The quality was generally excellent. They had a signal to noise ratio of around 58dB but a directly recorded lacquer disk could achieve 68dB."

http://www.btinternet.com/~roger.beckwith/bh/grams/grams_4.htm

by **Alec124c41** » 24 Jun 2011 11:21

wintermute wrote:Might even be one of the 'inverse' 78's.

The groove in the inside looks like it is done from the inside out.

Cheers,
Alec

by **abelb** » 24 Jun 2011 11:28

http://www.charm.rhul.ac.uk/history/images/pubimg/full/Beardsley.press.jpg

by **abelb** » 24 Jun 2011 11:31

Might even be one of the 'inverse' 78's.

The groove in the inside looks like it is done from the inside out.

Does that mean it's played from the inside to the out?

by **Alec124c41** » 24 Jun 2011 11:36

Correct. Many of the old transcriptions were done that way because there was less problem with the shavings, which would tend to drag toward the middle.

Cheers,
Alec

by **abelb** » 24 Jun 2011 11:46

It would be quiet a novelty to watch one play!

by **krisjay** » 24 Jun 2011 20:45

Very cool find, this is the sort of thing I love to see, keeps me wanting to go out for the hunt.

by **classicstylus** » 26 Jun 2011 23:19

I have a 14 inch, double sided "Disque Pathe" beside me as I write this. Mr.Hollman is playing "Nocturne" by Chopin on the cello on one side and on the other he plays Bizet's "Adagietto" from "L'Arlesienne". Being an outsized shellac 78rpm(?) record, I can't play it because it requires a very long arm!

If anyone can tell me more about this record, I would be interested to listen. I bought it in a charity shop for £1 because I didn't want to see something I thought might be quite rare get broken.

Michael.

by **paul401** » 27 Jun 2011 04:47

Hi,
Classicstylus, some info here, a French site, but google it and you can get a translation.

http://www.hervedavid.fr/francais/phono ... Saphir.htm

This is a link to the google page, it's the last one in the list; http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q= ... 1&aql=&oq=

Would seem to be from around 1911 at the earliest, could be later.

Paul