Record groves and pointy things

[Blvdre]

It's not the digital worms, it's the vinyl blight. My discs are all rotten now.

OH NO!!

Ha! Touche! My pun(k) rock wife would be proud, Fini.

[artto]

Looks like somebody dragged a needle across that record in the first picture. Look across the bottom of the picture and you could see a series of smaller grooves cut across the actual record grooves.

Ah, the magic of REAL THREE DIMENSIONAL data!!!

The nice part about some of this is that the stylus (needle) very often doesn't ride in the part of the groove where the damage is. Look closely and you will notice that the scores (probably from a needle dragged across the record as Steve mentioned) are actually across the flat (top) part of the vinyl, not actually "in the groove". And sometimes just changing the stylus to another one with a different profile lets the needle ride on new surfaces that haven't been touched before.

But yes, it is utterly amazing that we can get the sound quality we do from a 50 thousandth+ pressing on a plastic groove with a polished stone being dragged through it at 7.5 inches per second while wiggling a magnet or wire coils at the opposite end of a suspended cantilever.

[artto]

I have watched a cutting head on a Scully Lathe in operation through a microscope which most lathes have and was astonished at how irregular the grooves are. At one point the grooves even appeared to collide. The engineer said this was normal. Such is life in the analog world.

http://www.hrsrecords.com/index.html

c&s

Actually, I have an old Meissner 4DR portable disc record recorder/player with two arms ~ one for cutting, one for playback. My dad used to record with this thing instead of reel to reel tape.

[oldtimer]

That's PDC artoo.

[Clipped and Shorn]

Wow, that machine looks to be in beautiful shape. Have you ever thought about cutting a record just for kicks. I'll bet you could still find blank discs somewhere. Len would know. Contact him through: http://www.hrsrecords.com/index.html

=Z+X

I have watched a cutting head on a Scully Lathe in operation through a microscope which most lathes have and was astonished at how irregular the grooves are. At one point the grooves even appeared to collide. The engineer said this was normal. Such is life in the analog world.

http://www.hrsrecords.com/index.html

c&s

Actually, I have an old Meissner 4DR portable disc record recorder/player with two arms ~ one for cutting, one for playback. My dad used to record with this thing instead of reel to reel tape.

[artto]

Actually, I have a box of brand new uncut discs by AudioDisc. I think theres 12 to a carton. Pretty weird looking at a blank disc, all shiney like a black mirror. I believe these were made with an aluminum "core" with acetate covering for cutting the grooves. My mother used to have to grab the cut material to keep it from interfereing with the record while my dad did the mic and gain things.

[Clipped and Shorn]

Whisking away the curls to keep them from interfering with the record cutting was something I saw the professionals having to do also at the Scully Lathe. The whole operation was so "analog" and old school, amazing, and it all is exemplified in that blow up of the actual grooves.

= Z'nX

Actually, I have a box of brand new uncut discs by AudioDisc. I think theres 12 to a carton. Pretty weird looking at a blank disc, all shiney like a black mirror. I believe these were made with an aluminum "core" with acetate covering for cutting the grooves. My mother used to have to grab the cut material to keep it from interfereing with the record while my dad did the mic and gain things.

[Clipped and Shorn]

Whisking away the curls to keep them from interfering with the record cutting was something I saw the professionals having to do also at the Scully Lathe. The whole operation was so "analog" and old school, amazing, and it all is exemplified in that blow up of the actual grooves.

= Z'nX

Actually, I have a box of brand new uncut discs by AudioDisc. I think theres 12 to a carton. Pretty weird looking at a blank disc, all shiney like a black mirror. I believe these were made with an aluminum "core" with acetate covering for cutting the grooves. My mother used to have to grab the cut material to keep it from interfereing with the record while my dad did the mic and gain things.

[fini]

Whisking away the curls to keep them from interfering with the record cutting was something I saw the professionals having to do also at the Scully Lathe. The whole operation was so "analog" and old school, amazing, and it all is exemplified in that blow up of the actual grooves.

= Z'nX

Maybe they should have worn hair nets.

[oldtimer]

Ed (I know what that does to you).