What I'm looking for is...

Post #275,618 by jb4 12/12/06 11:01:13 PM Reply	What I'm looking for is... ...a decent turntable that will play 78s. My dad has a surprisingly large collection of olld Decca 9and others) 78s, mostly classical, that I'd love to digitize. Original Caruso! Egad! jb4 "When the final history is written in Iraq, [link\|http://images.ucomics.com/comics/tmate/2006/tmate060926.gif\|it'll look just like a comma.]" — George W. Bush, 24 Sep 06
Post #275,622 by lincoln 12/12/06 11:10:35 PM Reply	You might as well because they have almost zero resale value. Years ago when my grandmother passed away, I took her collection of 78s down to that record shop on the SW side of Chicago. I think it was around the 9700 block of south Western in the Beverly area, but the location is fuzzy nowadays. Anyway, it was the primo shop for buying and selling used LPs according to the Chiago Reader. Unfortunately, the owner said that even he had no market for music that old and refused to take them off my hands - even if I gave them to him for free. I think my mom threw them away on the next trash day. lincoln "Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from." -- E.L. Doctorow Never apply a Star Trek solution to a Babylon 5 problem. I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a *Citizen* of the United States. [link\|mailto:golf_lover44@yahoo.com\|contact me]
Post #275,631 by Another Scott 12/12/06 11:36:34 PM Reply	Here ya go. [link\|http://cgi.ebay.com/Garrard-TYPE-A-70-turntable-wood-case-1960s-KILLER-NR_W0QQitemZ330059228423QQihZ014QQcategoryZ3283QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item330059228423\|Garrard Type A70] on eBay. I'm not up on Garrard as a brand except to note that my father has one almost exactly like this that he's used for decades. It's $10 at the moment, but it's in unknown condition. Search around for "Garrard turntable" and you may find a deal. HTH. Cheers, Scott. (Whose dad had lots of [link\|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_Jones\|Spike Jones] stuff on 78s.)
Post #275,637 by Steve Lowe 12/13/06 12:25:44 AM Reply	Garrard was a top name in the 70's Dunno how they compare nowadays. -- Steve [link\|http://www.ubuntulinux.org\|Ubuntu]
Post #275,659 by Another Scott 12/13/06 10:15:58 AM Reply	Probably about the same. They pretty-much [link\|http://www.garrard501.com/history.html\|ceased] to be a major turntable company by 1979. ;-) More information on Garrard is at [link\|http://www.theturntablefactory.com/garrard.html\|The Turntable Factory]. Cheers, Scott.
Post #275,707 by lincoln 12/13/06 4:26:06 PM Reply	How did they compare to Dual? I had one in college before I lost it to a burglary. Now I've got a Sony that I haven't used in years, but it worked the last time I tried it. lincoln "Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from." -- E.L. Doctorow Never apply a Star Trek solution to a Babylon 5 problem. I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a *Citizen* of the United States. [link\|mailto:golf_lover44@yahoo.com\|contact me]
Post #275,735 by Ashton 12/13/06 8:38:25 PM Reply	Re: How did they compare to Dual? Speaking as one evaluating/peddling such things, at the time - Garrard was ~ mass-market Plymouth 4dr. sedan of the changers. A few higher-end were produced, none of lasting significance IIRC. Dual a decided step^ - as changers go/went. But audio-fidelity was all about turntables, particular arms, and very-particularly about cartridges: then as now. Many early changers had 78-45-33 settings, as did a few turntables (even there were a few 16 rpm narration discs! + a few of the above with that setting. I never saw a 16 disc.) Today, probably best bet to audition 78s is some turntable. (A few 78s were produced with good equipment on vinyl, as were some later 78s of contemporary performances - for audiophiles.) These are no more 'obsolete' right now than, say: an original Toscanini recording is, or will be in 2056. Changers won't accommodate decent modern cartridges (though a Dual would handle near-decent, in the day.) Many cartridges had optional 3-mil stylii available; elliptically shaped were ~ best. These are likely hard to run down, now. Dunno what specialty shops have come up with lately. I don't play in the fields of, especially today's Mondo-$$$ equipment for the obsessed 1% ... wanna see an ad for a $40K turntable? Many (most?) 78 recordings were never rereleased on 78 or 33 vinyl; the artists being very-daid. ie treasures will remain Out There for some time, unless the land-fill reaches the inheritor before a collector can hear, bid, enjoy.. gloat over find. PS - wash the records! if you do acquire a player. Use lukewarm water, some detergent and a new paintbrush (semi-stiff == not sable fine grade!) and brush in 'plow' mode. Lots of fine debris will come out. Rinsing: at least distilled water final rinse; best of all - 'deionized water' (favored too, by Yuppies washing their Meguiar-waxed $60K parked icons, each Saturday.) Dry in dish rack or via warm air blower. (I have some Caruso, Amelita Galli-Curci, Jussi Bj\ufffdrling et al. Alas my \ufffdber-grade Linn-Sondek turntable may or may not adapt for 78; I have no 78 stylus-equipped cartridge, either. Yet.) Not high on list, as none of my copies is of a rarity.. Til the remaining stuff really IS trashed wholesale(?) Someday, if there are many survivors of the Nuke Age - they will despise us for the art we trashed, during this period of retro-knownothingism (as they will despise the hucksters who sold the idea that 'the new' is always better aka So Buy-new! Land-fill the old! - to demonstrate your Cla$$ to the neighbors.) ie recently I was watching Born Yesterday, Billie Holliday's magnum opus of the Smart dumb-blonde VS Broderick Crawford's Junk-bizness man of another era - his worst characteristics are found today in a few, on every Bored of Directors. Ugly prescience, in 1952?

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