Saber and Spurs March by NY Military Band

This recording is on celluloid Edison Blue Amberol cylinder record No. 3591. The recording was made by the New York Military Band in July, 1918. This march was written by John Philip Sousa and dedicated to the 311th Cavalry of the US Army during World War I.

Edison produced Blue Amberol cylinder records from 1912 to 1929. This particular cylinder was dubbed from an Edison Diamond Disc, which was common practice after 1914.

The phonograph is an Edison Standard Model D from around 1908. It is an external horn machine designed to play 2-minute and 4-minute cylinders. For this record it is equipped with a Model H reproducer and set for 4-minutes. The horn is an aftermarket product, not made by Edison. It is suspended from a crane and connects to the reproducer with a rubber tube.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Edison
• Standard
• Model
• Sousa
• Saber
• and
• Spurs
• March
• Blue
• Amberol

[DjangoMozart]

Wow, primitive dubbing done in the factory ! Thanks for all your input. Are you on FB ?

[phonophilo]

It wasn't primitive at the time. We're talking state-of-th-art for the 1910s. Everything was done acoustically. Even the best dubs are simply recordings of recordings. Yes, I am on FB. I think we belong to the same Antique Phonograph Enthusiasts group.

[DjangoMozart]

That would explain varying degrees of sound QUALITY, but what about tracking RPMs accurately ? Wouldn't all of this dubbing been done electrically ( assuming that it's in the factory ) , or are these dubs chiefly done by the general public ?

[phonophilo]

Dubbing means that the cylinder master was made by re-recording it from a Diamond Disc playing on another phonograph. They would literally stick the horn from the recording lathe into the horn of the disc phonograph. I am not sure, but I think the cylinder recording lathe was powered by a falling weight during the dubbing process. Dubbing was done in an Edison studio by Edison employees.

[DjangoMozart]

OK. Know anyone that has made one ? I don't even have any cylinders, just I figure one day , I'll get there. One of my beefs with the cylinder machines I've heard ( on radio ) are that they don't seem to play back very smoothly ( in terms of speed/ tempo ).

[phonophilo]

If the phonograph is adequately powered, in good repair, and adjusted properly, there should be no trouble. The only trouble with Edison cylinders themselves are Blue Amberols that were dubbed from Diamond Discs between 1915 and 1929. The quality of sound varies from excellent to horrible with most somewhere in between. My theory is that this was due to incosistency in the dubbing process by recording engineers and lack of good quality control procedures.

[DjangoMozart]

Yes, all recording then was acoustic, but not to employ electric motors to more accurately track a constant speed.I find surprising. I guess the falling weights WERE better than the motors of their day .

[phonophilo]

DM: Thank you. I only have a few 5000 series cylinders, but they are not electrics. I think most of those are in the vaults of wealthy collectors. :-)

[DjangoMozart]

Great ! So there is one. Good placement for the YT rec. Do you have any electric edisons ? I'm not buying, just curious.

[phonophilo]

The records are not discs, they are hollow cylinders. You slide the record on to a mandrel. It stays on by friction fit. Then, you wind the spring with the crank. Start the spring motor and the cylinder starts revolving. Then you set the reproducer down on the record groove. The reproducer has a saphire stylus that rides in the groove to vibrate a diaphragm in the reproducer via linkages. The diaphragm vibrates and creates sound waves. The sound is amplified by the horn.