Aluminum Record Fairchild 1934 Professional 78 RPM Record Marching Band Music

An aluminum record made in 1934 by Fairchild Label reads Fairchild professional record use only Fairchild needles,caution do not use steel needles. It is two sided, and has lead in grooves on one side and none on the other. Someone evidently didn't read the caution notice and played it on an old Victrola with steel needles, and about 30 seconds of the flip side at the beginning is damaged.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• aluminum
• 78rpm
• record
• metal
• records
• fairchild
• 78-rpm
• marching
• band
• music

[stratocat9999]

Just a word to the wise: these records were meant to be played with a bamboo needle, as a steel or a diamond stylus will destroy the groove in the soft aluminum.

Archivists use a special fiber stylus to play these back to prevent damage. There are very few actual broadcast recordings that survived the scrap metal drives during WWII (the thinking was, 'who wants to listen to 10 year old programs?). Once lacquer discs were perfected for instantaneous recording, aluminum discs were obsolete.

[maynardcat]

@stratocat9999 Hi Yes a steel needle  like on an old windup phonograph would destroy the record, and heavy tracking tonearms without steel needles I would not use. They have a warning stamped on the record do not use steel needles. This record is being played with a Shure N-78 stylus at only 2 grams.

[dancebandleader]

@maynardcat Right! but I understand these aluminum discs have a different SHAPE groove

and although your needle pressure seems harmless, you don't say if your stylus matches the

shape of the groove, maybe more volume will be had with the exact shape.

[maynardcat]

@dancebandleader I understand that aluminum records do not have a groove, but rather a light embossing on the surface, which severely limits the fidelity that can be recorded on the disc & they cannot be cleaned The Shure N-78 is compatible with the standard 78 grooves from the late 1920s up. Certain brands of older 78s had to have a special stylus. A larger 78 stylus can extract more sound from badly worn records , and sampling different types of 78 stylus for best tracking can help.

[NoRecordSnobs]

I recently got my hands on three of them. You can hear one on my page.

[mestredigital2]

Please upload de side two.

[Mr3wheeledbike]

How rare is that

[mendali]

Interlochen, MI!

[WCPR1620AM]

@Vinylrecordsneverdie Yes it is rare! Aluminum records are hard to come by. If I can check it at a flea market someday, I'll try to get it. I still have my GE Wildcat record player with only 1 needle which is a "Diamond Stylus", does it play aluminum records on my GE Wildcat with a diamond needle on one side?

[Danni768]

@stratocat9999

Does anyone know what these types of records are worth? I have two of them.

I am not sure what is on them since I have not played them.

Thanks!