Edison Model 3-C Long Play Diamond Disc phonograph

Edison Model 3-C Long Play Diamond Disc phonograph playing 24-minute LP #10002, "Recollections of Gilbert and Sullivan" selection: "The Pirates of Penzance".

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Edison
• LP
• Model
• 3-C
• Long
• Play
• Diamond
• Disc
• phonograph
• Gilbert
• and
• Sullivan
• The
• Pirates
• of
• Penzance
• record
• player

[bobthefishguy]

Is the record 24 minutes in total length or 24 minutes per side?

[Phonophan79]

@bobthefishguy per side.

[luvmyrecords]

Since it's a 78, how is this achieved? Groove cramming? It's great, and btw, I play my regular Edison DD's on a stereo, using a diamond stylus (gotta be stereo to play the vertical cut!)

[Phonophan79]

Yup! There are 400 lines per inch, more than a modern LP. Do you have to reverse the polarity on the modern stereo?

[windoes98se]

is this electronicaly amplifyed, or is the stylus hooked up to a big horn

[Phonophan79]

There is no electricity used at all. The spring motor is hand cranked. ...the horn is behind the grill with the ornate designwork on the middle of the cabinet.

[PKamargo]

@Phonophan79 Vertical cut records will play well on modern phonos if the cartridge is magnetic type, no polarity change is necessary. Using crystal cartridges (piezoelectric) it may play, but with reduced volume.

[bobthefishguy]

@Phonophan79 Thanks for that clarification. I'm reading the definitive Diamond Disc book and it notes that the long play discs held 5.625 minutes of recording per inch. I guess the author must have counted two opposite radii of groove length instead of one. Man, then the 12" had 40 min per side! Imagine if Edison liked jazz!

[RICKROLLBLENDER]

@Phonophan79

Wtih 400 lines to the inch, Edison's long playing discs were NOTORIOUSLY prone to skipping, even with the long playing stylus, that you have.

My advice: use an electric turntable, say a high quality DJ set with an adjustable weight, with the blue and white wires, say in a four wire cartridge, reversed. This way, you can digitize them without screwing over the grooves, if you've set the weight to as minimal as possible

[esroberto1]

Edison was a genius inventor, but a dismally tasteless record label president.

In his defense, when RCA Victor tried putting out 33rpm records in the 30's (called "Program Transcriptions"), very few of them were more than reissues of recordings already in the Victor catalog. I have one 12" set of a Shostakovich piece, but for the most part, RCA missed the same boat Edison did.

[otterhouse]

And weird Edison did not get the idea to record a complete symphony or opera....

[luvmyrecords]

How interesting! No, I don't have to do anything - I just plunk (well, not plunk) down the tone arm. By the way - I use an LP diamond needle - the 78 stylus I have is too wide!