Re: Edison cylinders: any value?

[Beanstudio Mastering]

Call the Edison Museum itself in West Orange. (same town as my mastering
studio...)

website: http://www.nps.gov/edis/home.htm

You can try (973) 736-2916 as well.

They are is a major rehab, and may be looking for "new" old recordings.

Jim
http://www.beanstudio.com
"Nobody Hears it Better"


"Keith W Blackwell" > wrote in message
m...
> Friends "inherited" a box of probably just over 30
> of those old cylinder recordings from Edison's company.
> By inspection of a few, they appear to be in reasonably
> good condition (no visible junk or scratches). Where
> might I point them to find out what they should know
> before they consider trying to sell these (probably on
> ebay)? I don't think they know anyone with a player.
> Are cylinder recordings typically rare and of historical
> value or were they mass produced and likely to be the
> same things that lots of other folks already have? I
> really don't have a feel for this since I haven't heard
> any talk about them here or elsewhere. Perhaps this
> question is better directed toward music historians
> rather than audio engineers, but hey, I *know* you
> folks. :-)
>
> Thanks,
>
> --
> Keith W Blackwell
> keith . blackwell AT jymis . com

[Daniel Stover]

In article >, Keith W
Blackwell > wrote:

> Friends "inherited" a box of probably just over 30
> of those old cylinder recordings from Edison's company.
> By inspection of a few, they appear to be in reasonably
> good condition (no visible junk or scratches). Where
> might I point them to find out what they should know
> before they consider trying to sell these (probably on
> ebay)? I don't think they know anyone with a player.
> Are cylinder recordings typically rare and of historical
> value or were they mass produced and likely to be the
> same things that lots of other folks already have? I
> really don't have a feel for this since I haven't heard
> any talk about them here or elsewhere. Perhaps this
> question is better directed toward music historians
> rather than audio engineers, but hey, I *know* you
> folks. :-)
>
> Thanks,


Try contacting Kurt Nauck at (281-288-7826). My
partner is his sole employee and I've met Kurt a number of times.
Between the two of them, they probably know more than anyone could
about cylinders and 78's.

Granted they mainly specialize in 78's (and when he buys records it's
usually buying entire collections or large portions of them), they do
have a rather hefty selection of cylinders in each auction.

Best of luck,
Daniel Stover

[sgordon]

Analogeezer > wrote:
: http://www.tinfoil.com/b06b.jpg

Jesus, that's a friggin' STEREO setup! Now if they could only
find both of the cylinders and sync them up....

Scott

[sgordon]

Keith W Blackwell > wrote:
: Are cylinder recordings typically rare and of historical
: value or were they mass produced and likely to be the
: same things that lots of other folks already have?

Are any of your cylinders marked "Buddy Bolden"?
If so, let me know and I'll trade you some CDs for it. :)

Scott

[Edi Zubovic]

On Sun, 06 Jul 2003 00:18:53 GMT, sgordon > wrote:

>Analogeezer > wrote:
>: http://www.tinfoil.com/b06b.jpg
>
>Jesus, that's a friggin' STEREO setup! Now if they could only
>find both of the cylinders and sync them up....
>
>Scott

Oh, I think it's an m-s... see that middle horn? :)) Could be a sort
of Decca Tree too:) Now if one had the two cylinders, sync them
without a phasing error <g> that would be hmm....

And those Annunciators. A most practical thing, you know what you
hear: "Rusty Rag. Played by Wes L. Ossman, Columbia Records!!" :))

Edi Zubovic, Crikvenica, Croatia

[[email protected]]

sgordon > wrote:
> Analogeezer > wrote:
> : http://www.tinfoil.com/b06b.jpg

> Jesus, that's a friggin' STEREO setup! Now if they could only
> find both of the cylinders and sync them up....

Heh! Yeah, it's really interesting that these early
cylinders were all recorded in multi-channel stereo!
Sometimes up to 15 or 20 channels!

Problem is that the technology wasn't quite right.
Instead of multiple recorders hooked together with
rubber tubing turning the cylinders, what they
needed was one VERY long cylinder that they'd
load with multiple blanks to record at the
same time. You know, sort of like the old
Cook Labs LPs with the inner and outer stereo
tracks!

But then what with todays digital tools you could
still get them synched and even compensate for
the slight differences due to the "give" in the
rubber hose drive.

I never realized that to make copies of cylinders
you had to do it with multiple recorders and
multiple takes!

Benj

--
SPAM-Guard! Remove .users (if present) to email me!

[Scott Dorsey]

sgordon > wrote:
>Analogeezer > wrote:
>: http://www.tinfoil.com/b06b.jpg
>
>Jesus, that's a friggin' STEREO setup! Now if they could only
>find both of the cylinders and sync them up....

This has been done a couple times, both with the cylinders and with some
discs where a safety was run.

With the cylinders, there was no good method for mass-production, so they
were recorded simultaneously on a lot of machines and then a lot of takes
being done. This makes it interesting in that you can get several cylinders
with slightly different performances on them. This can make it hard to find
a pair for stereo, but it also means that some cylinders are more valuable
than others even of the same song and performer.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."