My understanding is that the infrastructure to support shellac pressing no
longer exists. In its heyday there was a ready supply of the various
components (red and orange shellac, carbon black, rottenstone, cotton
flock, etc) in quantities that made mass production at relatively
inexpensive consumer prices possible even after the intricacies of
purification, homogenization, etc, of the base compound for pressing. (See
the three-story Banbury mixer in RCA Victor's film "Command Performance";
the major labels would have made their own, while smaller labels would have
been able to buy from industrial producers.)

The other factor is pressing equipment. Shellac compound has different
viscosity and temperature requirements than does vinyl, and vinyl presses
don't work for shellac.

Michael Shoshani
Chicago


On Wed, Aug 29, 2018 at 10:25 AM Brewster Kahle <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> I have a musician/composer friend that would like to make a "real" 78 of
> a recent composition...  is anyone stamping shellac these days for such
> folks?
>
> What I have seen from recent pressings in the great78 project seem to be
> more-or-less vinyl but turn at 78rpm-- this does not seem to qualify for
> this purpose.
>
> -brewster
>