This sounds extreme. Kind of like cutting a master.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Copeland, Peter" <[log in to unmask]>

> Dear All,
> A brief reply from a Britisher. The problem cited by Tom Fine used
> to occur here; and when I was working for a certain British Broadcasting
> Corporation which shall remain nameless, I found a cure.
> The idea was to use an Ortofon SPU-GTE pickup cartridge. This was
> the best pickup cartridge with an ellipsoidal stylus, with extremely low
> "tip mass." By inserting small pieces of cut-up rubber-bands between the
> stylus and the remainder of the headshell, one could increase the
> downward pressure on the stylus without also increasing the tip mass.
> Then one could play the disc with a downward pressure of seven or eight
> grams - and the whitish haze would simply be removed from the groove. It
> formed minute piles of stringy material round the stylus, which would
> eventually break away; and a human-being puffing gently could blow the
> patches of haze off the turntable.
> After one such treatment, I could get a satisfactory transmission
> from such discs. In those days, the certain British Broadcasting
> Corporation gave us rehearsal-time for just such a reason!
> Peter Copeland
> Former Technical Manager,
> British Library Sound Archive.