[log in to unmask] wrote:
> I thought hot stylus was used much earlier than the late 40s (that's
> when LPs were introduced).
It was, after a fashion. The Universal Talking Machine Company revealed
in 1903, in litigation with Columbia, that they were heating their
recording stylus by creating an electric arc between it and a charged
wire, the thought apparently being that melting the wax would not
violate the Bell-Tainter patents on incising.
To my knowledge, the general practice, at least in England, was to heat
the wax to nearly 100 degrees F in a purpose-built oven, rather than
heating the stylus. Both HMV and Columbia (and later EMI) were doing
this in the studio and in mobile recording trucks, although I have no
idea whether this was done by their remote engineering crews traipsing
all over Europe, Asia, the Near and Middle East, and Africa.
Michael Shoshani
Chicago
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