Along these lines, Gerald Gibson compiled a huge bibliography for the old 
AAA or IASA.

Steve Smolian

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Biel" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, December 04, 2009 10:33 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Instantanous disk litterature


> Lars Gaustad wrote:
>> Hi,
>> I have a student who would like to conclude her bachelor degree with work 
>> on degradation, cleaning and replay of recordable aluminum disks.
>
> Usually when we refer to discs just as "aluminum discs" we think first of 
> the embossed  uncoated  aluminum discs that were used in the late 1920s 
> through 1934 and occasionally after.  I'm not sure if these were used much 
> in Europe, and from the following I suppose that this is not what your 
> student means.
>
>>  So I ask you for hints on reference literature on instantaneous disks 
>> ( acetates, lacquers, whatever your choice of term might be) in general, 
>> and aluminum disks specifically.
>> lars gaustad  senior preservation advisor  national library of norway
>>
>>
>>
>>
> Because aluminum was only one of the bases used for coated discs (such as 
> glass, steel, plastic.and fibre)  I generally wouldn't suggest the word 
> "aluminum" be used as a general description word.  "Lacquer" or "lacquer 
> coated" is preferred.  "Acetate" is incorrect because the discs were not 
> coated with cellulose acetate, it was cellulose nitrate, so nitrate should 
> have been the name but it was rarely used.  I discuss in my Ph.D. 
> dissertation "The Making and Use of Recordings in Broadcasting Before 
> 1936" why broadcasters fell into the habit of calling them acetates -- it 
> was because there were discs PRESSED of acetate in the early and mid-30s 
> (such as Flexo pressings for Brunswick transcriptions and the flexible 
> clay colored discs for World Broadcasting System) and the special needles 
> used for playing them were also used for lacquers.  I have come across 
> examples of pressed acetate discs with vinegar smell, and this is 
> IMPOSSIBLE with lacquer discs because they WEREN'T acetate, so this is an 
> important reason why not to call lacquer discs "acetate".
>
> There were several good guides published in the era of the discs that are 
> good guides to how they were treated at the time.  AudioDevices published 
> several editions of  "How To Make Good Recordings" and there were two 
> editions of "The Recording and Reproduction of Sound" by Oliver Read which 
> have good information on the cutting of the discs.  Playback methods have 
> vastly changed, of course, and the preservation and cleaning of the discs 
> was not an issue back then.  I should note that there were other types of 
> "soft-cut" discs used in Europe in the 30s and war years such as gelatin 
> as floppy and coated on glass or aluminum, Decelith, etc. that are rarely 
> discussed in American works.  It is especially important to be able to 
> note the gelatin coated discs from around 1933 to 35 because the coating 
> is water soluble.   I've only seen examples in a private collection in 
> England, but I suppose they exist elsewhere.
> The subject is complicated, and even more so in Europe if your student 
> wants to be all-inclusive.  If the only interest is in the standard most 
> often encountered lacquer coated aluminum base disc, there are a lot of 
> publications and postings that discuss these.  ARSC-AAA published an 
> extensive preservation manual about 20 years ago, and there are a number 
> of web sites that have pages about the topic.  But there is a lot of 
> mis-information floating around out there.
>
> Mike Biel   [log in to unmask]