Along the lines of reel-to-reel, I was stationed in the Army at Ft. Hood, Texas for a year and half during 1954-55.  I was a Hi-Fi nut, so when I saw a review for a Crestwood 504 (I think that was the model number) that would record and play back half track mono, I got really excited.  Since Ft. Hood was in the middle of nowhere, and there was nothing else I wanted to spend my big "salary" on,  I was able to save up and buy one.  The specs were somewhere between 50Hz to 15,000 Hz, unheard of until then.  I still have the 7 1/2 IPS  5" demo reel entitled, "A Crestwood Cruise" that came with it with selections from the Livingston tape library.  We were blown away by the sounds that we could play and record. I had built a Heathkit FM tuner and amp that we could use for program sources and playing, so life was just a bit less boring.  I kept it, and in college recorded a playback that three of my buddies and I made for a quartet contest where
 we lip-synced the opening of our song with choreography to fit, and then, moved up to the mike to sing the end, live.  The audience loved it, but we were disqualified, since it wasn't in true barbershop tradition.

--- On Wed, 4/18/12, Michael Biel <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

From: Michael Biel <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] reel-to-reel tape mono
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Wednesday, April 18, 2012, 5:47 PM

From: Steven Smolian <[log in to unmask]>
>> I can't do the pictures, but have the following in my
>> tape incentory, not checked for quality:

>> Mercury MVS-2-32 Sarah Vaughan. After Hours
>> RCA APS-105 Prez Prado
>> RCA CPS-110 Tito Puente
>> Omega ST-3020 Bernstein. Backgrouinds for Brando

>> I realize these are not jazz but give a brief idea of the lines that
>> had jazz titles as well. I'm sure there were many such on Mercury.
>> I believe World Pacific had some 2-tracks as well.
>> These are 2 track, in-line.
>> Much of the answer depends of how one defines jazz.
>> Steve Smolian

These four tapes are 2-track stereo.  I think they were looking for
2-track MONO or full-track mono.  RCA Victor did issue about 16 mono
tapes between 1954 and 56 when they started issuing 2-track stereo
including the two you show.  The first letter indicates the length of
the tape which determines the price.  The P is for Popular, and the S is
for Stereo.  Mono tapes had only two letter prefixes. 

Unfortunately I am not near my catalogs, otherwise I could list them
all.  I have some of the tape manufacturers catalogs as well as several
years worth of the Harrison Tape Catalog.

Mike Biel  [log in to unmask]


-----Original Message-----
From:  Yasuhiro Fujioka
> Dear Mr. Steve,
> Could you show me pictures of those? If not available, at least
> I want to know discographical data. Thanks in advance. Fuji

-----Original Message-----
From: Steven Smolian
Yes. There were some on Livingston and Concerttapes. Others as well.
Steve Smolian

-----Original Message-----
From:  Yasuhiro Fujioka

May I have one question?
My friend Miyamoto looks for commercial reel-to-reel tape of Jazz either
single track/mono or 2 tracks/mono (but not 4 tracks/stereo.) We only
know
jazz reel-to-reel tape 4 tracks/stereo but never seen single/mono or 2
tracks/mono.  Have you ever seen that?  Fuji