I am so loving this conversation. The idea of bringing back
shellac.....just awesome.
I just think of bands like the Ink Spots whose record sales were so
impacted by the lack of shellac during the war. I just had to move my
collection, reminding me how durable....yet HEAVY....shellac is.
I love the idea of bringing it back. Seems like in the Heirloom world we
live in, there has to be someone, SOMEWHERE...who would not love the idea
of taking this project on. I would be one of the first people who would
want to do a pressing.
David
On Wed, Aug 29, 2018 at 3:11 PM George Brock-Nannestad <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> From: Patent Tactics, George Brock-Nannestad
>
>
> Hello -brewster and others,
>
> the main problems seem to be 1) the shellac-based mineral-filled material
> must
> be made up using modern machinery. There is no doubt that this can be
> done,
> only there will be a) a lot of experimenting with actual composition and
> hot
> rollers, and b) this modern equipment that has been re-purposed must be
> cleaned
> afterwards. Such things contribute heavily to cost. The raw materials are
> available.
>
> 2) modern pressing plants would probably be able to do the job after
> experimentation with the temperature cycles. This contributes heavily to
> cost,
> because the pressing machine cannot turn out revenue-creating vinyls at
> the
> same time.
>
> You need to metallize the original master, be it wax or lacquer. The
> latter
> could follow the standard procedure for vinyl records, in particular
> disco-singles (45 rpm 12"), because they already use very large grooves.
>
> Wax is a different matter, but vacuum chambers are so large these days
> that the
> initial metallization could probably be made professionally to
> specifications.
>
> In other fora I have proposed that the Columbia laminated process be used.
> Here
> we have pre-pregs with the fine shellac mixture laminated with a coarse
> center.
> Not compressed wood filings like Edison -- it would need to have a mineral
> filler as the original records. I am willing to cooperate un such
> projects. I
> have cooperated on acoustic recording to disc.
>
> Best wishes,
>
>
> George
>
> ---------------------------------------------------
> From: Brewster Kahle <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [ARSCLIST] anyone still stamping shellac?
> Date sent: Wed, 29 Aug 2018 08:24:03 -0700
> Send reply to: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
> <[log in to unmask]>
>
>
>
> > 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
>
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