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I had always heard that they were acetate, but you're probably right. I don't think I've every seen a Voicewriter, Audograph or Soundscriber with vinegar syndrome. Steve Steve Greene Audiovisual Archivist Office of Presidential Libraries National Archives and Records Administration (301) 837-1772 On Thu, Dec 19, 2013 at 1:43 PM, Michael Biel <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > The Edison Voicewriter Discs, and probably most of the others like the > Gray and Soundscriber, and Dictabelts, are vinyl, not acetate. > > > Mike Biel [log in to unmask] > > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Wet playback of discs. > From: Steve Greene <[log in to unmask]> > Date: Thu, December 19, 2013 8:52 am > To: [log in to unmask] > > Years ago, I played around with cleaning Edison Voicewriter discs (red > acetate dictation discs about the size of 45) by immersing them in > deionized water and Photo-Flo. After an hour, I gently scrubbed them > along > the grooves with a soft sable brush and decades old fingerprints lifted > off > like translucent scabs). After drying 24 hours on acid-free blotter > paper, > I was able to make a good playback pass. Not sure I'd have the gumption > to > try something like that today, knowing what we know now about the > effects > of humidity on acetate. > > Steve > > Steve Greene > Audiovisual Archivist > Office of Presidential Libraries > National Archives and Records Administration > (301) 837-1772 > > > On Wed, Dec 18, 2013 at 4:44 PM, [log in to unmask] < > [log in to unmask]> wrote: > > > I have had the same experience with lacquers. Play them wet, then see > if > > there is not a glob of your record clinging to your stylus. The > record will > > never play properly again unless you wet it, and thus remove more of > the > > lacquer. So you lose record and stylus. > > > > I have often wondered if there is some liquid that can be used for > playing > > a lacquer or shellac 78 to reduce surface noise without damage to > either > > record or stylus. > > > > IIRC, Seth once said at a conference presentation that he had applied > > pinch roller cleaner to a problem transcription and the results he > > demonstrated proved his point. However, that was to a problem point > on the > > record, so I don't know if it was intended to reduce surface noise as > much > > as clean that problem area. > > > > joe salerno > > > > > > On 12/18/2013 3:05 PM, Michael Biel wrote: > > > >> You cannot play shellac records wet, or even damp. Shellac discs > will > >> eventually dissolve in water, and by playing them wet you are > allowing > >> > >> the stylus to gouge out some nice soft shellac. Once played wet a > >> shellac record will never play properly dry again. > >> > >> Mike Biel [log in to unmask] > >> > > >