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 For the last 10 years or so, I've been collecting 78rpm records, which were the greatest thing since the wax cylinder back around the turn of the 20th century, and remained the standard for recorded music til the mid-1950s or so. They generally contained no more than two songs per record (early records were only single-sided) and they're mostly made from shellac (ground beetles), which is much more brittle than modern vinyl and, uh, doesn't flex at all. Early records were made acoustically by having performers sing or play as loudly as possible into a giant horn. Electric recording became available around 1925, so there's a distinct improvement in sound quality after that time. So they're heavy, brittle, and extremely inefficient ways to listen to music. Why collect them? I bought my first record about a decade ago for a dollar. It was not terribly interesting, music-wise, but it was from the mid-1920s and I was amazed by this nearly-hundred-year-old artifact that contained the voice of a long-dead, mostly-forgotten performer. I inherited my grandpa's old stand-up, wind-up Victrola, which uses no electricity whatsoever--just clever acoustic amplification to bring those century-old voices to me. There are people who have been doing this much longer than I have--double my lifespan, in some cases--and whose collections are infinitely more valuable and interesting. But this is mine (at least the photos I currently have access to). I have a few records that could be considered "firsts": In 1918, the Original Dixieland 'Jass' Band released Livery Stable Blues on Victor. The record sold well, and is widely considered the first recorded jazz music. It was one of my first finds as a collector, on the floor of a record store for $1.00. In 1922, fiddle player "Eck" Robertson recorded and released two fiddle songs, also on Victor. These are widely accepted as the first commercially-recorded country songs (ie 'old time' songs recorded by actual countryfolk, and not professional studio musicians). I found a copy in a thrift store for $.49.  Because of their fragility and oftentimes low pressing numbers, 78s can be scarce or rare. There are some records out there in the hands of private collectors which are believed to be the only surviving copy of a recorded song. People go nuts for old rare blues and jazz music, especially. While I don't have anything THAT rare, I've got a few that are probably pretty scarce--according to Columbia's sales records, this one by Grover Rann and his Mountaineers was recorded in Atlanta in 1930 and only ever sold 736 copies. Imagine how few of those there probably still are after 91 years! Mine is in nearly mint condition and sounds great.  There's a lot of music on 78rpm records that doesn't really exist anywhere electronically, which means they run the risk of being lost or nearly inaccessible to anyone without a physical copy of the record. When I find that one of my records doesn't have a presence online, I rip it myself and post it to my YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xL9AR7WdrQg&list=PLY_7vE78x3GfGRn0iIkqIGE8QiU9BZNFF My collection these days is primarily pre-war country, 20s/20s jazz & dance bands, and blues, and post-war rock and roll, but I have a bunch of other records that I've picked up over the years that I've found interesting. I might post more when I get home if there's interest--I'm mostly making this thread to see if anyone else on SA is also interested in these, or if it's just me toting these heavy-rear end albatrosses all over the country with me. I can never move houses again.
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Oct 13, 2021 20:39
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| # ¿ May 9, 2024 22:44 |
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Deep Glove Bruno posted:78 collecting can be viewed two ways, I feel: I guess it depends on what you want to get out of collecting. I'd (almost) never buy records with the expectation that I can flip them for money. I have been able to sell enough records that are semi-desirable but not super interesting to me to keep it from being a complete money-sink, but in general I try to keep my collection pared down to only those items that legitimately bring me enjoyment. I had a few thousand at one point, but I'm down to only about 700 now, practically all of which I'd be happy to pull off the shelf and listen to.
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Oct 13, 2021 21:08
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Deep Glove Bruno posted:How many shelf-feet was 3000 78s!? Come to think of it how many shelf feet is 700? Four figure vinyl collections in my experience are like "whole wall" type situations, and dudes with more than ~3k LPs are seriously considering loadbearing/foundation concerns in their storage solutions Current collection is maybe 8 shelf-feet, plus whatever fits in the Victrola cabinet? Pretty manageable. I came into a collection of ~1500 or so all at once, which inflates the maximum a bit...Once I realized what I'd gotten myself into I found new owners for the vast majority of it extremely quickly lol. My collection is basically self-limiting by the amount of shelf space I've allotted. I see photos of guys with entire basements full of records and I just feel terrible for their next of kin whenever they go. Once you hit that number you're closer to a hoarder than a collector--I feel like if you can't enjoy whatever it is you're collecting, you're doing it for the wrong reasons.
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Oct 13, 2021 21:53
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