The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls

I think it’s fine to use the word lacquer for a master, and it seems fairly universal nowadays, but to me that doesn’t mean acetate is wrong and I use it when it makes sense to do so. I have every right to change my mind about what word I use depending on the context, just as Larry has the right to ...

Correction according to whom? The word lacquer is not an official term, its just a de facto standard used in certain contexts to refer to masters and not dubs. Interestingly, the spokesperson for Apollo on this forum refers to "dubs" and "masters" and only uses the term lacquer to refer to the coati...

Larry Boden's Basic Disc Mastering from 1981 mentions the word "acetate" over a dozen times, and not when talking about instantaneous discs (see "acetate master disc" on page 4). He also calls it a "master disc" (pg. 8), "lacquer master" (pg.21), "lacquer acetate disc" (pg. 22). Ok that's just one b...

I came across this old thread and wanted to updated it. Apparently the torque on the newer Technics SL-1200MK7 can be adjusted rather easily. They also are able to play in reverse not sure how that would apply to this community but worth mentioning. These new decks have the digital pitch control ra...

In my albeit very limited experience, torque is certainly not the only factor. Yes you need enough torque… but torque without control is useless. Direct drive turntable motors come in a variety of flavours, but all of them contain a number of stators (electro magnets, always a multiple of 3) and rot...

Sorry for the short, late-night, phone reply... here is the long version. Cutting acetates on a T560 is possible, but not without a mod (the stylus) and some adjustments (heat and weight). BTW old acetates do crop up quite often, and most of the time they are quite usable, so if you don't end up hav...

Yes you can do it, the only difficulty is finding a sapphire stylus that will fit. If it’s a bit loose, stuff the gap with a tiny amount of cotton wool and it will be ok for testing. Acetates are also thinner than vinyl dubs, so you need to adjust the weight and possibly the proximity of the stylus ...

So an acquaintance of mine, who visited Tubby's studio to work with him, remembered seeing a Presto lathe in the corner of the room. This video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhLfddqlh3c (0:39) shows a tantalising glimpse of what looks like a Presto Type 125-A microscope (see: https://archive.org/d...

Sadly, most of the younger people there can not operate the equipment anymore. If you listen to the actual stuff that comes from jamaica, sound quality is very often ultra terrible, bad recorded and mixed... only the big artists have good sound engineers. they listen to the music everywhere, in the...

when i was there around 1998 there where at least: dynamic sounds: vms70 in bad shape but workable they had a 2nd VMS70 in a different room sort of hidden from the main room. I believe one of the VMS is still there with some pressing gear A mastering engineer by the name of Geovanni Simpson from Dy...

Looks like a great project! I can't help thinking that rather than make it open-ended, it would maybe be better to ask specific questions, each one in a new thread and then people can pitch in with what they know. For example, I just picked up a box of NOS Presto master lacquers. I don't know when t...

Thanks Dub Studio, I've just ordered a dauber bottle to try your method! Just to clarify - what detergent are you using to add to the Isopropyl? Is this washing up liquid? p.s. are you in Bristol, UK? Or a different Bristol?! Yeah use a touch of the old Fairy, but I guess you could use anything tha...

andybee wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 02, 2023 1:23 pm

after 50 years, you should replace this motors & pitch computer by something better...

Could the Maxon be that old?

What about the pickup stylus for the proposed 6-mil groove? 2.5-mil tip conical? Wouldn't the traditional shellac-era coarse groove be cut with a cutting stylus possessing a ~ 110-degree included angle (rather than 88.4 or so?)...? (...not questioning the proposed 3-mils' depth, per se, but the ang...

Thanks for the explanation, I am not questioning the value of what you are saying or the validity of modding time constants per se. I am sure plenty of people will find that information useful, and clearly this would be standard procedure when setting up a lathe for this task permanently. But the OP...

Hi Mushroom, welcome!

Fractional speed cutting ideally would include a customized recording network with adjusted time constants for proper decoding on playback at speed. 1/2-speed-capable cutting amps with built-in RIAA, por ejemplo. have this extra feature. Is that just a fancy way of saying "EQ it a bit"? In any case...

Perhaps some sort of flywheel might help. Motor noise is usually caused by cogging, and a flywheel is essentially a form of low-pass filter. The mass of the wheel increases the inertia of the motor, which filters out sudden changes in speed (like cogging). The only drawback with this method is that ...

I see no reason why this can't be done. If the mastering engineer doesn't have a 78rpm turntable, you can always send in a sample-rate-converted master and have it cut at 45rpm. Assuming the audio is mono, it will come out mono, but even if it is stereo, it's easy to centre it without audio loss. Va...

I don't clean discs, instead I use Isopropyl alcohol with a small amount of detergent as a lubricant and leave it on the disc. The alcohol spreads the detergent very thinly and evenly and then evaporates almost instantly so you can get cutting straight away. One tiny drop in every 100ml is all you n...