Scully lathe restoration project photos

[skyonion]

Yes audadvnc, I've been successfully cutting for a couple of months now.

I started by cutting tons of test tones and pink noise in order to find out the frequency response, then I came up with an EQ preset that makes the cutter's response more linear. I'm also using my Urei LA-22 compressor in it's narrow-band mode as a high-frequency limiter which seems to work well.

Since then I've cut 30-40 dubplates of different stuff, at first for myself, then selling them cheap to clients. Mainly 33lp 12", up to 20 minutes a side, but a few 45rpm 12" DJ singles cut as hot as possible without inducing too much distortion. That was interesting, as the higher cutting levels for those seemed to excite the upper resonances of the Westrex head, changing the frequency response a little bit compared to the LP-level cuts I was used to.

I've also cut a couple of production masters, one of them an album I'd mastered for digital already. The other one was brought to me by a new client on 1/4" tape and I did an all-analog transfer to lacquer. That was fun & made me feel like a mastering engineer from another era. Test pressings for both albums sounded good with no apparent problems, thankfully.

My next project will be incorporating the automatic variable feed system that I found for sale recently:
https://www.lathetrolls.com/viewtopic.php?t=3533&mforum=lathetrolls

Hopefully when I get that running with automatic variable LPI I'll be able to cut LP sides a little longer.

The one issue I'm struggling with at the moment is a slight scraping noise that the advance ball can cause in the cut. This only happens when cutting towards the edge of the lacquer where it's slightly warped. On 14" masters it's not an issue because the lacquers are totally flat at 12" and the advance ball doesn't make any noise there. But, on dubplates it can be heard in the lead-in groove sometimes. Anybody else have that problem, or a solution to it?

[EmAtChapterV]

This is kind of bringing this topic back from the dead, I know he doesn't post anymore, just lurks... But I had the good fortune to stop by Gus' mastering studio while in Portland last month, to chat record cutting and mastering, admire his setup and cut a dub of an old live rock show. He did the lead-in and lead-out, I had the honour of doing the spirals and pitch control.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGeAt0vrRvg

I'd forgotten how much I miss cutting records until I was in the room with that magnificent old machine. Life and finances sort of got in the way these last couple of years, as they do.