Info on record production at Audiophile Records circa 1964

[timinbovey]

I really wish pressing plants would still use Egyptian Beetle Oil in their compounds.

Not that far from reality, actually. Shellac was a major component of 78's. Know where shellac comes from? Shellac is a resin secreted by the female lac bug, on trees in the forests of India and Thailand. It is processed and sold as dry flakes and dissolved in alcohol to make liquid shellac. Used in everything from phonograph records to wood finishing products and many other things. Lac beetle spit from India or Egyptian Beetle Oil, I'm good with either one.

Tim in Bovey

[timinbovey]

According to the folks at Apollo Masters in California they blend their own lacquer coating for their blanks. "The ingredients, which must meet unusually tight specifications, are compounded in our Banning plant. The formulation and the process of preparing it are totally proprietary and not available to any other lacquer master manufacturer. These developments in aluminum and lacquer formulations allow us to exercise complete control over the critical raw materials, thus minimizing the major difficulties experienced in the manufacturing of lacquer masters."

But perhaps you are referring to products for pressing records as opposed to cutting? In which case, never mind LOL.

Tim in Bovey

Pressing plants do not blend any material at all in the USA or in most of the rest of the world
Wishing beetle oil Hashish oil or any other magic ingredients will only be a case of just dreaming about it
There are two exceptions to the above "no longer blend" statement
One plant in Germany does do its own blending for sure as I have seen photos of the facility as well as had some capacities etc
May be a hangover from days past as I don't think there is any economy of scale there
I also believe that GZ still does its own blending
George can confirm if GZ does do its own blending still
All other plants now days use material ready to use already blended it has either led or tin as an additive including some plasticising agents
These recipes stem from long gone plants when production of PVC record compound was in the multi 100 million tonne rather than quantity required to day
As a rule of thumb it takes a tonne to produce 6000 records assuming that there is 45 M records produced today as a best guesstimate its not that much by comparison
Besides no one is developing any "new" compounds as it is a case of:
Take it or Leave it
Cheers

[piaptk]

You wouldn’t expect Sam and Terry at Apollo to tell you EVERYTHING they throw into the mix would you?

Kris and I have been there when Terry was mixing the lacquer, and he DEFINITELY pulled down a gallon jug marked “Beetle Hashish Oil”, stuck his pointer finger into it... took a taste... swished it around in his mouth for a second while staring at the ceiling. Smacked his lips and said “mmmhmmm!” And then poured about three cups in and said “yup... and THAT is how the lacquer is made!”

[sameal]

I wanted to post this here to see if anybody can confirm it. I'm not one to doubt a professional, but I have seen no evidence linking howard holzer to audiophile records as stan describes here. Audiophile was based in saukville/mequon and haeco was off in california. But ewing knew a lot of big names and it could have happened. He also was a great engineer and held many patents in his signal company/radio company. But howard "could" have helped him. It just seems unlikely.

Full articule:

https://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/rickerinterview/ricker9.htm