https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/images/8/81/Im19351114MEE-PercivalM1.jpg

Send your two shillings and sixpence and you will receive your 10 inch record by return.

Given when it was made one hopes they have a backup in case someone drops it, and for when they run out of needles!

As originally planned this would not be an issue as it was intended that they be produced as 'Permarec' recordings which were supposed to be unbreakable and 'give perfect reproduction using an ordinary steel needle' (ME Vol 73, No1791, 5/9/35)

However a few weeks later it was announced that due to the high costs of 'Permarec' recordings it was necessary to produce them as standard disks – so keep a tight hold on it after all I'm afraid! Also Percival Marshall noted 'they must be run at a fairly low speed to give a characteristic representation of my voice' (ME Vol 73, No1793, 19/9/35)

Having only recently purchased some volumes of ME from the 1930's I have not long read these for the first time!

Edited By Nick Clarke 3 on 07/04/2020 17:01:25

As a kid I would try to get my toy soldiers to stay on the 78 player but it was too whizzy

My dad had a big collection of jazz 78s from the plantations in the 20s and 30s, some guys had used a recording van to produce the originals in the deep south. He sold his entire collection for 50 quid around 1980 when he got bored of them

I recall that you had to be pretty nifty on the needle and a record only lasted for a few minutes a pop

.

Will this do ? … **LINK**

http://www.graham-ophones.co.uk/needles/4591285693

MichaelG.

You tight wad. So that will be hhmm about £200.

Steve.

I've still got a pile of old shillings. A use for them at last?

Peter

This is a stereo pair [Stereoscopic, not Stereophonic]

The tip of a commercially manufactured wooden ‘gramophone needle’

… i.e. not a natural thorn

Arranged for ‘Parallel Viewing’ …. Click the image for a larger version 

Sorry about the image quality, it was just an experiment with a pair of low-res cameras.

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 08/04/2020 10:17:32

Admirably – thank you.

We still had some in about 1960, and a device for sharpening them. Dad said that they were made of hawthorn, though whether it was the actual thorn or turned from the wood of the stem I have no idea.

George B.

.

Very likely to be the actual thorn, I would say: We have Hawthorn trees in the field behind the house, and some of the thorns are impressive to say the least [and they do make very good material for crafting miniature items]

I suspect [but have yet to find any proof] that thorns were harvested, and used for their special properties.

MichaelG.

.

Edit: I have just looked at the [His Master's Voice] packet, and I see that the needles are described as thorn 

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 08/04/2020 12:57:28

Link to Percival Marshall recording

5th Posting down

TomK

on 08/04/2020 16:05:48

Edited By TomK on 08/04/2020 16:10:45