Brittle

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In a charity shop at lunchtime, flicking through the vinyl, all tightly packed on the bottom shelf. Suddenly crack - I realise I've snapped a 78 in half.

And then I realised - it was exactly the same feeling as when I accidentally crush a snail when I take the bins out on a rainy evening.

[amidar Lonely Jelly Find all posts View Profile Close amidar]

Won a pile of records on ebay some time a go as I spotted something I wanted, think it turned out to be the only good thing in there but well worth the punt anyway there were a couple of 78's in that lot.

However his method of wrapping the pile of 50 records in a bin bag and brown tape didn't bode well for the shellac. Nothing of note just the usual Classical or Gilbert and Sullivan stuff but I know the feeling although it was more akin to finding a broken antique vase.

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I always flick through 78s. I tell myself there's always the slim chance that a Black Patti will be nestling in the local hospice shop. Trouble is I've only got my vestax handytrax to play them on. I've amassed a small collection of 78s now so I should probably at least get the right stylus.

I have the same feeling I get when I'm flicking through anything I'm unsure of: That I might be flicking past gold without even knowing. I occasionally see old foxtrots and music hall 78s and I'm sure they're delightful but pre-1950 British music is about as big a blind spot as I could have.

Has anyone on here prepared any kind of diggers guide to 78s? Labels to look out for etc. There's about fifty years of music I feel like I'm missing out on.

All that said I did pull a few 78s from the shop yesterday that made me feel less guilty about breaking their stock. They saw me flicking through the 78s and unaware that I was in the act of destroying them suggested they had some more in the back I might like to see. Never an invitation to be turned down they bought out a decent stack of 78s and one of those huge wallets that usually contains The Pirates of Penzance or some such rubbish. I opened it and it contained about 15 mid fifties jazz 78s on Vogue and Decca. So I bought it, and now I need to buy a gramophone. I'll post pics on the finds thread. In the meantime I also bought this on London American:

I was aware of Nervous Norvus from Kenny Everett's Worlds Worst Record Show LP on vomit coloured vinyl. Probably a formative LP for a few of us on here.

[theeman Lonely Jelly Find all posts View Profile Close theeman]

Not aware of a diggers guide to 78s but the Brian Rust discography of early jazz is an excellent reference (and the story behind the scene and man himself is told in an excellent piece linked here recently). There are many pricey 78s that are sought after by jazz collectors. I used to go to the Wimbledon jazz fair at the dog track years ago: someone there turned up a 78 very cheaply that featured an uncredited Louis Armstrong which later sold for quite a bit. Record and tape exchange used to be a good cheap source of 78s as they used to sell them for 10p or so, or even give them away if you'd bought a few LPs.

[SirSlim Chocolate Rain Find all posts View Profile Close SirSlim]

Suddenly crack - I realise I've snapped a 78 in half.

I too have experienced the snap

Not aware of a diggers guide to 78s

Pretty sure the old Mole Jazz Records auction lists had a section devoted to 78s - here's something a bit more recent: http://www.jazzhound.net/78-rpm-record-auction.html

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Similar with me an old ion suitcase jobbie notably rebranded the 'Numark PT-01' minus the USB port too I think, and 50 quid on the price. Oh wait a sec I have an old 'Garrard' with a flippable needle too but even that's a generic stylus.

I tend to gravitate to anything that looks a bit latin, Cuban etc but I rarely buy any 78's certainly never found any blues.

I've heard of people dressing up all 'Steampunk' and dj'ing on old gramophones, probably read that here somewhere.

[babycart Baldhead Growler Find all posts View Profile Close babycart]

Similar with me an old ion suitcase jobbie notably rebranded the 'Numark PT-01' minus the USB port too I think, and 50 quid on the price. Oh wait a sec I have an old 'Garrard' with a flippable needle too but even that's a generic stylus.

I tend to gravitate to anything that looks a bit latin, Cuban etc but I rarely buy any 78's certainly never found any blues.

I've heard of people dressing up all 'Steampunk' and dj'ing on old gramophones, probably read that here somewhere.

There's been a weekly show of old 78s on Spanish radio RNE3 since 2008.

http://blog.rtve.es/melodiaspizarras/

It's consistently brilliant- loads of old calypso, mambo, western swing, jazz, blues, boogie-woogie and Hawaiian stuff They've obviously sunk a lot of time and money into it.

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Similarly there's a 78s show on WFMU: The Antique Phonograph Music Program.

[treeboy Lonely Jelly Find all posts View Profile Close treeboy]

My mate in Perth Australia, occasionally does a 78s only night. I used to go to the Walthamstow Wind Up at The Kings Head, all ace 78s, played by Greg ('s Greats from Foxton) and Tony from the Wood St emporium. Have to say, they sounded terrific played out good and loud.
I started trying to bag the og 78s of the tunes the Bonzo's covered. Did pretty well, but Hunting Tigers Out In India is a bugger to turn up. I like a lot of those novelty foxtrot 78s. Still looking for The Sun Has Got His Hat On by Ambrose on 78. Got a couple of wind up Columbia players, and most of the old turntables I've got play 78. The Pye Black Box takes some beating for a 78 player.
They're just fun things.