|
|
Crap-O-Phones are not crap |
|
|
|
What did you waste your money on now? |
|
|
|
Would you phonograph collectors believe that I actually bought one of those forbidden crapophones? Well, I did, and it works beautifully. |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
You mean, the spring didn't break yet? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
It has been wound over 150 times from Friday May 17, 2002 to Wednesday March 31, 2004 and has played my whole 78 R.P.M. Record Collection. Why is the windings so important? Because the phonograph collectors say that crapophones wind up only a few times, then they break. But my reproduction gramophone is still working. Below is a picture of the motor, in good working order, of course. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
How does the governor work? |
|
|
|
Most crapophones come with a poor reproducer. How loud is yours? |
|
|
|
|
You can see the governor which works by the three weights that fly outward with centrifugal force and pull a disc toward a felt piece which slows down the disc. The weights aren't pulling the disc toward the felt piece anymore so it speeds up again till the felt piece slows down the disc again. This cycle regulates the speed of the gramophone. The speed is adjustable so you can cover more acoustic-era 78's, not all of which spin at 78 revolutions per minute. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
My reproduction gramophone is LOUD. Average SPL with a dubplate is 80 dBa. Update, I played my India "Arivederci Darling/Moments to Remember" 78 on my gramophone and measured this one and it averages 85 dBa! The ten inch record runs for less than 3 minutes on one side. |
|
|
|
|
|
I want to impress my friends by having "Rapper's Delight" coming out of my gramophone. Is there a place that I can get a 78 made? |
|
|
|
|
|
So you want to play new (or techno) music on a gramophone? All you need is a 78 RPM record of it. One doesn't exist? Then get a dubplate of it! Dubplates are custom cut records made one at a time. They are made of a softer material than shellac, so they probably don';t last long. So far the one I';ve bought has lasted for more than 10 plays on a wind up gramophone. This is more than enough to impress your friends. Where do you get a 78 RPM dubplate? From www.turnstylerecords.com . You can fit 7 minutes on one side of a 12" record, or 5-1/2 minutes on a 10" record. I have the following new music at 78 RPM: |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Nelly-Hot in Herre, Kylie Minogue-Can't Get You Out of My Head
Chris Huelsbeck (C64)-R Type, Jeroen Tel-Alloyrun (edited for 3 minutes)
Tangerine Dream-Too Hot for my Chinchilla, Tangerine Dream-Atlas Eyes
Keith Sweat-I wanna, Unknown Artist-Get Closer and Love Me all up, Joe Public-Live and Learn, TLC-What About Your Friends
Purple Motion of Future Crew-2nd UnreaL, Sean St. Laurent-Orky Dookie Two, Dr. Awesome-Bridge to the Universe, TSM of Sunriders-OKS Import Division. (record is WORN OUT now.)
Aurora/Dreamweaver-A King Is Born, Andreas Bilke-Overscan, Matthew Simmonds-Ohno..a Demosong |
|
|
|
|
|
|
So the gramophone is loud. If I cut a record with closer grooves (and less volume), can I make a whole LP album fit on a 78? |
|
|
|
|
|
Look at the needle. There is no way a steel needle can fit into anything greater than 160 LPI. The needle will skate across the record and you won't be able to play it. Fibre needles will have an even worse time. If you got a Vinylrecorder , feel free to try to make a long playing 78 by playing it at 25,442 Hz on your computer (instead of 44,100) and recording at 45 RPM.
UPDATE: No one seems to be making the Kingston Dubplate cutter, as the developers couldn't get it to work |
|
|
Some of these crapophones have drawers. None of the authentic gramophones have drawers! |
|
|
|
|
|
On many gramophones the turntable/motor combination lifts up like a lid and you can put anything you want in there so long as it is not so high up that it gets caught in the motor. |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
What does LPI stand for? |
|
|
|
|
|
But what about the grainy HMV logo? The horn at a high angle? The crank coming out at an angle |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LPI stands for Lines Per Inch. This goes back to the somewhat-old joke, "How many grooves are there on a record?" There are 2 grooves. One on each side. So instead of saying GPI or Grooves Per Inch, it is said as Lines Per Inch or LPI. |
|
|
|
|
|
My gramophone's crank does not come out at an angle. The horn sounds better at the high angle, and the grainy HMV logo is not all that bad |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
But it is made in India! It *must* be crap! |
|
|
|
|
|
You have something which can provide musical entertainment during a power outage. If you get to know someone from India you might not think all their effects are crap. So stop complaining |
|
|
|
|
|
This is what Nelly sounds like on a gramophone (auto playing page.) |
|
|
Back to my homepage. |
|
|
|
|