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Glad you like the video. Yes - the basic principle is very simple; wavy sound wave becomes wavy groove in disc! The problem was to make it work! Wishing you all success in you studies. Best regards, Norman Field.

Sorry; I can't help you, because being 80 years old, I can't hear anything above about 6.5 kHz! However, if we had a Zoom chat, I could probably give you some useful info? Cheers, Norman.

@@bixanorak thanks for the quick reply, I understand, I don’t have the know how about these things so information may go over my head that’s why I was looking for someone who could do the technical work.

Well - sorry I can't help you myself, but there are now quite a few people in the U.S. who will cut a 'one off' record for you, and there are one or two in the UK as well. If you Google around, you'll soon find somebody! Good luck! Norman,

@@bixanorak i had a bit of a search but they do 33 and 45. do you have any recommendations?

You are quite right, I am too silent! I suppose it's just Old Age, but I promise you a new video soon. It will probably be a magnetic pick-up arm made by BTH (British Thompson Houston), that remained in production for somehing like twenty-odd years, & was still selling stong in 1950! Cheers, Norman.

Thank you for your courtesy in replying! If the video was helpful to you, then it has served a purpose which exceeded my humble effort in making the video! Wishing you the very best of good fortune in your future career. Norman.

Ah! Nice to hear from you. My friend Mike Thomas has a very good article on Ambrose on his website - look it up at www.mgthomas.co.uk . Take care & all the best, Norman. Wikipedia will also tell you at least something of Henry Hall.

Glad you enjoyed the vid. We're still very interested in the topic, and are currently helping a guy who found a similar machine in poor condition.Am sure it will work again! Very best wishes to you & your family, Norman.

Glad you liked it! Actually, it'll be going up for sale as soon as I've fitted a better petrol cock & feed pipe. All the best for now, &thnaks for writing! Cheers, Norman.

Don't worry; I've been handling discs & cylinders for over 70 years. Therefore, please do have a little more respect for your elders and betters, OK?

An old NAD 3020. Must've had it for 40 years. 😀 The MSS heads don't take a lot of driving; many years ago, John R T Davies drew me a circuit using a single EL84 valve (aka 6BQ5) to drive an MSS head. It's only rated at 4 Watts. Of course, there will be less distortion with a higher power amp idling along. IIRC the 3020 was 20W per channel. Using a stereo amp for cutting a mono disc is convenient, because one channel can drive the head & the other chanel can be used as a monitor. All the best, Norman. P.S. The big MSS mono amplifier used push-pull EL34s.

Hi there. I'd be happy to help, of course. 😀 I'd suggest a Zoom meeting to discuss basic questions. Am free usually all day and evenings; drop me a line at jazz@normanfield.com & we could take it from there? All the best for now Norman.

AOK, Matt - will book table at Bell as usual. See you next Sunday! Cheers, Norman.

Thanks for writing! It rambles on a lot, but gets there in the end... Cheers, Norman.

Indeed they did! After years of custom pressing for others, they began in 1922/3 to make their own Imperial records. Some early ones used Popular and Bull Dog masters, plus their own new recordings. They received a big boost when, as you said, Jack Payne defected from Columbia in er. er. 1931? 😀

H Mike. Thanks for writing! Yes, very much the bandstand in the park before 1914 - people sat in deckchairs, listening - nurses with 'perambulators' being chatted up by soldiers & policemen! Cheers, Norman.

Thanks for writing! Yes - Slightly noisy, but better I think, than a digitally de-noised 'mumbly' sort of sound? Glad you agree, Take care, Thanks and best wishes to you and yours.

You're very welcome. Hoping to bring you more discs & old equipment that you find interesting. All the best for now.

Also who knew they were slapping such surreal titles on popular / light classical music a hundred years ago. The only thing fitful was when it ended and I felt sad and wanted to throw things or something.

Yes indeed, Michael. Subtlety is an increasingy rare thing in any type of music these days! Thanks for writing & best regards to you and yours.

Yes - it would fit perfectly for a 'girl meets boy' in the park - a slinet film of say 1910! Thanks for writing.

Many thanks! Yes, we're still working on compiling lists of early electric pick-ups sold in the UK. There are far more than we thought! One is coming up quite soon I hope. Best regards.

Noce of you to write, OM! Am just reading Wireless World magazine from the mid 1920s as they advertise electrical pick-ups to go into your wireless set.. I guess you know, a huge collection of wireless & other magazines may be found (& downloaded) on www.americanradiohistory.com ? Not just U.S. mags, but also European... 73 for nw.

Very kind of you to write, Ryan. Many thanks & all the best to you and your family. Cheers, Norman.

Hi there. Sorry, I''ve never seen the 1931 film, and it seems not to be on-line. However, the film is based on a book published in 1925, and the hero - or anti-hero? - begins in Kansas City as a young man. So that would well put him back to 1910, which is when Grizzly Bear Rag was published. The tune was extremely popular in Europe as well as the U.S. My grandfather (born 1882) had the music and would often play it, so I have had it in my head all my life! 🙂 No less than 15 versions were recorded in the U.K. & more inEurope. Hope this helps a little. (Incidentally, I accidentally included a few second of another record right at the beginning 🤔)

@@bixanorak I'm reading the book right now and record of the same name is mentioned in part 1. I only watched later movie, one with Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor : A Place in the Sun.

Many thanks for the presonnel! At that time in Chicago, OKeh used agents to bring in bands to record for tnem. Besides Clarence Jones, there were also two sides by Albert Wynn : 'When', and 'That Creole Band' on OKeh 8350. I can't remember the otger band, but most of the musicians in those 3 bands made rather few other records. I must look for the other band! Cheers, Norman.

Hi there. Yes, cylinder records - at least most of them after about 1900 - have standard groove pitches. 100 grooves per inch (2.54cm) playing for around 2 minutes at 160 rpm are the earlier ones. Later, Edison made wax cylinders with 200 grooves per inch, so doubling the playing time. They were very fragile (or al least the ones you find today are!😀), so he then made them from a blue celluloid type of material - the blue one in the video is one of those, and it does play for a long time! They were much more robust than the wax 4-minute cylinders. Best wishes to you and your family, Norman.

Thanks for the great upload it’s obviously a very rare disc. I love this song from the Billy Murray version.

Ah... the name on this double-sided issue is a pseudonym for Steve Porter. The D- series are couplings from earlier single-sided Nicoles, many of which (if not all) have been given different artiste credits, for some reason. I should have mentioned that! Best wishes and a Happy New Year in 2024! Cheers, Norman.

Happy new years and thanks for replying. There are quite a few harry taylor records from around 1903 so do you think they are all really sung by Steve porter or just the ones on Nicole?

H'mmm - I looked at the double sided Nicole D-197 again for the first time since I uploaded it 12 years ago! 😀 Was suprised that the other side is by Pete Hampton - who was of course, a real singer. So why they left that side with his real name, and changed Steve Porter to Harry Taylor, is quite a puzzle! I must look in the Nicole listing when I get some spare time. Best regards, Norman.

Thanks for writing! Yes please - sorry I didn't reply before, but would be very happy to put up a German AGA disc on my website. Many thanks for the offer. AGA is such a short-lived record label! The original Jack Judge record of "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" is so scarce because Edison Bell Winner had already issued the song, by another artiste, before it became so popular - but am sure you know this already. 😀 Best reagrds to you & yours, Norman. For anyone else interested, please go to www.early78s.uk and then to Winner.

@@bixanorak No worries at all! It’s going to be a bit until I’m able to make a label scan though, but I will try ASAP. Thanks for accepting the offer :).

Thanks! Yes, it's one of those real 'extreme' disc records... Where on earth do you file it in your record collection?? 🤔 Have a good Christmas - cheers, Norman.

@@bixanorak well, I don't have a massive record collection so I'll probably not put it in any specific place, I'm just interested in old records and interesting records because I'm 13 and I have been raised listening to vinyls and CDs. I have just started collecting vinyls and I'm trying to get strange formats. I am currently after a 11" Merry Christmas!

Wow - that's great, thanks! Still tinkering with it here... need to warm up the polycarbonate disc to maybe 35°C, coat it with thin spray of WD40, and have a heated cutting stylus... One day will have a major campaign on it! Of course, I should have used a modern recording, which would have sounded far better anyway 😀Cheers, Norman.