AFRS Korean War Presto Lathe

[diamone]

I have a chance to inherit a Korean War 78-only Presto lathe from a guy who liberated it out of Armed Forces Radio Seoul over 60 years ago.

It has an overhead carriage and a choice of three or four groove pitches and a choice of outside in or inside out depending if you have the other lead screw (it has both).

I was asking around what I could do with it and a local dorkboy kid lit up like a Christmas tree and said `Punk fans - and by default their bands to whom they have affinity - go crazy over oddball crap like this. They're the ones that brought back the flexidisc and cassette and etc etc etc - plus - punk fans like to have every album in every available format - often paying a premium price to do so - i.e. have the same album on download and CD and cassette and flexidisc - and even different editions of the same format - 5 different issues of the LP and 7 different issues of the cassette and etc etc etc.

So I went over and looked at it and the guy demonstrates that even though you can't do lead-in and lead-out - you can get a fairly close approximation by cutting the selection first with no lead in or lead out - lift up the carriage - change from e.g. 135 LPI down to e.g 80 and put your lead-in grooves manually.

Then you can change platters supposedly to one that has an eccentric spindle and repeat the process and go into a lock groove from there. The result you get kind of looks like the center to a Mercury 78 from the 50s.

So I was wondering
A should I let the guy give this to me
B about starting to cut punk singles on it the way he's teaching me
C how I would get in touch w the punk bands who like this sort of oddball thing.

A similar unit was in service at what eventually became Pickwick and cut a number of the first series of 6-inch and 7-inch 78 RPM Little Golden Records and Cricket Records and the like.

The first series of these - up to about 1954 or so have no lead-in or lead-out grooves and were all standard groove. Late in 1954/early `55 however they changed to microgroove and you start to see lead in and lead out grooves after that.

Which was kind of interesting to find out cuz this same kid was saying that these same punk bands and their fans also go for 78-RPM 7-inch (usually on colored vinyl) since there's so many super short songs in the genre.

So it got me thinking.

[Gridlock]

Do it. And post pictures

[sameal]

I think you should do it.

But that description of punks isn't any punk ive ever met!

[diamone]

But that description of punks isn't any punk ive ever met!

(LOL) That's punk MUSICIANS and their FANS not punks/juvenile delinquents (LOL)

But I looked around - on eBay/Amazon and etc and it's true - all these ads for flexis and 78 RPM 7 inch singles and 45s that play from the center to the edge and all manner of other Jack White-inspired craziness like a 3 inch phonograph that plays 3 inch records https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObRBlY200MU IN STEREO no less https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43Twd9wi-qE that can go all the way down to 4 RPM and still be understood https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_VoAtzmV8o is all the rage for punk fans.

It says 3 RPM but really it's 4-1/6 RPM because it was quadruple speed mastered at 16 RPM at Quad City in Hollywood. I wish somebody would send me one because I think I have the last official remaining functional American Federation for the Blind experimental 1966 player that ran at that speed (half of the then-current 8-1/3 RPM for talking books) and I could play the whole thing real time without any kind of Goldberg contraption.

They were trying out super-extended play discs where you could get 6 hours on a side for a 12 inch disc.

For comparison, the 10-inch 8 RPM discs were getting 90 minutes a side and the 12-inch with the large labels were getting 2 hours a side with the 12-inch small (78 RPM size) labels getting a little under 3 hours a side. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13bTMRtGOaA

But the grooves had to be such a fine pitch that over 2/3rds of the pressings were defective - same as the Microsonic process they tried to perfect ten years later with similar disastrous results. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO52ROAWrMs