The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls

0.286" is also roughly equivalent to the agate measuring system (in 14ths) of 0.285714285714" . . . or 2/7. The full mm of that is 7.25714285714 . . . - or rounded off, 7.26mm.

Over the years, many sizes were used for die-cut centre holes for vinyl record labels in the U.S. From least to most (with those over 0.3" usually for styrene labels), they are: J - 0.277" (7.096mm) K - 0.281" (7.137mm) 9/32" - 0.28125" (7.144mm) L - 0.290" (7.366mm) M - 0.295" (7.493mm) N - 0.302" ...

From what I read of a 1956 interview with Larry Scully in (I.I.N.M.) High Fidelity magazine, the Scullys in use at RCA's studios were a prototype for the eventual Model 501; built some time between 1934 and 1937, while the 501 first came out in 1938. Didn't those early Scullys' use for cutting 78's ...

Now, there is a possibility that between the models 501 and 601, one of the intermediate models was 503. I say this because of a classified ad in the November 1975 issued of DB (link here ), put out by Jerry Barnes of the famous United Western Studios in Hollywood: SCULLY LATHE. =503 auto variable p...

I'm curious as to what center label size is on these records - 3" or 3.625" diameter? (I'm thinking the post-1930 standard for center labels for 78's.)

I have to ask, given that this is a history-oriented thread. Prior to the stock market crash of 1929 that was followed by the Great Depression, there were all sorts of variations of center label sizes for 78's. Columbia, for example, had a 3.5" size label (dating to the 1910's if not earlier) that t...

I can add to some of 'EmAtChapterV's' points: - After the invention of the LP record, Scully 501's (first introduced in 1938) had two different sets of mods, depending on what the client wanted. A second row of gearbox pitches could range from either 150 to 234 lpi, or 178 to 274 lpi. Columbia's New...

I noticed this was a 1952 reprint, meaning that this didn't account either for magnetic tape recording and transfer to disc, or the newer 45 RPM speed. But for the period before these developments, this is indeed invaluable.

By the time of that Andrews Sisters' session, some recording companies - namely Columbia but, as of 1947 when Bing Crosby cut his second version of "White Christmas," Decca - recorded individual tracks simultaneously on 16" 33⅓ RPM reference acetates (vertical-cut, I.I.N.M.) as well as two 78 RPM la...

As far as EMI's mastering setup went in the days of "tube" equipment, they used a circa 1950-55 Scully for cutting mono records (lead-out spirals spaced at 3.69 lpi for "slow" 4-pitch and 1.92 lpi for "fast" "45 finishing" 2-pitch), and a post-1955 Model 601 (here at 3.92 lpi and 2.04 lpi, respectiv...

Very interesting. That looks like a circa 1950-53 variant of the Scully (just what model number it was still escapes me - it was certainly pre-601). As far as the buttons go, through various pics I've seen of other models of this type I can gauge the functions thus: Panel at far left - RECORDER - LI...

I've noticed that as far as templates for Adobe Illustrator, Quark, etc., are concerned, there are none for 78 RPM center labels (which, from the 1930's, were 3" in diameter); instead, the same size as used up to the '20's (approximately what would later be used for 45 RPM labels) have been used ins...

So Gold Star used Scully 501's. I figured as much; what I saw of such copies I have of The Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' " and Sonny & Cher's "The Beat Goes On" had more in common with that than the later model 601. At least now we have confirmation.

Wonder if that Scully 501 at Columbia/CBS was the same one on which many a 45 was cut between 1951 and 1966. I'm betting it is . . .

IMG_3261.JPG Hello all-- I've had a long break since I first posted about my Scully lathe project. Been going through an 18-month divorce but finally back to concentrating on the Scully 501 restoration. I have visited Len Horowitz at HRS Sound here in LA and he let me copy some invaluable Scully li...

I don't think the later LS-76 had the "catch groove" option, if you were asking about when Scullys stopped making lathes that cut same. That was on models made between 1950 and 1972.

I just stumbled upon the answer to the question of the DWJ initials in lacquers mastered for MCA in the 1970's. On this page, a scan of such initials in the deadwax were on the page for a mastering engineer who later went to work at JVC Studios by the end of the decade - Darryl (W.) Johnson.

0.286" sounds like a nearest rounding off to the nearest thousandth of 0.285714285714..." (2/7"). As for center holes on center labels, I've seen them vary from 0.28" (7/25") to 0.28125" (9/32") to 0.2890625" (37/128"). (And I have a few label sheets, printed on paper ranging from C2S to uncoated to...

Over a hundred, at the very least, scattered all around the world. One S/N I saw from the late 1950's was in the 560 range, another by the 1960's was around 610 or 620.

By the mid-to-late 1950's, it seems all Scully 601's had their "4 pitch" set at 4.17 lpi and their "2 pitch" set at 2.14 lpi.

Anything in these manuals about the pitches of lead-ins / spirals, lead-outs, and the whole business of catch grooves? I know that "8 pitch" is shorthand for 7.625 lpi, "32 pitch" for 32.3125 lpi, and that there are numerous variances of 2- and 4-pitch lead-outs. (As well as 15.625 lpi "16 pitch" fo...