The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls

Hi Aussie, Fair question. It might be for US only, not sure....it came from The United States International Trade Commission. So is it US or International? (They should make up their minds) :wink: Also if it is for export, why would the U.S. care? I would think it would only matter to customs where ...

Yep. Good stuff! I have found that the chip tube wants to be as close as possible to the lacquer without touching. That means allowing for about a 5 mil-wide groove. I usually back the suction pump down to 60 volts. You were running flat out? Neumann used to sell a variac for this purpose with the l...

Hi Fellow Trolls, Since I spent 2 hours trying to find this info, I thought I'd share it with everybody and hopefully save you some time if you ever need it. If you ship lacquer masters out of your country the customs form requires a "Harmonized Code" for the item. The correct terminology is: Phonog...

Hi Guys, I have been using the U-line 15X15X4 boxes for a year now with no problems. I use 1 1/4" flat steel washers on both sides of the bottom with a 1/4" bolt through, and nut tightened as tight as I can get it. I'll get to spacers in a moment. I use a wing nut to tighten down the top spacer on t...

I suggest you contact Donna Vivero at AES. Tell her you are a Lathe Troll and that you heard about it from Kevin Gray who posted it on the LT forum. (As I promised) Maybe we will get a little clout and respect here!

Hi All, Just wanted to let all my fellow trolls know that the AES Disk Anthologies are back in print. If you don't already have one, you should! It is the most complete work on the subject available. A few months ago I loaned my copy to a fellow troll and he decided he wanted to get one. It was out ...

Hi Andrew,

I've wondered about the 631 also. I borrowed one several years ago and it was humming loudly...obviously needed some power supply work...so didn't really play with it.
It is a very simple circuit, nothing like the 732. I would like to try one again some time.

Best,

Kev

Forgot to mention... Didn't up the threshholds, I "upped" the frequency of all the low pass filters in the audio section. If you do this you will have to experiment with a lot of HF program material to find out what works. I think I went up to 30kHz. If you go higher it can let HF garbage from the c...

Hi Andrew, I modded the STL over 10 years ago so don't remember exactly what I used. Probably used 5532/34s then, would probably use LM4562s now. If you need the schematic and hookup for the inverse RIAA to the control input PM me and I'll send it to you. I have used Ortofon heads and yes, they are ...

Andrew...sorry! Only noticed your handle

Hi Serif,

They seem to go for around $2500. I haven't seen one pop up for a while.

Best,

Kev

Just gotta jump in here... The "liquid" used for transistors is white silicone compound, sold as "heat sink grease". It is more of a paste than a liquid. Although it does harden a bit with time it shouldn't ever need replacing. It is mostly used in conjunction with mica insulators to allow the heat ...

Hi Larry, Blast from the past! Great to see a post from you! I remember when you first published the book. As I recall Dave Hernandez took the pics for your book. Last I heard he was working in San Diego in a video facility. It's possible he still has a set. I took many similar microscope photos of ...

Although non-RIAA is the easiest way to actually measure the response, by sweeping with a programmable sweep oscillator you can sure see any "bumps" in response easily

If you feed left to X and right to Y on any conventional oscilloscope a Mono signal will produce #1. Disk cutters like to see lateral and vertical modulation. So, if the scope has a round tube it is a simple matter to rotate the tube 45 degrees clockwise in its mount. Since most scopes have square t...

No problem! Great idea.
How is Larry? I heard he was having a tough time in the 90s...there was a newspaper article about him that told of medical issues and he was working at a fast food joint. A shame! I knew him in the '80s. Great guy!

Motown LA also had a Neumann VG1 tube cutting system which I purchased in 1975 for $500. I left it at a previous house when I moved and it was subsequently trashed. I was in shock to find out they go for up to $5000 now!

MDC is the best cutting lacquer I've used since Pyral back in the '70s.
Unfortunately they are very expensive (something like $40+ landed in U.S.)

Hi Andy, Yes, the opamps were so-so, but they are easily upgraded. As are coupling caps etc. I've still never found a high frequency limiter I prefer, and I've tried 'em all. If you look at how it works it's an incredible design for its time. The main problem with the STL is all the low-pass filteri...

Yann, What cutting system are you using? If the amps are underpowered, yes, 1/2 speed is an improvement. If the amps are clipping the problems are not improved by cutting half speed. The problems are in playback and cutting half speed does nothing to improve the problems because the geometry of the ...