Anyone in contact with Gib @ West-Tech

[cymbalism]

I sent gib a 1D head to re-wire a little over a month ago and he will not respond to any calls or emails or messages, it's like he is missing or avoiding me. I know he has it because he called me when he got it but he also didnt have me send any money with it to cover his costs, he told me to send the head first before payment.

Has anyone had any issues with him before? I've spoken to one person on the board about this but no one else so I thought I'd check.

Thanks guys

[Steve E.]

Gib has recently become not-very-good about returning calls. I don't know why. But he still does the work and does a great job. I certainly wouldn't take it personally. Rather than leave a zillion messages, I'd just keep trying calling at different times of day until you get him.

I will not bore you with my version of the story, from last year. Needless to say, when the work was ready --and it was within a reasonable amount of time-- I think his wife called. As soon as I sent the money, the work arrived immediately, and it was great. And it was a great deal, too. (BUT....he did not return calls during this time, and I kept trying because I had a question.)

I last talked to him maybe a month and a half ago, so I don't know if anything unusual is going on this month.

They'll probably call you soon, when it is ready.

[mossboss]

Hey All
It is often the case with people that do this kind of work that no one else can do that they do not take calls
It is a case of : I cannot repair these things for people if I spend all day on the phone or email
In this case I would be surprised that it is any more than that
I know of quite a few "techos" that will not take calls or even make any during the day By the time its home time which often is late to damn tired
The job gets done gets send out Its done well and that is it
Just a little bit of input from me as I often will not take calls as there is no time to do everything else First hand experience
Cheers

[Steve E.]

Thanks Mossboss! most likely that's it.

[d]

Hey,

A little offtopic here, but a little question about cutting stylus from Gib. He is selling steel or saphiere cutting needles and told that it is good for cutting on any vinyl or plastic. Haven't told about exatly what kind of other plastic.

Have anyone tried his needles? Are they good on polycarbonate?

Asked Gib but no direct answer.

[piaptk]

Hey,

A little offtopic here, but a little question about cutting stylus from Gib. He is selling steel or saphiere cutting needles and told that it is good for cutting on any vinyl or plastic. Haven't told about exatly what kind of other plastic.

Have anyone tried his needles? Are they good on polycarbonate?

Asked Gib but no direct answer.

no, absolutely not. You can only cut lacquers, picnic plates, laserdiscs, an cdrs with Gibs needles. Ive bought plenty from him... You can "cut" anything, but everything except those listed above sound awful and tear up your needle. He is just selling new old stock sapphires.

However, I believe his steel needles will emboss polucarbonate, but they don't sound very good, most are 78 width, not microgroove, and they wear out super fast. But to be fair, I haven't bought any since I first bought a suitcase cutter from him a few years ago and haven't really messed with them since, so it's also likely I just had no clue what I was doing.

This is for all needles, not just Gibs in particular... The only thing that I know of that will cut poly is a diamond, a backwards ruby stylus (havnt mastered that, but Tommie has), or handmade steel needles, bent at a 45 degree angle off the platter.

[d]

Thanks Piaptk for information. Thats the interesting thing from Gib that he said that I can cut PVC or plastic, thats it. For steel - 20 records, saphiere - 7 hours.

[Steve E.]

3 or 4 years ago, I messed up at least one expensive cutting stylus by using it on weird materials. Kim Gudske had a hard clear plastic disk substance that trashed something quick. Gib was selling some sort of flexible black plastic disc for a while that wore out a steel or stellite needle in two minutes.

So....be careful!

[d]

Thanks. Good info.

BTW, Piaptk, who is Tommie? Cimbalism?

If so, I would like to know some more about using ruby backwards....

[cymbalism]

Just got a response from Gib, I guess he was moving locations or something but he finally got in touch so no worries.

[piaptk]

Thanks Piaptk for information. Thats the interesting thing from Gib that he said that I can cut PVC or plastic, thats it. For steel - 20 records, saphiere - 7 hours.

PVC would be blank records... I have cut some very short cuts and had occasional success, but I'm really wary about ruining needles, even the $60 ones Gib sells. But Poly will NOT cut at all (without diamond, etc) in my experience.

[d]

Thats the thing. Dont want to invest in that what don't work. But then again, I have got an answer today from Gib telling : quote: "You can cut polycarbonate and we have the Saphire microgroove at $65." This is all he wrote.

Don't know what to think. As I understand from many posts that Gib is a man who understands professionaly what he is doing and saying. Here the information is quite confirmed that saphire cannot handle hard material like polycarb, and again Gib writes that it can be used for 7 hours of cutting without a problem on polycarb.... Well now I'm really confused here.

Again who is Tommie? Want to know more about ruby backwards. Understand that it embosses. By a pricipal logic it must work better than victrola sharpened needle...

thanks

[Arcturus]

I have found Gib to unreliable and unprofessional. He agrees to deadlines, then ignores them. He won't return calls. And his tradecraft is mediocre.

I have stopped using Presto heads because dealing with Gib just isn't worth the trouble. If anyone knows of another technician who services Presto heads, or if anyone would like to enter this field, please let me know.


>I sent gib a 1D head to re-wire a little over a month ago and he will not
>respond to any calls or emails or messages, it's like he is missing or avoiding
>me ... Has anyone had any issues with him before? I've spoken to one >person on the board about this but no one else so I thought I'd check.

[TotalSonic]

If anyone knows of another technician who services Presto heads please let me know.

You might want to contact Len or Dan at History of Recorded Sound -
http://www.hrsrecords.com/
as I'm pretty sure they can restore Presto heads without a problem.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[piaptk]

Thats the thing. Dont want to invest in that what don't work. But then again, I have got an answer today from Gib telling : quote: "You can cut polycarbonate and we have the Saphire microgroove at $65." This is all he wrote.

Don't know what to think. As I understand from many posts that Gib is a man who understands professionaly what he is doing and saying. Here the information is quite confirmed that saphire cannot handle hard material like polycarb, and again Gib writes that it can be used for 7 hours of cutting without a problem on polycarb.... Well now I'm really confused here.

Again who is Tommie? Want to know more about ruby backwards. Understand that it embosses. By a pricipal logic it must work better than victrola sharpened needle...

thanks

Tommie is Cymbalism. All he does is heat up the plastic with a heat lamp, polish the disc (probably with turtle wax) and turn the needle 180 degrees. The trick (which I haven't mastered) is getting it in at exactly 180 degrees. You will tell instantly whether it is way off, because it will make a squealing sound. But it's hard to tell if it is perfectly on... sometimes it will sound fine on the outer edges and then be off-angle in the inner edges.

I can promise you from experience that if you use a sapphire to cut polycarbonate, you will only get awful hiss and a broken stylus. Unless you are cutting Laserdiscs or CDs which must have some kind of coating on them as opposed to being straight polycarbonate.

I am pretty sure that Gib doesn't do actual lathe cutting on plastic. He just repairs that stuff and probably doesn't take an active interest in the actual production. I would imagine he has heard of Peter King or others cutting on poly, and just assumed it was done with a ruby or sapphire.

[d]

Hi Piaptk,

thanks for the answer. I have already contacted Tommie.

I have been trying this trick with stylus backwards. For me it is much better than using phonograph stylus like Peter King.

I have noticed it too, than then it is a little off 180 deg. then it makes some noise but not very much. Anyway it is nice practice. And when mastered can be used nicely. I used sapphiere stylus - it was used for laquer and not good not usable for the purpose, but for me it is good for testings and I have made some results. Thinking of buying new sapphiere, so it should give better results thand used one

Havent tried to record on CDs or laserdiscs, but it is interesting fact that it can be cutted with sapphiere, but polycarb not.... hmmm, always thought it is the same.

What can I tell more about Gib.... I actualy asked him twice about cutting polycarb with saphiere, and he wrote me exatly that I CAN cut on polycabonate with sapphiere. I have read here before that it is not possible as material is hard. So it is not good thing about Gib as he tell that his stylus cat cut vinyl or any other plastic and lasts for 7 hours, but then, it is not true. It is a shame on him. Thought on sending him audax for rewinding, but after some posts thought that it is much better to try it myself, ant it is not so hard at all.

Keep it up and thanks for valuable information!

[opcode66]

Well, there have it. 7 hours is a very short lifespan for a cutting styli. So, though it can cut polycarb, the results probably won't be very clear. And, burning through a stylus that cost $40 - $80 every 7 hours is not good math...

[greybeard]

"Ordinary" polycarbonate may be birefringent, which means that certain angles of polarization of the light sent through will be rotated (associated with a delay or phase change). This is no good for CDs with pits, which are dependent on the phase relationship in the reflected light. Hence a different alloy of polycarbonate is used that is very different mechanically. Hence it cannot be excluded that CDs may be cuttable with a sapphire whereas Lexan (one brand of "ordinary" polycarbonate) may not.

As to the backwards cutting/embossing and the precise observation of 180 degrees: if the line traced by the tip of the cutting stylus does not go precisely through the centre of the turntable, then the angle will indeed vary across a radius (which is then only a line parallel to the true radius). In other words, tilting the head may make all the difference.

[piaptk]

I have been trying this trick with stylus backwards. For me it is much better than using phonograph stylus like Peter King.

Do you tilt your head to a 45 degree angle and sharpen the phonograph styli like Peter does? Peter sent me some sharpened needles but I cant get my head to lean back that far.

[d]

Hi,

I get better results when tilting to 10deg. Not more.
I cannot confirm how this will work with new stylus.

Maybe Cymbalism can tell us more about his results here.

To opcode:

So you tried cutting polycarbonate to cut with sapphiere? Not clear - is the noise level? It was a question if it can cut for 7 hours? Im not talking about math now.

Anyway - who can tell the lifespan for Vinylium diamond stylus. Cannot find exact number of hours here.