tungsten vs sapphire

[fredbissnette]

does anyone have an a/b comparison (audio) of tungsten vs sapphire for embossing

is the jump worth it?

cheers

fred

[lofiaudio]

Don't have a comparison file but the quality jump (and ease of use) I experienced going from cones to Piaptk's embossing stylus (sapphire) was huge. Night and day. Louder, clearer and crisper highs. Can't recommend enough!

Lathecutparts.com is where you can find them iirc

[fredbissnette]

thanks fpr the reply ill try one out

[soeffingodly]

Don't have a comparison file but the quality jump (and ease of use) I experienced going from cones to Piaptk's embossing stylus (sapphire) was huge. Night and day. Louder, clearer and crisper highs. Can't recommend enough!

Lathecutparts.com is where you can find them iirc

Same here. They are so much better than tungsten.

[fredbissnette]

i got pretty good results with tungsten and my diy machine i cut a lot of records for clients(mostly tour merch 7''s) i have been pretty much off the grid for almost 2 years , im thinking of getting back into it and i know i could double what i made doing lo fi cuts if i had something better and i could get black media (90 % of my clients wanted dinked black 45s) , most of the reason i have not been cutting has been due to a job opportunity i took , i was cutting records full time for almost 9 months but it was hard to make enough money with only one machine going but im thinking if i had much higher quality i could do smaller runs and charge more.

[piaptk]

The increase is dramatic. The sapphires last longer as well, and can be resharpened for half price.

I also sell large hole black 7”s for them (or for tungsten) at www.recordlatheparts.com

[fredbissnette]

wow what a difference!!!!! super clean!
ill post a video soon

[fredbissnette]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdH3lGQtomY&feature=youtu.be

im pretty happy

[symatic]

great stuff - i wonder if you'd be so kind as to share how you have oyur setup calibrated? what weight/angle you use? your results are sounding better than mine, but i think its my brain thats the problem, not the kit.

[fredbissnette]

500g and the stylus tilted back quite a bit I process digitally in real time and my amp is sending 800 watts bridged to the head (800 available not constant just for treble peaks) my cutter head is a standard design but I made it myself using exciters its a stereo head but embossing won't net you true stereo but I have my drivers wired out of phase series for about 100 watts continuous and it never gets hot I cut side to side not up and down, and I have my motors isolated and I'm using a rim drive deck with about 8 kg of pull I cut at 33 to play back at 45 i slow down the audio (.741 makes it 45 )

[piaptk]

We usually don’t recommend much angle. But if you are getting good results, I would be interested to see a photo of the angle you are using and we will give it a shot at The Lathe Cave and see if it works well for us too.

[fredbissnette]

i just packed up most of my gear as im moving next week but id say its around 25 degrees offset from 90(vertical), ive heard peter king does this and his records sound great,

i got fairly loud results with the sapphire and excellent clarity, chek that video i posted, super loud and clear and defined bass.

[fredbissnette]

this is basicly what i have goin on

[piaptk]

Wow. Interesting. That is WAY more than we use. We will give it a shot. We get excellent results with 2 degrees (similar to cutting), but your cut sounds great, and any improvement is always welcome...

[fredbissnette]

i have a very unique lathe its entirely diy except for your sapphire and the angle thing was just what i ended up with that worked with tungsten and i cant actually change it unless i saw off my stylus holder from my torque tube and re seat it with jb weld my cutter head is a 45/45 kind of modeled after a mastering head

if you go on my instagram(im following you) i have a recent video of my rig cutting the blanks you sold me on the sapphire
and you can see my rig in action
cheers and thanks again

fred