Recentkickass78s's Blog

Recentkickass78s is a blog about 78 rpm records which I have collected for one to ten dollars each, tops. I bought my 78 rpm record player at a thrift store for $3.00.  Also, I have not digitally “cleaned” up the songs, i.e. reducing or altering certain frequencies in order to even out hissing, scratches, surface noise. This is how the music came off the .3 mil stylus into the AudioFire4 interface into my MacBookPro. Let me know if this bothers you.

From around the turn of the twentieth century to about the mid 1950′s, 78 rpm recordings were produced, sold and otherwise. 78 refers to the number of revolutions per minute. Some of the earliest records were played anywhere from 60 to 92 rpm. Originally and well in to the 1940′s these records were made of a compound which was mostly of pitch, but also shellac and carbon. Shellac is a resin which is secreted by the kerria lacca, a tree inhabiting, reddish insect roughly 0.03 inch long. During the Second World War these records were recalled by the United States government for the purpose of pulverizing and recycling the material for use by the military. For example, shellac can be used to block out windows as it does not reflect light. The rarity of some 78s is a direct effect of the war effort.