Will a Record Player Stylus for 45's Properly Play 78's?

I would suspect that the playback would degrade somewhat, and that the software is doing corrections to the signal. On the other hand I have several tins of needles for old 78 record players, they come in several grades depending on what sound quality you want on the output side. I haven't managed to find a 78 record player though, but I do have a lot of old 78s.

Any help?

horacr40; what soft ware are you using? perry

You can use - for example - the affordable Australian GoldenRecords:

Perry

None at the moment. Software is not a problem. The first step is to create a WAV file from suitable hardware. Hence the reason for the question.

But I will need software at some stage.

And here I want more than just 'click' and 'hiss' removal. I would like to make two copies of each record in parallel so that I can cut bad sections from one and replace it with the matching good section from the other - so as to produce one good copy.

Back in the day, standard 78 RPM records were played with a 3 mil spherical tip stylus; monaural "micro-groove" records (45 RPM and 33-1/3 RPM) were played with a 1 mil spherical tip stylus.

With the re-invention of the single-groove stereophonic LP in 1958, slightly smaller styli with elliptical tips became popular, because the greater contact with the groove walls lessened wear on the record surface.

Nowadays older records are often played with truncated styli. This allows the stylus to make contact only with the groove walls, not the bottom. Since debris tends to collect in the bottom of the grooves, this reduces surface noise.

Playback with a stylus that will accommodate the groove profiles of both 78's and LP's will not give you very accurate reproduction of the microgroove records, and playback of the 78's will probably be noisy. On the other hand, you can easily spend a great deal of money in pursuit of the best sound possible from your old disks.

If your collection is large, and you are technically proficient, you might look for record playing equipment manufactured twenty or thirty years ago, that was designed to play these recordings. The likelihood of finding something of that age that won't need some adjustment or repair is slight, however. Good luck!

Since debris tends to collect in the bottom of the grooves,

Just pull out your old RONCO Record Cleaner, that should help with the dust.

I purchased a Record player this past Christmas that uses a USB cable connection to transfer 45 and 33 1/3 records to my computer. It uses Audacity software. The player is not that great but it gets the job done. It wont go more than 2 - 3 hours before the turntable begins to slow down.

Sorry, forgot to mention that mine is a 2 speed type player.

No you need a spherical sylus. 78 had a particular shape stylus. Elliptical styli will destroy your records. I have heard a ew of those USB based units. They all sound awful. The USB all in one players' job is to play the record once and then throw it away.

Guest

USB turntable suppliers I have asked (those that have replied) don't know what the stylus profile is, but they claim to play all records.

From what has been said in response above I suppose they rely on user ignorance.

Well they would; wouldn't they.

I guess I need to persevere with my old 3-speed Garrard SP 25 MK3 - at least that has a separate stylus for the 78's, albeit a pain to change it.

I have personally had a great deal of luck in transferring 78's into WAV files by playing the 78's at 33rpm, using a piece of software (PolderbitS) to reduce the clicks and noise and enhancing the loudness, then speeding the whole thing up in my computer (2.3 times) with an application used to examine bird sounds (Raven) so that the remaining noise is in a very high frequency range that doesn't interfere with the music. No damage to the 78 record at all.