Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 1, No. 11 (1927-08)

470 The Phonograph Monthly Review lev The Editor does not accept any responsibility jor opinions expressed by correspondents. No notice will be taken of un- signed letters, but only initials or a pseudonym will be printed if the writer so desires. Contributions oj general interest to our readers are welcomed. They should be brief and writ- ten on one side of the paper only. Address all letters, to CORRESPONDENCE COLUMN, Editorial Department, The Phonograph Monthly Review, 64 Hyde Park Avenue, Boston, Mass. Editor, Phonograph Monthly Review : In the excitement of producing new phonographs, the American manufacturers have neglected to provide us with suitable storage places for our records. Instead, they have reduced the number of albums to make room for the larger new-style horns, until now we have only a few narrow spaces in which to keep our music. Furthermore, the album itself is an obsolete and unsatisfactory storage device. Anyone who has lifted albums filled with twelve-inch records knows how ponderous and awkward they are and how soon they begin to sag and lose their shape under a heavy load. During an hour’s playing of the phonograph, we may draw records from a dozen albums, so that we must either lift great tomes every five minutes or allow our library tables to become littered with open volumes in the greatest confusion. Nor does it help matters to assign only one kind of music to an album, for our programs are often of the most varied sort. Never- theless, in the case of the album sets of long musical works, the situation is entirely different. Here we draw records continuously from the same album, which does not become heavy because it contains only four or five records. There is also something rather pleasing in the idea that one is building up a library of musical books. This, then, is the province of the album. But what shall we do with the scores of loose records in our collections? There is, of course, an awful alternative to albums with which my readers are probably familiar. I refer to those black boxes in which a hundred records or so may be filed between cardboard separators; and filed they are when- ever they are withdrawn or replaced from between their dusty and gritty index cards. Perhaps the tough old emery-surfaced records of the early days came forth without apparent bad effects, but in such an atmosphere the present-day records with their highly-glazed surfaces can be depended upon to develop static. And, too, these metal-cornered, leather- handled cases convey the uneasy impression that the family is about to move. At present it is to England that we must look for adequate filing equipment. This is not surprising when we remember the difference between the American phonograph enthusiast and his English cousin. The American, having spent lavish dollars on an expensive phonograph and Red Seal records, is quite willing to sit back and enjoy the music without giving further thought to the mechanism that produces it. On the other hand, the Englishman, having chosen his gramophone with great pains from a score or more of possible makes, and having picked records with a canny eye for bargains from half-a-dozen catalogues, has hardly begun. He is now likely to buy several extra sound-boxes of various patterns and temperaments and to change them every five minutes to suit the record that he is playing. There is an English firm that offers four sound-boxes that differ one from another only in being tuned respectively for playing electrical or mechanical recordings with either steel or fibre needles. To the American, who thinks of his sound-box as an intergral and unchanging part of his instrument, this unconcerned tampering with sacred things is reminiscent of his own childhood^ when he used to poke hairpins into his father’s watch. The Englishman swears that he knows by name and can tell blindfold a number of brands of needles that look identical to the unsympathetic American. England is bitterly divided on the question of the merits of a certain needle of peculiar shape known as* the “Petmecky.” If anyone tried to produce such a needle on these shores, we should think that the needle-making machine had misfired. All in all, the English enthusiasts treat their gramophones much as we treated our radios a few years ago; they want to know why the wheels go ’round, and they are not satisfied until, figuratively speaking, they have added a cog or two of their own. To return to our subject, from which we have strayed, it is not surprising in the light of the explanation above that England should have excelled us in the manufacture of filing equipment. Although not many American phonograph owners would care to import anything so large or expensive as a record cabinet, I ajn going to describe three of the best English systems in the hope that enough inquiries will be sent to the manufacturers to stimulate them to make their products available in this country. Perhaps some day our own manu- facturers will wake up. First, there is the ingenious filing cabinet made by A. A. Brown, Glasgow, S.E., Scotland. This contains shelves on which rows of envelopes are supported. These envelopes ordinarily present their opening at the top, but because of their peculiar semi-circular shape they may be rolled forward in the cabinet so that the opening is toward the front. In this position the record can easily be withdrawn and replaced. Although the envelopes cannot roll out of the cabinet by accident, they can be removed for rearrangement. Next there is the “Sesame” cabinet. To quote the manu- facturers:—“A turn of the key and ‘Open Sesame!’—the reason for its name becomes abundantly clear. Slowly and silently, despite its heavy load, the cabinet swings open, checked by the pneumatic controlling device; and inside you see 150 records standing on edge one behild the other. . . . The cabinet is closed again; and this time you realize that the records are, in fact, stored flat and only presented on edge for convenience of withdrawal. No record can warp in a ‘Sesame.’ Other details strike you . . . the interior floating lid, which locks automatically against the record container when closed, forming a double protection from that ruthless destroyer of records, dust.” Lastly, we have the “Jussrite” system. It consists of a cabinet containing at the top two rods on which envelopes are hung vertically, much like coat-hangers. Although the “Jussrite” method of filing is less spectacular than the “Sesame,” it is also a great deal simpler, cheaper, and, I think, more compact. Captain H. T. Barnett, the English gramophone expert, useg it exclusively for his large library of records. Captain Barnett says in his “Gramophone Tips”: “It is absolutely essential that records should be kept very dry indeed if the modern good surface is to be maintained. They should be kept in a dry room and in cabinets, not in albums. If damp air can at any time get even to the edges of paper bags or albums containing records, the paper will pick up moisture from the air almost instantly and transfer it to the surface of the records, which will then soon lose their fine polish and develop surface noise.” Evidently Captain Barnett finds that the material of which “Jussrite” envelopes are made is non-absorbent. To make the operation of the system a bit clearer, I quote from the “Jussrite” catalogue:— “The ‘Jussrite’ Way: 1. Select title from index, noting the number. 2. Take hold of correspond- ing tab in filer and draw it forward slightly. 3. Container now protrudes about an inch. Extract record. 4. The inter- grip betwen containers holds empty one in its forward position, so that replacement is instantaneous. The record cannot be returned to the wrong container. 5. The act of returning the record, with a slight downward pressure, auto- matically returns the container to its alignment with the others.” For making use of waste space, such as on a closet shelf, the “Jussrite” Frame Model is splendid. It consists of two solid rod supports to be fastened at either end of the shelf, the rods themselves, which can be cut to any length, and as many envelopes as the space will accommodate. To summarize the protection that the three cabinets offer, the “Jussrite” and Brown systems provide envelopes; while the “Sesame” provides only separating cards, but in the latter the whole cabinet is carefuly sealed dust-tight. All three devices can be supplied in various sizes holding from one hundred records up and in various cabinets to harmonize with any decorative, scheme. Special models can be made to order. There are also special sizes of frame models available to fit the record compartments of existing gramophones, as well as sectional units that can be added to as one’s collection grows. . . In closing, it seems only fair to give the American manu- facturers their due. The Victor Talking Machine Co. has le- cently announced in its trade journal that a record cabinet is being built to its design. The cabinet ,which looks extremely attractive, is designed to take records on end, ten-inch disks being filled on one side and twelve-inch ones on the other.