Wilcox Gay Recordio??
 

This may not be a strictly "radio" question, but couldn't figure out where else to put it. Anyone here know anything about these? I just saw one in a thrift, never seen or heard of it before. Worth fooling around with?

They use a special needle that cuts (burns?) the groove, they use a special disc to record on. Good blank discs can be hard to come by, I've seen some where the coating will crack. (they are a metal disk covered with some sort of shellac or whatever) I've also heard that the crystal stylus can be trouble. They can be made to work though. Got a pile of portable Recordios/Recordettes and their competitors. Never tried to record anything with one. I do have some old recordings. The ones I have don't sound like much but I guess they were better than nothing. A bunch of radio/phonos from the 40s offered disc recording options. There, told you more than I know!

I've got a couple of those I need to uh, get rid of. PM me if interested!!!

Yeah, it is hard to find blanks. I used to have a meissner one like this. I Think the Wilcox-Gay has the same turntable and tonearms. It did have a crystal cartridge and it was bad, but I found a replacement. The cutting head was bad, I was never able to find a replacement for that.

John

Okay, guys- I didn't really know anything about it when I saw it- more of a curiosity. I wouldn't have any interest in actually recording stuff with one- it got my attention because it had tubes and a radio in it, and I didn't know if it was worth $25- now I'm thinking no.

Recordio, and other recorders. Is it worth it??
 

Hi, guys. Couldn't help, but, reply to this question. First,let me tell you that there is a reliable guy in Florida who re-builds crystal cartridges, including the high voltage crystal recording cutter used in manny machines. He's not cheap, but, he is good. Periodically, he lists items on ebay, usually under Other phonographs, an off-shoot of collectables, radio, television, phonographs,telephones. That photo is of a Recordeo. I have one that doesn't have the radio. They were not great units. The special audio transformer used in Recordios tended to short out. Others didn't always use the same circuit, and may be more reliable. Recordio got themselves a rather bad reputation. Well deserved, from what I learn. Discs: Hard to find. Needles: Came in several qualities, from cheapest, good for only one recording session, to the best, saphire,good for several reccording sessions. If you are squemish about this, I'd say just skip re-building cutter. Of course, a fully working machine is worth more. Recording is tricky. Volume is important, as is weight of cutter, dependent on type of disc used on recording, and type of cutting needle. The recordette burned the recordings. That tended to dammage the crystal. Recordio didn't care. Does this help????? If I may make my own quote of another forum member, here goes.. "I may be growing older, but, I refuse to grow up!" :thmbsp: :thmbsp:

We have an Airline home disc recorder at the shop...had the cutting head rebuilt by someone who specializes in it (can't remember exactly who). We also bought some new blank discs...it does record, but there is some hiss on the playback...can't explain why. Have heard some records made on machines like this that sound pretty good, though.

Recording hiss.
 

Immediately, 2 things come to mind. Is audio hiss there all the time, or, only when needle is on your recording playing it?? There could be one of 2 things wrong. 1 an amplifier problem causing the hiss. May be a noisy tube. or, 2 your weight of recording cutter is too heavy. This is usually adjustable via a screw near front of top of recording arm. You also don't want "holes" in your recording. These are spots where groove cutting stopped, and started. Usually caused by combination of too much weight, and worn recording needle. I assume you also know that the flat spot on recording needle was intended to be where screw on front of arm held it in. :yes: Glad to see someone else is interested in recording. This can be fun, and the results are rewarding. The last disc recording that I did as an experiment 21 years ago I reccorded a favorite 2 min. cylinder recording of mine. Still have that disc. Can you tell me where I can pick up more cutting needles, and good aluminum shelac blanks? 10", and 12". Magic eye tubes, by the way, are not terribly accurate at telling volume. :)

We will have to try it again...thanks for suggestions. Unit works O.K. on playback of commercially recorded records. I will find out from my business partner on where we got our supplies from...seems like we were able to get needles and different types of discs from the person who rebuilt the cutting head.

Your recorder
 

Another question comes to mind. Did you re-build the amplofier? The old caps are leaky, and could conceivably be causing your immediate problem. I'd re-cap whole thing, and put in neww electrolytics, as well, to bring power aupply up to full potential...... :thmbsp: :thmbsp: :yes: :scratch2: Now, as for quality, how well is it actually playing? If un-rebuilt, it can't be great. Some people think that if it "makes noise" it's doing great...As for me, Knowing what the full potential can be, I opt for bringing them back to factory specs. :no: So, let's all have fun with "our toys". But, as when younger, these gems of the past need proper maintennance. :thmbsp:

OOOps!!!!
 

:yes: Don't mind me, guys. I get caried away. I love the old stuff. :yes: :yes:

Shop repair
 

How did your shop repair go? Any luck?
Need help on a sick Recordio portable. Anyone got one with rough cloth coverred case they want to get rid of? Mine appears to be late 30's, or early 40's. I'm missing all hold down screws, mike, I have a broken wafer switch, and it's a general mess. This model does use an eye tube, missing, but no radio. Bill Cahill :scratch2: :sigh:

We haven't worked with the Airline disc recorder in a while...we did repair all of the trouble sources such as old caps. Radio and playback work ok. We will have to do some more tests on it to check the recording quality again.

I have an RCA console radio with a changer/recorder. Inside the door to the radio is a label that says 1941 anniversery editon victrola. It is currently stored at my studio waiting for restoration. It is in good restorable condition, but of course does not work. It will need to be cleaned and completely recapped, and new 5u4 tube. It will also need the cartridges rebuilt as well. One of these days I will find time.
Bill R

I missed this post the first time around. If I had seen it, I may have mentioned the fact that the title to this post sounds like a really bad porn movie. :D
Don't mind me, I just have a rare bit of spare time on my hands and nothing to do. :)

I've got several hundred Recordio discs of my dad singing with friends from the early 1940's. They did a good job and the recordings are fairly decent. I destroyed the Recordio when I was 6-7 years old. Daddy gave it to me to play with. At the time, it had not been operated in 25 years.

Like to have that one now. Any one.

Porn movie. Heh heh heh. :banana:

just saw a Wilcox Gay Recordio in an antique mall in Columbus Ohio, its in a modern looking console cabinet, looks more like 60s than what it actually is, probably late 40s, and for the asking price of something around $100 it will be there for the forseeable future! its an ugly unit as far as vintage radios go and I already have a portable unit with the same turntable/recorder and of course the crystal record head unit is bad, I'll stick with my Wire Recorders! but for $25, if its in an attractive cabinet I'd go for it

I just saw this thread for the first time. I didnt think it was a porn title. :D

My dad had a Recordio that they used to record events at his little country church in Long Branch, SC. I have a selection of 10" and 7" discs. Surprisingly, they sound good. Some of the discs have not faired well over the last 60 years, but most are still relatively scratch-free.

The statement in a previous post, 'recordio didn't care' was right on. My dad told me that when the cutting head died on his recordio, he wrote the company. They replied by saying that his unit was out of warranty, and that the new head would cost $$. Plus, they wanted him to return it to an authorized service facility. More $$.

The later recordings that I have are much quieter. Dad turned the recording volume down. The recording head was replaced at least 4 times before they all gave up on it. It sat in a box in the basement for years. Then, I got old enough to receive it to take apart. I was around 7 years old. I can still remember the cabinet. Somewhere in my junk I still have a bad recording head for this unit. I also have the last disk it recorded. The lady was singing a lovely passage. She hit a high note, there was some distortion, and silence.

It was a good idea at the time. Too bad Wilcox-Gay was so cheap with their execution.

I've transferred 50+ disks to audio tape. Dad is past 80 now, and enjoys listening to them occasionally.

i know this might be a dead thread already. But does anyone have one of these recordios? i would like to obtain one and play with it. something new. :-)

Meissner also made home recording units similar to the Wilcox-Gay, and they show up on ebay all the time. I have seen as many as three of them on there at once. All I can seem to find right now is this blurry thumbnail. I also stumbled across a forum devoted to such things.

http://lathetrolls.phpbbweb.com/

John
.

I just noticed this thread title pop-up... I have some blank and recorded discs if anybody is interested. Found them in an abandoned house. One of the discs I played back sounds like a recording of a radio show from the late 30s.

well i popped this thread back up, because i wanna try playing with cutting my own record. somethign i havent done before, and i am intrigued to do so.

thats why i asked if anyone has a recordio collecting dust, so i can take it off thier hands. :-)

I seen a website somewhere, where a guy recorded onto a solo plastic plate. ROFL.

actually other thant he hiss, it sounded pretty good. How does this thing actually work? a speaker vibrates a hot needle?

This product has perhaps the worst name ever.

"New from Wilcox Gay! The Wilcox Gay Swish Fellatron!"

mbates, I might just have something for you. I think there are 3 Recordios (well, Recordettes, as they called these portable units) upstairs in the radio room. Will have to have a look see. I had one of the Meissners, which was quite nice in its day, but it was pretty rough by the time I got it. I finally gave it away. I have never tried to record with one.

Come to think of it, I also have a rather nice portable Packard-Bell radio/recorder. I'm not so sure that the Masco unit out in the shed isn't a disc recorder, too.

Sounds like a Fellini movie.

I think I keep tripping over 1 or 2 of these in my basement. Let me know if you don't get what you want -- maybe I've got it.

I stumbled on to this thread, and remembered a site where I found replacement parts for the RCA 45 RPM record changer, they rebuild the crystal cartridges and cutter heads. For the RCA parts they were great to deal with.

http://www.west-techservices.com/p2.htm

Eric

blank discs are still available
 

I love these old recorders! I have several and they are totally impractical, just like all my other stuff! As I sit here in my living room watching black-and-white TV on a 10-inch screen, making records on a Recordio seems like a perfectly normal thing to want to do!

Discs are still available from a couple of places, including the same source I was buying them from decades ago when we were still custom cutting 78s commercially: Transco. Coincidentally, Transco is located just down the road from me.

NOS blanks will work (as will, apparently, certain disposable plastic dinner plates!) but usually won't offer the best results. The acetate coating dries out over the years and become harder which makes it more difficult to cut, and results in a noisier recording. New blanks are still optimally soft and cut as cleanly as possible. Of course, the Recordio and other home "cold cutter" units didn't make all that great sounding recordings even when they were new, compared to the professional cutters.

I've run across information out there on the web (sorry, I couldn't find it just now) about how to convert a cold cutter to a hot cutter. I haven't tried it, but the people who have say it's not difficult, just a turn or two of nichrome wire around the stylus. It's apparently a little tricky setting it so the heat is enough to make the lacquer cut like butter, but not hot enough to ruin the stylus! Adding a vacuum system to collect the thread (be sure to do this the right way, 'cause that thread is extremely flammable!) is another relatively easy mod that can make a home unit work a little more like a pro model.

By all means, pick up these units (as long as they're not overpriced) and keep them running. Or pass them on to another wacky collector who will.

--Dave