During the pandemic, I became interested in collecting 78 RPM records. I blame this on my second reading of the wonderful book, Do Not Sell At Any Price by Amanda Petrusich.
When I first read Amanda’s book, I kept telling myself that it was dangerous to be reading about another format in music collecting. I already collect vinyl records, cassettes, CDs and more. Adding shellac 78s to the collection might get out of hand quickly.
The second reading of the book led me to purchasing 78s at antique stores and online auctions with the hopes of finding something interesting to begin a collection with. There was just one problem…I didn’t know how to actually play 78s on my stereo system at home.
Do I need a different needle, stylus or cartridge to play 78s?
I wasn’t sure if the needle currently on turntable would properly play 78s and it turns out it does not. 78s have wider grooves than vinyl records, therefore you will need to purchase a needle specifically for playing 78 RPM records. These needles have a wider conical shape that will make better contact with the wide grooves allowing for much better sound performance when playing a 78.
I began researching 78 styli online and decided on the Audio Technica VM670SP cartridge. I will have a full review of the cartridge up soon.
Audio Technica describes the stylus as having “…a specialized body and internal wiring dedicated to monaural sound reproduction, plus a large curvature radius conical stylus, the VM670SP cartridge is designed for playing 78 RPM records.”
This stylus worked great and I was able to get the proper bass response and lose the annoying surface noise that using an incorrect stylus on 78s will provide.
Why bother collecting 78s?
I’ve been collecting records for over 25 years now and I’ve never bothered with 78s. Whenever I found them they were often broken or just looked like classical songs that I didn’t need taking up shelf space.
I’ve recently started watching Mack Stevens’ I Buy Old Records YouTube channel and he does a wonderful job of explaining what to look for when shopping for 78s. He is both a collector and a full time record dealer so his knowledge helps you learn what to find for your collection and also what you could possibly sell.
I live near Nashville, TN, so I often find old country 78s by artists like Bill Monroe and Grandpa Jones. My favorite finds so far are 78s by The Carter Family and Etta James. I paid $1.00 each for those. In fact, most of the 78s I purchased at a dollar or less.
It’s been fun installing the VM670SP stylus on our Audio Technica LP-120 turntable and playing these 78s to hear songs from the 1940s and 50s, sometimes even earlier.
I also enjoy picking up 78s with strange or funny song titles. My favorite so far is by Georgie’s Tavern Band with the song titled, He Put In A Bar, In the Back of His Car (And He’s Driving Himself To Drink). Of course I’m keeping that song.
If you have an interest in collecting 78s, be sure to have the correct equipment on hand. Once you do, you’ll find a lot of great music at bargain prices!
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