[Vintage-Audio] When Did Super Flex Start?

[Duane Fischer, W8DBF]

Hi All,

Not the correct name, but I think any of you who played vinyl albums from 
1970-1972 know of what I speak.

Once upon a time, vinyl records were quite rigid and had almost no flex to 
them. Then about 1971 somebody had a gas bubble during a neuron synapse, 
(comparable to an old spark gap transmitter igniting the window shades on 
fire!), and thought that the recording industry could save money if they 
made the vinyl albums thinner. Well about 1971 they released vinyl albums 
that were not quite as thick and having some degree of flex to them. This 
lasted, what, a year? Then they got serious with the balance sheets in 
accounting and made the vinyl albums even more thin and more flexible. The 
result was something like "Ultrathin"? Help me with the correct anmes guys!

Whatever it was called, it was so thin that if you had good light and good 
eyes, you could hold it up to the Sun and darn near see the grooves on the 
reverse side! If you got stupid for a moment and looked through the hole in 
the center of the record where the spindle for the turntable goes, you 
looked directly at the Sun, went blind and are now reading Braille or 
listening to synthetic speech on your computer as I do! No, I did not go 
blind from staring at the Sun, I was blinded by a stranger who was very 
careless and shot me from sixty feet with a twelve gauge shotgun and #6 
shot, instead of the Pheasant.

It was only recently that I noticed the vinyl record in between the original 
ones and the super flexible ones. What was the 'real' reason for the change 
from the thicker less flexible vinyl albums to the much thinner and very 
flexible wobble wonders that we all came to hate? The ones that even 
tracking at .75 grams seemed to cause groove wear.

Then, why did they change from the one in the middle to the one I just 
mentioned with more wobble than a VW Bug with two flat tires?

Thanks!




Duane Fischer, W8DBF/WPE8CXO
dfischer at usol.com
HHI: Halligan's Hallicrafters International
http://www.w9wze.net
HHRP: Historic Halligan Radio Project
hhrp.w9wze.net