"For those of you who have all these Decca albums from the 1950's, do not... I mean, DO NOT use a sapphire-type needle or a screw-type needle. Otherwise, it will permanently damage it, and it will no longer playable (sic), because you'll probably notice that this is a styrene Decca record."
-Chris from Brooklyn (aka HomeoftheGoodGuys, Musicradio77, WCPR1620AM, GEWildcatRocks, BrooklynMouse, etc.)
Back in the 20th century, record companies tried to give the best music to people via vinyl for a low price. Unfortunately, the price of cutting the cost for a 45 record included making it out of a very different sort of plastic: namely, polystyrene.
Polystyrene, in my opinion, may have been cost-effective as a material to make 45 records back then, but, as time has proven, it is certainly not enduring. "Why?" you may ask. Because records made of styrene tend to wear out in a much shorter time. And when they are worn out, they can put your stylus at risk AND will sound absoutely TERRIBLE compared to 45s made out of real polyvinyl chloride (with a few exceptions, such as my 45 of "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Eat It").
So what's the big deal? Well, I can describe what a very worn styrene 45 sounds like. The grooves are noise-laden and the stylus ends up riding in what I like to call Sibilance City. And all that surface noise and distortion is within the well-worn grooves, because some person obviously played it billions of times back in the day with a phono cartridge that applied mammoth-like tracking force to the record!
So you might be wondering, how do you tell a styrene record apart from a record made out of real vinyl? Well, the question is answered in the picture below:
See the differences in the picture? They're pretty obvious alright. The vinyl 45 has a shinier surface, and the label is pressed on together with the vinyl mold by the pressing plant. The styrene 45's surface looks more "dull" compared to the vinyl 45 and also has a rough-edged rim around the label. And speaking of the label on styrene 45s, it is glued directly to the record. I guess this was done because styrene was more brittle compared to vinyl.
Should you stay away from styrene altogether? Well, not necessarily. If you want to dig up some of those golden oldies, there's still a way to give them a listen. Getting the best sound out of this material is doable with the right equipment. Here's a list of stylus types that would/wouldn't be the most suitable for a styrene record:
GOOD: spherical or elliptical diamond
BAD: "line contact" shaped diamond (especially the Audio-Technica AT440ML/MLa), sapphire/screw-type, osmium
(note: the absolute WORST thing that could happen to a styrene record is having them played on a wind-up gramophone with a steel stylus)
Interestingly, "line contact" shaped styli will eat up the grooves of a styrene record. This is because they are shaped after the stylus on a vinyl cutter head, and were designed with sound accuracy in mind, but not with styrene records in mind. Just goes to show you that different styli react differently to different materials used to make a record.
Finally, did you know that some record labels used styrene to press their LPs as well? That's actually true. Examples include some of Decca's late 50's LPs (as mentioned in the quote at the beginning of the article; they claim to have made them out of "Deccalite"), records pressed by Sunset (Liberty's "budget" division), Harmony (Columbia's "budget" division), and all the labels owned by the Record Corporation of America (such as Royale and Halo), just to name a few.
So that's just about it. If you want to hear a styrene 45 in action played with the right equipment, here is a video of my "Weird Al" Yankovic 45. Just goes to show that you can still get good sound out of styrene by using the right type of stylus (note: video blocked in Germany due to copyright restrictions by the GEMA):
Ryan
Polystyrene 45's were common in the 60's to 70's. Though usually not as good sounding as records made out of vinyl, one advantage was they didn't warp. As far as record companies pressing records on styrene, the only record company that I know who did was Columbia records. One Columbia plant, in Santa Maria, pressed everything in vinyl. Capitol only pressed in vinyl. And no, RCA didn't use styrene when they were pressing records. Most record labels farmed out their pressing. The most common styrene pressings were done by Monarch Records and their clients were A&M, Atlantic-Atco, Liberty, UA, Warner Bros.-Reprise and many independent labels. Monarch changes to vinyl in the mid-80's, before they went out of business. When Capitol and RCA got out of the record pressing business, you started seeing a mix of Styrene and Vinyl records. When Columbia closed it's Santa Maria plant, most CBS group records were pressed in styrene at Terra Haute and Pitman, although some were vinyl. Currently, the main independent record pressing companies press in vinyl only, like Rainbo, United, RTI, etc. I haven't seen a new styrene record since the early-80's.
ReplyDeleteDon't play it backwards, or cue it up either even if you have a diamond stylus. It will be destroyed
ReplyDeleteMany companies pressed styrene though it was exclusive to the United States. IMO styrene had advantages over vinyl in several ways. First, the quality of vinyl would depend on how much "regrind" they would to press the record. To save money, companies would take unsold or returned records and add them back into the vinyl mix, sometimes even with the label still on. This would degrade the quality of the vinyl and make it sound hissy and poppy even brand new. Styrene did not have this problem. It was always the same mixture as that was required for the process to work. Many times if I have a BRAND NEW styrne in one hand the same record but BRAND NEW and vinyl in the other, the styrene will play quieter. And I don't mean volume wise, I mean background noise. I have no problem with styrene records and many times I will collect a vinyl version and a styrene version.
ReplyDeleteAnother oddity about polystyrene 45's. The ones pre-1970's are dark black in color, even if you hold them up to a bright light, you cannot see through them. But starting in the 70's, if you hold most styrene records up to a bright light, you'll find out, they are actually a clear plastic, and have a very dark color to them. Under normal play, they look black. Hold them up to a light, and they are green, red, blue, all kinds of colors. I've noticed that the pre-1970's pressings do seem to hold up a bit better too. The "colored" styrene pressings just seem to sound like crap, almost immediately. Hold an 80's styrene 45 up to a bright light. You'll notice that you can see the light through the record. Randy McDaniels, TLC.
ReplyDeleteAnother oddity about polystyrene 45's. The ones pre-1970's are dark black in color, even if you hold them up to a bright light, you cannot see through them. But starting in the 70's, if you hold most styrene records up to a bright light, you'll find out, they are actually a clear plastic, and have a very dark color to them. Under normal play, they look black. Hold them up to a light, and they are green, red, blue, all kinds of colors. I've noticed that the pre-1970's pressings do seem to hold up a bit better too. The "colored" styrene pressings just seem to sound like crap, almost immediately. Hold an 80's styrene 45 up to a bright light. You'll notice that you can see the light through the record. Randy McDaniels, TLC.
ReplyDeletei two copies of a possibly rare polystyrene 78; Patty Page's "Croce de Oro" on the Mercury label. Is this actually unusual? Were all 76 copies of this release pressed on polystyrene? BTW mine have been played only with modern light tracking pickups with correct 3 mil diamond styli.
ReplyDeleteBill
Dot also used Styrene for some pressings of their Mono LPs around '60 thru '62
ReplyDeleteVery interesting topic, and one that's generally ignored by audio magazines and the like. I'm a longtime French collector and I've never seen a styrene pressing made in France. However, as a collector of Us & UK music from the 40's to the 80's, I've ended up owning quite a few styrenes. I play them on a Rega P6 turntable fitted with a Shure M97xE cartridge. But I only use the original elliptical stylus to play them, never the specially designed Jico stylus from Japan which I keep for vinyl records. Well, I would not say that styrene is better or worse than vinyl : it all depends. They sure are louder in many cases (those from the 60's) but they can sound excellently. The early Columbia 45's (loads of great hillbilly) play rather softly (yu have to crank up the volume) but they sound real good. Other companies that used styrene : King in Cincinnati, Freedom (sub of Liberty), Parrot, so many. Like many of you, I would have preferred that all records had been pressed on real vinyl only ! The worst thing for me remains the invention of 'duophonic stereo' !!! Thank you for all your valuable comments. Best wishes from the south of France; Paul
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