tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-139955645853790679.post3895529168588001545..comments2022-03-04T08:55:45.489-08:00Comments on Ryan's Vinyl Emporium: Styrene: a risky purchase for vinyl record collectors?Ryan Alexanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01994306735379386192noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-139955645853790679.post-7805404299201655402021-03-09T15:38:40.070-08:002021-03-09T15:38:40.070-08:00Very interesting topic, and one that's general...Very 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; PaulAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14917137921892418619noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-139955645853790679.post-49334222283700212022020-06-20T10:41:41.228-07:002020-06-20T10:41:41.228-07:00Dot also used Styrene for some pressings of their ...Dot also used Styrene for some pressings of their Mono LPs around '60 thru '62JTChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04134420771189696828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-139955645853790679.post-80444718545776961442020-04-19T16:57:28.486-07:002020-04-19T16:57:28.486-07:00i two copies of a possibly rare polystyrene 78; Pa...i 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.<br />Bill Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03253748987475489709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-139955645853790679.post-26276903050006372072017-04-06T02:18:28.803-07:002017-04-06T02:18:28.803-07:00Another oddity about polystyrene 45's. The one...Another 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.TheLazyComichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17091991105028595024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-139955645853790679.post-91342854292946150972017-04-06T02:17:34.975-07:002017-04-06T02:17:34.975-07:00Another oddity about polystyrene 45's. The one...Another 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.TheLazyComichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17091991105028595024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-139955645853790679.post-62639273988961388572016-05-03T02:45:35.683-07:002016-05-03T02:45:35.683-07:00Many companies pressed styrene though it was exclu...Many 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. Vinyl Bozzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13263233368704866516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-139955645853790679.post-91145028372026426682015-10-24T20:35:29.658-07:002015-10-24T20:35:29.658-07:00Don't play it backwards, or cue it up either e...Don't play it backwards, or cue it up either even if you have a diamond stylus. It will be destroyedLuis Luna Jr.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07799816671857339344noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-139955645853790679.post-33459567370100276952014-06-18T23:34:32.707-07:002014-06-18T23:34:32.707-07:00Polystyrene 45's were common in the 60's t...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.Dan Shayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10258545190840837644noreply@blogger.com