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Vinyl Cutting Machines

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Where does one purchase one of these?

I see carvers appearing every day but have never seen the hardware for sale anywhere, I know Vestax bought one out 5 years ago but discontinued it after a year.

I can't afford to buy one but I'd love to see one in action.

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  • Cheltsoulnights
    Cheltsoulnights

    Great subject. After 3 years of trying  I finally got told the Vestax machine does not work well enough to be sold to me. Various stupid prices quoted to me all high. But when I fronted to buy........

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to buy this unit now would cost you 4,100& he's asking 5.500? am i missing something?

Could be, the is a 1500 quid processor as well?

The Vestax one was actually quite good, I remember it being approx £4K.
The good thing about it was that it used blanks that had the same

lifespan as a proper vinyl record, and they were reasonably priced too.

 

I remember when I got my first vinyl release, I went to an attended cut, it is amazing to watch.

When they have cut the metal, they have a hugely powerful magnifying glass that they use to
make sure that the grooves are not touching anywhere in the cut, that would make the record jump.
It fabulous to see the grooves so close up of your own record. Highly recommended.

Could be, the is a 1500 quid processor as well?

okay, could be, but then i would just pay the extra hundred for them to build me a new one & pick it up in Germsmany myself. ohwell

Great subject. After 3 years of trying  I finally got told the Vestax machine does not work well enough to be sold to me. Various stupid prices quoted to me all high. But when I fronted to buy............................got informed its not reliable and they wanted to keep their image up. They at the time cut all the famous guys mixes on 12". I guess they had to cut it and then find out if it worked. Find out what machine vinyl carvers use?

Where does one purchase one of these?

I see carvers appearing every day but have never seen the hardware for sale anywhere, I know Vestax bought one out 5 years ago but discontinued it after a year.

I can't afford to buy one but I'd love to see one in action.

 

 

theres a place in houghton regis near luton where you can go and watch yer choon being cut...i think john herbert videod his being done when we was up there

Edited by Guest

Forget the Vestax machine they no longer sell or provide service to owners of this machine in any case the sound quality was poor when compared to the price it was originally listed at.

The Vinyl Recorder as used by Vinylcarvers is manufactured by a strange chap in Germany he is the only source of spares, service and blanks for his machine and he will only deal with people who buy a new machine from him directly this renders a used machine worthless!

the best off the shelf new machine is the vinynallium Kingston dub plate (switzerland)machine this will cut vinyl, acetates and to a very good quality

And the equipment Chris King uses is none of the above its a high end professional set up.

But just buying any of the above is just the tip of a very difficult, expensive and time consuming hobby/ business

To get anything near good results you will need to invest many many hours of practice

  • Author

Forget the Vestax machine they no longer sell or provide service to owners of this machine in any case the sound quality was poor when compared to the price it was originally listed at.

The Vinyl Recorder as used by Vinylcarvers is manufactured by a strange chap in Germany he is the only source of spares, service and blanks for his machine and he will only deal with people who buy a new machine from him directly this renders a used machine worthless!

the best off the shelf new machine is the vinynallium Kingston dub plate (switzerland)machine this will cut vinyl, acetates and to a very good quality

And the equipment Chris King uses is none of the above its a high end professional set up.

But just buying any of the above is just the tip of a very difficult, expensive and time consuming hobby/ business

To get anything near good results you will need to invest many many hours of practice

 

So there's two or three people on ebay churning out carvers of Northern stuff out at an alarming rate, there's at least 100 on there now, what would they be using to do those?

So there's two or three people on ebay churning out carvers of Northern stuff out at an alarming rate, there's at least 100 on there now, what would they be using to do those?

 

 

My guess is they would be using a vestax or something similar.  I would think they are posting scans of what they can do and cut to order. 

We looked at the vestax when they came out and the discs were something like seven pence, peanuts really.  a few pence for the labels printing, tenner sale, massive profit really when you think about it.

acetate lathes are not an option as blanks not made?

 

 

Timmion use metal blanks and you can get them if you search.  You could still buy authentic 60's ones.  You could get Virtue etc not so long back.  Audio disc are still in business as well so I would assume they are using metal blanks as well.  

 

www.apollomasters.com

The Vestax one was actually quite good, I remember it being approx £4K.

The good thing about it was that it used blanks that had the same

lifespan as a proper vinyl record...

 

Not sure how anyone can make this claim, assuming there aren't any 60 year old records that have been cut from the same blanks in the same way. :huh:

  • Author

Not sure how anyone can make this claim, assuming there aren't any 60 year old records that have been cut from the same blanks in the same way. :huh:

 

Ah but they could have been played as often as 60 year old records!

Ah but they could have been played as often as 60 year old records!

 

Fair point, but some materials degrade with age as well as wear and tear. I don't know this for sure, but I'm assuming the stuff used to make vinyl/PVC records that are stamped or injection moulded won't be exactly the same as the plastic that gets a groove cut into it with these machines.

 

I'm also aware that I'm being pretty pedantic too, but hey - that's what this site is all about really...

where is this place in houghton regis moldie ? houghton is less than 5 minutes from me

i heard chris king produces 50% of all the vinyl put out on the market,of todays music scene(not northern scene).

 

would that be true?.

Edited by sepia

i heard chris king produces 50% of all the vinyl put out on the market,of todays music scene(not northern scene).

 

would that be true?.

What, all the hip hop, dance, indie, rock, jazz, country, etc in the world? That's an insane idea!

sorry i ment uk,lol.dont know this just heard it somwhere.wondering if true or false.

What, all the hip hop, dance, indie, rock, jazz, country, etc in the world? That's an insane idea!

sorry i ment uk,lol.dont know this just heard it somwhere.wondering if true or false.

 

 

Still not true mate. Don't believe people - they talk bobbins :D

There is another option to the ones previously listed and that is a vintage machine converted to cut 45 rpm names like Presto, Rekokut & Fairchild all made in the USA and one that was made a few miles from Mr Smith BSR (the company that made some terrible turntables in the 70's & 80's)the problem is these companies stopped making them approx 50 years ago so if you locate one unless you are very lucky it won't be cheap and then the work starts getting them to work to a reasonable sound quality I kid you not its not easy you will need access to someone with a machine shop and someone who is a whizz with electronics then someone who understands the technicalities of cutting records.

cutting stylus and blanks especially acetates are expensive there is basically one company left who manufactures them Apollo masters in NY so they have the market cornered.

Maybe a good idea would be to look for a vinyl pressing plant that is closing it's doors and selling up? There has to be one somewhere in these days of digital technology? I have seen quite a few over the last few years that have changed over to CD and have no need for the vinyl cutters etc. I have also see a few auctions that have been selling off old pressing plant equipment. You never know, a bit of research and you might strike lucky?
Saying that the equipment from a pressing plant would be industrial size and not suitable for home use obviously.

 

I wonder what happened to Twinks Emidisc machine?

Edited by Northern Soul UK

Thought I should add although I have a machine it's years away from working! and is not used for bootlegging in any shape or form hope that's clear!

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