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Tried lacquer blanks instead of the usual PVC, night and day difference
I was cutting on those cheap PVC blanks for about a year and kept getting surface noise no matter how I set the stylus. Last week I switched to lacquer blanks from a supplier in Sacramento, cost about $12 each versus $7, but the grooves cut way cleaner. The chip removal was smoother and I didn't have to re-cut a single track because of skipping. Anyone else made the swap and noticed the stylus wear difference, or is it just me?
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jasons632mo ago
And once you feel that first cut on lacquer, you start noticing all the little things you were fighting before. The stylus doesn't have to work as hard, so the high end sounds way more open, not that muffled hiss you get with PVC. I even started hearing the bass response tighten up on the same cartridge settings, which made me go back and re-cut some old tracks just to see if it was the blank all along. Plus, you don't get that static buildup when you're peeling the record off the platter, which was driving me nuts on dry days. It's like the lacquer is just more forgiving of your setup mistakes too, so half the tweaking I used to do is just gone now.
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jennifersmith2mo ago
Man, @jasons63 nailed it! I'm re-cutting my whole catalog now, it's that different.
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