Rare UK single from 1953
This 1953 record is extremely rare, not because of the music recorded on it (Johnny Dankworth was a very well-known and successful jazz band leader of the day) but because it is one of the first vinyl 7” 45rpm records produced in the UK. Especially unusual is the large diameter centre hole, a feature that was quickly dropped from UK singles.
The ‘single’ 45rpm 7 inch record was launched by RCA in 1949 as a direct competitor to the recently (1948) launched Columbia 12” 33 1/3rd rpm long playing ‘microgroove’ record. The RCA product featured a different size, different playing speed, and different diameter centre hole – it was one of the first format wars! Until the late 1940s, records played at approximately 78rpm, and due to being made largely of Shellac (formed by the secretion of the Indian Lac bug) were quite brittle and were easily broken. Although when new and played on the best equipment 78s could sound very good, they wore badly, the materials degraded and 78s became renowned for scratchy surface noise and hiss. Also, playback time was limited to about 5 minutes, depending on the diameter of the disc. RCA had launched a 12” low noise record before WW2, but it was not successful and they had to withdraw the system.
In 1948, Columbia launched the ‘microgroove’ vinyl disc. The 12”/30cm diameter and 33 1/3 rpm playing speed was in part determined by examining the longest duration of any movement in classical music then known, in order that, unlike with 78s, an entire movement at least could be listened to uninterrupted. One side of a 12” album contains about 20 minutes of audio. RCA 45s could hold about the same amount of audio as the earlier 78s, but they were smaller, lighter and practically unbreakable and played with much less surface noise. However, they couldn’t match the uninterrupted 20 minutes playing time of the Columbia LPs, so RCA designed not only the records but special record players that could change from one disc to another very quickly indeed, hence managed to minimise the time between one record ending and the next starting. Indeed, early Columbia long playing records which featured several tracks on each side had a longer gap between tracks than we later became used to, and the RCA system had a very comparable time gap between one song and the next.
7 inch records were often supplied in boxed sets, or Albums, of several discs that were placed in order on the central spindle of one of the RCA type record players from which they would play, one after the other, automatically. The large diameter centre hole facilitated easy handling of a stack of several such records. However, the special RCA record players were not available in the UK – the different electricity voltage, and most especially the 50Hz electricity supply compared to the 60Hz supply in the US made them unusable, so there was little point to producing records with the large centre hole in the UK, and shortly after their introduction (in or about 1953), they were produced with the same size centre holes that was used on both 78s and the new 12” LPs. However, many UK singles had perforations so that the centre section could be (permanently) removed in case you wanted to play it on a US style player, or indeed use it in a jukebox, the great majority of which could only take large centre hole records. Also, even the earliest UK record players that could play 45s came equipped with large hole adapters so you could play a large hole single from the US or Europe. Some UK singles had a completely solid centre region, like an LP, and without a special tool called a ‘dinker’ these couldn’t be adapted to play in a jukebox. After a short time, both Columbia and RCA allowed their formats to be used by each other and other manufacturers and soon albums were almost exclusively issued in 12” format and singles in 7” 45pm format.
So, the record in the picture is one of the very earliest produced UK singles and with a large diameter centre hole. Despite its comparative rarity, it is worth practically nothing – it is merely a curiosity from an earlier age.
Rare UK single from 1953
This 1953 record is extremely rare, not because of the music recorded on it (Johnny Dankworth was a very well-known and successful jazz band leader of the day) but because it is one of the first vinyl 7” 45rpm records produced in the UK. Especially unusual is the large diameter centre hole, a feature that was quickly dropped from UK singles.
The ‘single’ 45rpm 7 inch record was launched by RCA in 1949 as a direct competitor to the recently (1948) launched Columbia 12” 33 1/3rd rpm long playing ‘microgroove’ record. The RCA product featured a different size, different playing speed, and different diameter centre hole – it was one of the first format wars! Until the late 1940s, records played at approximately 78rpm, and due to being made largely of Shellac (formed by the secretion of the Indian Lac bug) were quite brittle and were easily broken. Although when new and played on the best equipment 78s could sound very good, they wore badly, the materials degraded and 78s became renowned for scratchy surface noise and hiss. Also, playback time was limited to about 5 minutes, depending on the diameter of the disc. RCA had launched a 12” low noise record before WW2, but it was not successful and they had to withdraw the system.
In 1948, Columbia launched the ‘microgroove’ vinyl disc. The 12”/30cm diameter and 33 1/3 rpm playing speed was in part determined by examining the longest duration of any movement in classical music then known, in order that, unlike with 78s, an entire movement at least could be listened to uninterrupted. One side of a 12” album contains about 20 minutes of audio. RCA 45s could hold about the same amount of audio as the earlier 78s, but they were smaller, lighter and practically unbreakable and played with much less surface noise. However, they couldn’t match the uninterrupted 20 minutes playing time of the Columbia LPs, so RCA designed not only the records but special record players that could change from one disc to another very quickly indeed, hence managed to minimise the time between one record ending and the next starting. Indeed, early Columbia long playing records which featured several tracks on each side had a longer gap between tracks than we later became used to, and the RCA system had a very comparable time gap between one song and the next.
7 inch records were often supplied in boxed sets, or Albums, of several discs that were placed in order on the central spindle of one of the RCA type record players from which they would play, one after the other, automatically. The large diameter centre hole facilitated easy handling of a stack of several such records. However, the special RCA record players were not available in the UK – the different electricity voltage, and most especially the 50Hz electricity supply compared to the 60Hz supply in the US made them unusable, so there was little point to producing records with the large centre hole in the UK, and shortly after their introduction (in or about 1953), they were produced with the same size centre holes that was used on both 78s and the new 12” LPs. However, many UK singles had perforations so that the centre section could be (permanently) removed in case you wanted to play it on a US style player, or indeed use it in a jukebox, the great majority of which could only take large centre hole records. Also, even the earliest UK record players that could play 45s came equipped with large hole adapters so you could play a large hole single from the US or Europe. Some UK singles had a completely solid centre region, like an LP, and without a special tool called a ‘dinker’ these couldn’t be adapted to play in a jukebox. After a short time, both Columbia and RCA allowed their formats to be used by each other and other manufacturers and soon albums were almost exclusively issued in 12” format and singles in 7” 45pm format.
So, the record in the picture is one of the very earliest produced UK singles and with a large diameter centre hole. Despite its comparative rarity, it is worth practically nothing – it is merely a curiosity from an earlier age.