What where records made of before Vinyl ? ?

Shellac is the correct answer for popular records, and was used for 78's, however, the first recording medium for phonographs was tin, with Edison's 1877 tinfoil phonograph.

The tin cylinders evolved to wax cylinders. Per Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, definition 3B, "shellac" was also a term used for "an old 78 phonograph record". It is not a plastic, it is a natural resin, and it dissolves in alcohol.

Bakelite is a trademark name for several plastics, which include polyethylene, polypropylene, epoxy, polystyrene, phenoxy, parylene, polysulfone, ethylene copolymers, ABS, acrylics, and vinyl resins, per the Condensed Chemical Dictionary, and is the wrong answer. Polystyrene was being used for 45's before the medium was phased out. It was more brittle than vinyl, and wore out more quickly.

Acetate was used during the vinyl age for making record demos and record-it-yourself records, which could be done at recording studios and some amusement parks. Cellulose acetate is one form of it.

"Wax" for records was not wax as we know it, but a slang term for vinyl.

Much greater detail is available at:

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/berlhtml/berlgramo.htm...

Shellac Records

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RE:

What where records made of before Vinyl ? ?

We believe that there was something before Vinyl that was very fragile ?

Any ideas ?

It was shellac. It was like bakelite but was cast at a higher temperature because of the fine grooves that needed to be cut into its surface. This also made the material much more brittle and it could not be re-melted.

I used to make bakelite ashtrays and believe me, you could not have cut a groove into it! It was an incredibly tough material. For some reason, we used to export these ashtrays to Nigeria! Funny old world.

Well, I looked through all of the answers first and wax, of course, was a real original - but shellac and bakelite makes me wonder - because what I really thought about was vulcanite - but then, that is a type of shellac, so maybe they are right after all!

I still have some 10 inch discs - but I really don't know what they are made from!

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shellac until they became vinyl switched to vinyl sometime during the fifties I think.

78 rpm records were made of Shellac.

Polyvinyl chloride,shellac,acetate,and various materials including hard rubber.

Shellac. If you have any old 78s this is what they were made of.

Wax and I believe cellulose as well. I could be wrong about cellulose. I need an RP3 player (that would be a portable record player ha ha.)