Direct mp3 download or play: Japansy
This is the first 78 rpm record I recorded directly onto my Sony PCM-D50 digital recorder, open mike from my Victor Victrola. I say open mike, because the Victrola has no electronics and the sound is produced mechanically from the record. I like to think of the Victrola as an acoustic musical instrument, and it was recorded like any other instrument such as a trombone or saxophone, for example. According to this website, my Victrola model VV-405, was manufactured in 1923 and looks like the one shown here. However, the unit in the picture has a much nicer finish on the wooden cabinet than mine.
If my memory is correct, I recall my father telling me many years ago that this record was a favorite of his while growing up in Berkeley, California. I guess the lyrics could be considered racist, but I’m sure it was never intended to be anything more than a guy in love with a beautiful Japanese woman.
Victor Victrola model VV-405
Inside cover top
Model and serial number
1 user commented on " Japansy "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackThe “Inside cover top” is marvelous, I can’t stop staring at it. The time when craftsmanship and high fidelity were one in the same is sadly long gone. The cabinet itself captures the post-Victorian with a good dose of art-deco.
Veneers were pretty thick in the 20s’ there’s a good chance your cab could be sanded and refinished- as long as the piece did not sit in a garage with a concrete floor for too long -the long term high humidity environment is the slow death of even the highest quality veneers. A pressure strain between the substrate plies and the surface (a bubble)will result in an audible vibration. I could go on …