Jazz Record Restorer John R.T. Davies Dies

I had honestly never heard of this guy, but his work was certainly noble and worthwhile:

John R.T. Davies, one of the world's top restorers of old jazz records, has died, his family said. He was 77.

Davies succumbed to cancer on May 25 at his home in Burnham, in Buckinghamshire, northwest of London, his wife Sue announced on Davies' Web site.
Davies, a musician who also gained fame as a member of the 1960s band the Temperance Seven, was one of the foremost experts on remastering classic jazz recordings, mostly from the 1920s to 1950s.

He had an enormous record collection and was known for using temperamental old equipment for his careful, precise work. His goal, colleague Tony Russell wrote in The Guardian newspaper, was to get worn, damaged recordings sounding as much as possible like the musicians who made them had intended.

Sometimes he could even improve upon deficiencies caused by poor recording equipment, Russell wrote. [AP]

Some items of Equipment used in the repair of Gramophone Records - by John RT Davies.

An aluminum plate c. 13 ½" diameter, ½" thick machined flat (to tolerance of 0.001") endowed with a removable center spindle. The spindle is drilled and tapped 2BA as is the plate in two circles at 5 ¼" and 6 ¼" radius as well as two groups at 4" radius. The purpose of these tapped holes is the reception of screw held clamps, bridges etc. for the securing and manipulation of parts of records.

Sundry simple clamps fashioned from aluminum angle, three thumb-screw-adjustable horizontal cramps, also a collection of strangely shaped "outrigger" clamps for applying vertical pressure from tapped holes. A 1 ½" diameter (1/4" thick) piece which fits over the center spindle and is endowed with four tapped holes to receive screws holding aforementioned strangely shaped "outrigger" clamps.

A couple of pairs of "Spencer-Wells" forceps. One will carry a used cutting stylus for creating pilot grooves to bridge erstwhile digs and gouges or even across a newly rebuilt bite - hold the tool, move the work; the other normally holds a soft-tone steel needle for gentle crut-removal and planishing upper reaches of newly cut grooves. In cases of loss of groove wall between two turns, such planishing can approximate the recorded information on the surviving groove wall onto the newly rebuilt wall... to some advantage.

A block jig to hold a dental burr. Such will facilitate the removal of a little material along broken edges so that pieces may be rejoined with the adhesive being contained within the cavity so created thus avoiding to a large extent the displacement which would otherwise be caused by the thickness of the adhesive.

A dissecting microscope - binocular - 20x and 40x. Greater magnification might seem desirable for microgrooves but tools for working on microgrooves are very difficult to create and even more difficult to wield.

"Chinagraph" black and white. White is easier to work with because of contrasting visibility and lower fluidity temperature. Black- more difficult to see what you’re doing - can effect a repair invisible to the naked eye. Melted in with the tip of a heated darning needle, surplus can be planed off with a slicing motion of a razor blade; the new surface can then be buffed smooth before pilot grooves are cut. Hold the tool, move the work

Edison amberol wax (more amenable than the two-minute material) will provide a fine, durable new surface for larger repairs, but (having poor adhesive property) needs to be bedded in chinagraph. The Edison wax needs to be cut lightly/repeatedly to prevent chipping; tendency to chip can be reduced by blending with black chinagraph (which seems to mix more readily/evenly than white).

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