Matt Monro Forum

Hi All

At the weekend I helped my dad clear a corner of his garage.
Hidden under the cricket bats, car jacks and fishing equipment was an old Gramaphone/radio that I remembered as a child.
This old valve radio dated back to 1948 - my dad is sure that's the year he bought it - 1948.
My dad has let me bring it home and it has polished up lovely, however, after plugging the radio in the only noise it seem capable of playing is a horrendous 'tone'that obviously means something is kaput.
A real shame.

But anyway, on top of the record player part underneath the lid were some old 78's and 3x of Matt's 45's!
I couldn't believe my eyes!

I shall treasure them, they are...
Walk Away/Around The World
Somewhere/ I Love You two
Yesterday/Just Yesterday (Mine your love was mine).

For me...it's the find of the century!

I've asked my dad but he cannot remember where he bought them.
That would of been the icing on the cake for me, if I could of pictured my dad purchading the singles in the exact shop.

Anyway, just thought I'd share this

Gray

Gray-that is a really nice story to share with us. What a shame about the record-player--but it may just be a loose connection, and a new needle to get it going again-that would be great.

I can imagine how excited you were to find those Matt singles--and you never know--something might come back to your dad and jog his memory as to where he bought them.

What a wonderful find Gray! Thank you for sharing your story with us.
I expect for you it was almost as exciting as some of Michele's rare finds over the last few years.
Hope you can get the gramophone working again, so you can play Matt's records where they were probably first played.
Marian.

Three absolutely cracking singles Gray what a tremendous find.

Gray, it's a lovely story and only us lovers of Matt's music would understand the feeling of finding something like this that can give you a great thrill and make your day.
Hopefully the gramaphone and radio can be repaired.

No problem with the 78s or the 45s. Just simply warm water and washing up liquid recommended.

Thanks everyone for your kind comments, it really made my day coming across the singles.
Lena, thanks for the tip on restoring records, and I am searching the web for someone who can now help me with the radiogram.

Thanks again.

Hi Gray
Treasured finds; I hope you will be able to press (no pun
intended) the radiogram back into service. I had a rummage
in our loft recently and, coincidentally, found three of Matt's 45s:

Curiouser and Curiouser / The Me I Never Knew
The Girl I Love / Leave Me Now
We're Gonna Change The World / You're Closer To Me

I'm doubly happy because my wife bought me a compliant
player as a birthday present a few years ago.

Keith

Please don't use washing up liquid on your records. They contain abrasives that can actually do more harm than good and can leave a residue behind. Tap water as well can leave a residue behind - especially in a hard water area.

Distilled water is the best way to rinse a record - and there are a few products on the market that I like too!

My favourite is called Vinyl Solution (by Covers 33). You spray it on the record, polish it very carefully (with a lint free soft cloth) and then play it. The dirt in the grooves is the actually removed by the stylus!

Of course the very best record cleaner of all is a record vacuum - but only if you have a few hundred pounds to spare!

Richard

I am glad to hear what you had to say Richard--I recently bought a spray cleaner and special cloth for cleaning my records--and was just thinking,
what a waste of money--I could have done it with Fairy Liquid!!!

I feel better now!

Great stories, Gray and Keith. I've never heard some of those songs, so they are real finds.

Thanks for the clarification of vinyl cleaning, Richard. Like Marian, I was planning to get out all the records tomorrow and give them a good ole cleaning with Palmolive or Fantastik. Now I will stick with the special liquids and cloths I bought at a used record store and at HMV.

The washing up liquid was recommended to us by a dealer in Warwickshire where we used to buy our stylus replacement equipment.
Perhaps he thought my hands looked rough.
We have even heard of a scrubbing brush and soft lint cloths for drying.
Depends on what records you value.

I used to just wipe mine over with a barely damp cloth, although I did buy some special cleaning stuff at one time, it didn't seem to do any better.
Marian

Hi All

Thanks for all your comments!

I read somewhere on the internet that one record dealer recommended changing the stylus on 78's after EACH playing of a particular record.
He was trying to preserve the quality of very old 78's and suggested that using even slightly worn needles on old records wouldn't do them any good.

At around £15 for a new stylus to play 78s, that sounds a bit ridiculous to me Gray!
Marian

I remember an old [very old] record player that we had , used needles---not a stylus, and they came in a little box--a bit like a box of pins---each needle would only last a few plays---perhaps that is the sort of thing that record dealer was talking about.