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May Day May Day

Tell the Truth Which Was Your First Record Player

We all gotta start somewhere. Did you inherit some old console TV/Hi-FI or maybe a Singer portable swinger. When your sister went to college did she leave behind a Box Top Record Changer ?

The question is what record player was the first one you actually began playing records on. Which way did you discover the tactile joy of spinning those 45's and LP's

And just for fun if you can remember what was the first record you bought with your OWN money. The one you choose above a Banana Split at Woolworth's for 49 cents.

45, LP or 78 the only criteria is that it be with your own money not something your parents got you.

Here is Mine.

First Record Player

Emenee Barbie and Ken

First Record

Joey Dee and the Starlighters-Peppermint Twist-Roulette 45 rpm

First LP

Meet the Beatles- Capital Records

Happy May Day

Best Regards

Groovey Records

Listening to-
Louis Armsrtong-Rockin Chair-Basin Street Blues-St.James infirary-When It's Sleepy Time Down South - RCA Victor Gold Standard Series EPA-5000
128x128groovey
rockvirgo
587 posts
 
My first very own, not a hand-me-down, record player was a Christmas present at about age 15. It was a GE portable stereo that had two, biggish grey plastic speaker cabinets that snapped onto either side of the silver painted metal turntable/amplifier deck. At about 2 o'clock on the volume knob the system would begin to distort so I pencil marked the max point for quick set up. I wishfully hoped that limitation would one day magically vanish but it never did. Maybe it was a pretty good primer for coping with the componentry to follow - recognizing limitations and addressing distortions.

Groovey, let's not forget the fateful consequences of popping the balloons at the Woolworth counter that determined the price of those banana splits. Saving 25 cents could change your prospects entirely!
calgarian5355
146 posts
 
My mom and dad had a restaurant in small town Saskatchewan (Canada) and my first exposure to records was in their old Seeburg jukebox that played 45's. I was fascinated by how the jukebox would pull out 45's from the slot, play them, and then pop them back in to their place. The song that was played the most back then was "Don't Bring Me Down" by the Beatles. Unfortunately, the jukebox wasn't the most reliable piece of machinery; the vacuum tubes seemed to always burn out.

Other than that, my first real turntable (or record player) was a Sears model that had a fold-down shelf and built in speakers. The platter was made of plastic. My brothers and I were thrilled to have purchased that record player (from the Sears Catalogue) along with our first Carpenter's LP. Those were the days!

calgarian
fmpnd
481 posts
 
Wow what memories! My family had a Zenith console that I used until I was 14. Problem is, this disease struck me when I was 12 and walked into the "high-end" room at a local Korvettes Department store and was smitten with the Marantz, McIntosh, Dual and Thorens gear - I was hooked like a junkie! I will never forget that audio department and how I felt when I entered it. I even remmember how it smelled!!!!

Not to be deterred, I saved up EVERY penny from a paper route and bought a Dual 1019 and an Ortofon cartridge when I was 14 and the rest as they say is history.

The LPs I first purchased with my OWN $$ were a Doc Severinsen LP and a Freddie Hubbard LP. I am drawing a blank on my first 45. (must be CDementia)
krusty2k
40 posts
 
My first was a "Close-N-Play" circa 1968, I was around five years old. Parents used to take me to Woolworths to buy 45's at three for a dime. I picked out the ones with the pretty lablels. The start of a life-long obsession with vinyl, I guess...
dopogue
1,773 posts
 
It was sometime in the mid 1940s. A portable (in the sense that you could lift it), self-contained walnut-veneered record player/speaker/amp with a hinged top. I think the brand name was Silverline, or Silver-something. Played 78s, since that was the only speed at the time, and you needed to put the lid down so you could hear more music than needle noise. Cactus and thorn "needles" reduced the noise somewhat, compared to the steel ones. Among the first records were some jazz piano discs by Johnny Guarnieri. I'm still playing these on an Empire 298 reserved strictly for 78s, and amazingly they don't sound bad at all. Dave
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