by Danielle Crampsie

The 45 Necklace is available in gold, sterling silver or gold coated brass. Part of the "SOUNDPIECES" collection by Danielle Crampsie the 45 necklace transforms this disposable plastic item into the cultural artifact it truly is. Cast from the original plastic adaptor and hand finished to a shine your necklace is also a fully functional 45 adaptor. Wear it proudly, use it in a pinch, own a piece of history and create a tribute to the 45.
Not the 45 adaptor you remember? Danielle will happily work with you to create a custom design, pls. contact info@daniellecrampsie.com

In the first week of April 1949 RCA Victor presented a whole new way of listening to music:  The 45 Record

The release of the short play, seven-inch 45 record was in response to Columbia's new format, the 12", playing at 33 1/3.  While both new vinyl formats had their advantages over the heavy, shellac covered 78s with the 45 record RCA set out to revolutionize the listening experience.

Introduced as a well thought out system 45 records were  colour coded in reference to style and came with their own specialized player. The new turntable, exclusive to RCA had a 1.5 inch diameter spindle which stacked ten 45s.  These records were played in the order the listener assembled them and allowed for one hour of uninterrupted play, a big deal before the luxury of iTunes.   Perhaps there was some commercial rivalry between RCA and Columbia however like most revolutionary inventions there was more thought put to this then just gimmicks and marketing ploys.  RCA set out to improve the sound quality of records, address their functionality and create a brand new listening system.

Advertisements in Billboard magazine screamed its praises, "the world's fastest record changer", "compact and light!", "convenient 7 inch size", "distortion free playing surface", and they were right.

The 45 speed was chosen specifically to make the music sound better and decided by a mathematical equation* , the turntable had its own 1.0mm stylus with a 5 gram weight, the reduced record speed allowed for mircogrooves, finer grooves assimilated into a smaller space, and the records had a raised edge to prevent the grooves from touching when stacked.  So what's with the big hole? In order for the record to pick up speed when dropped on the platter a lot of torque was needed.  The small hole on the records would stretch out causing the record to spin unevenly and affecting the sound quality. The larger hole reduced wear keeping the hole round and sound intact.

With its convenient size, affordable price and new lightweight material the 45 gained popularity.  Jukeboxes replaced their 78s with 45s and went from having 30 songs on offer to over 100. The newest singles of the day were released on 45 to a hungry audience of young folk who enjoyed their compact size and cheap price in comparison LPs.  From 1948 - 1950 the competition between 33 1/3 and 45 was on, known as the War of the Speeds the buying public and record companies alike  were unsure which format would prevail.  Eventually the 12" record playing at 33 1/3 became the most sought after format for full length albums and 45s settled nicely into its niche for single song releases.

In the 1950's when turntables were released with three speed option ( 78, 33 1/3, 45) and a standard small spindle something had to be done about the size of the hole in the 45 record. Enter the 45 adaptor, that little  flexible plastic insert we all know and love.  As any record collector will tell you there are many styles of the 45 adaptor.  The patent on the first one was filed in 1951 and issued in 1955. James L.D. Morrison is credited as their inventor.

In the end the 12" record would become the most common format releasing full length albums as well as singles.  However for a short period the 45 record spoke to the heart of music buyer of the time and still inspires loyal followers and collectors today. From single buying beatlemanics, Jamaican dancehall DJ's to the hands of indie grunge rockers  fans of the 45 record all cherish their format of choice and respect the various styles of adaptors that allow us to hear the music.

* Calculus was used to show that the optimum use of a disc record of constant rotational speed occurs when the innermost recorded diameter is half the outermost recorded diameter. That's why a 7-inch single has a label 3 1/2 inches in diameter. Given the CBS vinyl groove dimensions and certain assumptions about the bandwidth and tolerable distortion, a speed of 45 rpm comes out of the formula." http://www.history-of-rock.com/record_formats.htm

At the beginning of this year Soundwave Jewelry was feature in this article by Bill Taylor regarding wedding band trends.

Check it out!

Back to Wedding ring trends for 2012: Personalized bands

Wedding ring trends for 2012: Personalized bands

January 26, 2012

Bill Taylor

Designer Danielle Crampsie consults with Sarah Hamel, who runs Made You Look, a Queen St. W. shop that showcases custom jewellery from more than 100 local artists.Bill Taylor for the Toronto Star

A hundred years from now, your great-granddaughter comes across your wedding ring in an old jewellery box.

As she admires it, she wonders what her great-grandfather might have said to his bride-to-be when they were young and full of hope for the future.

So she rolls the ring across an ink-pad and then across a sheet of paper, which she then scans into her laptop. A little digital manipulation and, across the century, her forebear speaks to her!

This is designer Danielle Crampsie’s “Soundwave Ring,” a wedding band that boasts something even Prince William’s bride, Kate Middleton, doesn’t have on her ring: A voice.

When Crampsie is designing rings for a couple, she can record either their voices pledging their love (or whatever) or a favourite piece of music. She then prints a computer read-out of the sound wave and engraves it on the jewellery.

“It becomes living history. It’s a piece of you that will endure,” says Sarah Hamel, who runs Made You Look, a Queen St. W. shop that provides workspace for about 20 self-employed jewellery designers, including Crampsie, and sells jewellery from more than 100 local designers.

These are not your great-grandmother’s wedding bands!

• Deborah Lavery will etch you and your spouse-to-be’s fingerprints onto each other’s ring.

• Zsolt Szekely combines gold and cocobolo wood into rings that are distinctive and durable. “Cocobolo has about the same wear-rate as gold and better than silver,” says Hamel, adding it’s cheaper than an all-gold band.

• Jon Pollack works with titanium and Delrin, a robust plastic compound used in joint-replacement surgery and available either in black or white.

• Andrea Golden uses the 17th-century Japanese technique of mokume-gane to create intricate laminates of different metals.

“Those are just a handful of examples,” says Hamel. “We encourage clients to pick a designer and meet with them before they commission a piece.

“It’s not so much following trends or even creating trends. But we want to break down old-fashioned ideas.”

Two of Crampsie’s clients are just leaving, both giving her a warm hug. They’re musicians, she says, and their rings will have sound waves “one an octave higher than the other.”

Her earrings are sound waves, too, for a line from a song: “On a bus full of empty seats, who wants to sit with me?”

Rising gold prices mean more people are choosing composite rings, Hamel says, or bringing in “old gold, passed on from various family members that they want turned into something.”

Wedding bands don’t have to be flashy, she says. “Something with a sound wave or fingerprint etching is purely for the couple. It’s special.”

Nor do the rings have to match.

“There may be a little anxiety if one wants one thing and the other something different. But you can have two completely different rings made by the same artist, or have something engraved that links the two.

“Our customers tend not to have the old-school mindset. They regard it as buying a little piece of art. We find, too, that where engagement rings seem to be all about the girl, with wedding bands, it’s the guy’s chance to express himself.”

Birks, which has 35 stores across Canada, has rings starting at about $600, says spokesperson Eva Hartling, and rising to the high side of $100,000.

“But that would be for an eternity-style ring with diamonds all the way around,” says Hartling from Birks’ Montreal headquarters.

Price is definitely a factor for most customers, with some opting for platinum over gold. Men, especially, are also choosing silver or titanium, she says.

“With gold bands, women are going back to slimmer styles; much slimmer than, say, the late ’90s, early 2000s ,” Hartling adds. “That’s partly for economic reasons.”

With fashion jewellery, she says yellow gold — more typical of the 1970s — is starting to make a comeback. But there’s no sign yet of that being the choice for wedding bands. “White gold has been the choice for more than a decade.”

Some women want a wedding band with a stone. Styles include micro-pavé, with the ring literally “paved” with tiny diamonds, and large pavé, with bigger but fewer stones.

Hartling says most couples go for different style bands, especially if the woman’s has a stone. Same-sex couples tend to choose matching bands.

As for Kate Middleton’s ring, it hasn’t had much impact here. Nor has Prince William’s decision not to wear a ring.

“That’s Europe versus North America,” Hartling says. “North American men traditionally wear a wedding band.”

Choose wisely

A wedding ring is more than just a simple band of gold. Sarah Hamel offers tips on choosing the right one:

• For a gold ring, budget about $1,000 for the metal alone. Depending on size and weight, it may be more or less, but that’s a realistic starting figure.

• Try on a lot of rings. Just like clothes on the rack, rings that look good at first may not suit you when you try them on.

• Men who have never worn a ring before may “gravitate toward something chunky.” Hamel warns them they need to be comfortable carrying a bunch of grocery bags with their wedding band on.

• Don’t worry about what styles other people are wearing. Go with what works for you.

• Don’t go too wild with your design ideas. Hamel says wedding bands follow certain formulas for a reason. “If you want a crazy fashion ring, come back later and we’ll talk!”

— Bill Taylor

http://www.thestar.com/living/article/1121795--wedding-ring-trends-for-2012-personalized-bands

 

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