to the 1960s, and almost all American lacquer masters were cut using a Scully lathe, often fitted with the Westrex cutter head and electronics.

In 1947, the Presto 1D, Fairchild 542, and Cook feedback cutters represented major improvements in disc-cutting technology. In 1950 Scully Recording Instruments introduced a disc cutting lathe with variable pitch, which made it possible to vary the width of the grooves (i.e. the pitch) of a master disc, simultaneously conserving the available recording space of the disc while preserving the dynamics