The black label is indeed Pitman, their P stamp was a little wonky. Terre Haute's T was stamped only on LP's, 45's etched the T's. Why the matrix numbers are etched: The lacquer cutting studio.
Thanks again W.B. After posting here I went to look at my old messages and we had a correspondence about that excact Pitman pressing 11 years ago. I did not own the single myself at that time so I only relied on information sent to me. You might remember my Zappa singles website. I'm working on an updated version and now I'm double checking everything. Found some mistakes I did earlier like mixing Monarch and ALCO pressing. Might have som more questions in the future if that's ok. Take care
I have my own query: Anyone out there have any U.S. 78 RPM label sheets, particularly to gauge the bleed for 3" trim labels? I suspect one bleed measurement is 3.1875", but I would like to know specifically. I know that text safety ranged from 2.75" within RCA Victor, to 2.8125" at Columbia.
Do you know what their pressing ring diameter was by the late 1960's? If it were 1.390625", I wonder if they were the plant that handled some pressings of Columbia (and custom client) LP product in 1969.
I don't know their pressing ring diameter. I need to see if I have some King LP discs lying around. King pressings do feel thicker than normal, and often hard surfaces well into the 1960's.
Apparently, answering my own question, U.S. Columbia in the last years of 78 RPM manufacture had a 3.25" bleed for 3" trim. The proof is here: "I Can Tell" by Chuck Willis and the Sandmen - OKeh 7055 Photo: Many printers had 3 across and 4 down for a '12 up' portrait layout. Many years ago was auctioned an unused label sheet for Edison Records' "Needle Type - Electric" line, from around the time that company went kaput in October 1929; by the testimony of owners of such 78's, plus figuring out the spacing of the specs, the bleed was 3.1875", with the centers 3.1875" horizontally and 3.5" vertically, on ~11" x ~15" paper.
I've just discovered this thread and maybe someone here can help me with a pressing (pun intended) question. I have an Angel LP and am trying to determine where it was pressed. I don't see any of the usual Capitol dead wax symbols other than the Mastered By Capitol stamp. There is also on one side a hand-drawn circle with an x across or in it. And while I'm asking: The "normal" catalog number for this 1977 classical LP would be 37268, placing it in sequence, but this LP has a 5 added at the start, making the number 537268. Does anyone know the significance of that added five?
Columbia House edition. Tell me, is the pressing ring ~68.5mm? It would seem that this would be what you're enquiring about: https://www.discogs.com/release/4427434
Mine looks just like that one. So is the added 5 the Columbia House indicator? What about the O with an X in the dead wax?
Must be part of the signature of the cutting engineer at Capitol (possibly Jay Maynard, a.k.a. 'Jay Luck'). But yeah, the '5' add-on and all cat. #'s having six digits with '5' the first is a Columbia House indicator. When they got the okay to put out Capitol product for Columbia House members in 1975, one stipulation was the The Beatles' catalogue would not be included in the deal. (Lest you think this was picking on Columbia House, this was also stipulated when the RCA Music Service, formerly RCA Victor Record Club, started offering selected Capitol LP's, old and new, within that same time period.) This is why there were never any Columbia House issues which would have had these numbers: - ST 502047 - ST 502080 - ST 502108 - STBO 502222 (a stretch) - ST 502228 - ST 502309 - ST 502358 - SMAS 502386 - ST 502442 - ST 502553 - ST 502576 - SMAS 502653 - SMAL 502835 - SWBO 500101 - SW 500153 - SO 500383 - SW 500385 - SKBO 503403 - SKBO 503404 and later, SW 511921 and SW 511922 (not to mention all the post-1976 compilations) Likewise, for the solo works, from SW 503372 (at the most, possibly as early as SW 503365) to SW 503422.
Thanks. You are The Man Who Knows Everything. So did Columbia press the Columbia House LPs? It's interesting that there's no indication on the jacket that it's a Columbia House LP. Last week I played an Angel that was an RCA Music Service copy and that was prominently noted on the back cover.
Most of the time. Some Columbia House editions of Capitol LP's put out in 1978 were pressed, ironically enough, by the former Capitol plant in Scranton, PA, but at the time owned and operated by North American Music Industries (NAMI), owing to the April-May strike against the Pitman plant. But most jackets would have said "Manufactured by Columbia House, 51 West 52nd Street, New York, N.Y. 10019 under license from Capitol Records, Inc." Too bad Apple went under, one would've loved to see what any Apple albums would've looked like with that text.
I just realized last week that some of my 70s Angel LPs were pressed by Wakefield Manufacturing in Phoenix. I think just today I read about the Scranton plant being sold, which I hadn't known before. I see now that the post-1973 Angel LPs that I have identified as Scranton pressings by the "anvil" are actually NAMI pressings.
I have a 1981 pressing of an Angel LP made by Wakefield. And apparently one of those see-through vinyl pressings.
