Capitol Acetates in general (Nat King Cole, Keely Smith and Mark Murphy)

SO I recently purchased these.. I have yet to listen to them and maybe won't listen to them...i understand the Cole is a little banged up.... The Nat King Cole is two separate acetates one per side... NOt sure what Mark Murphy acetate I have (Hip Parade or Playing the Field).. The Keely Smith one is unbelievably heavy compared and curiously enough has both sides but only 2 has the label? By the sleeves t would seem these acetates were made in New York or New Jersey even though Capitol was based in LA?

Anyways, I'm a huge fan of Capitol Records around this time and curious if anyone knows anything about their acetates....

Here's some pictures..

 

I can say that Maurice Long had a hand in the mastering of the Mark Murphy acetates - and thus those originated from Hollywood. One way to tell where they came from is by measuring the spacing of the lead-out grooves with a ruler set to the exact 64th. As follows (average range):
- Mono 'F/G' lathe (Hollywood, designated post-1963; 'D' prior thereto): 0.272"-0.285"
- Mono 'H/J' lathe (Hollywood, designated post-1963; 'D' prior thereto): 0.255"
- Stereo 'A/B' lathe (Hollywood, designated post-1963; used post-1958; 'D' prior thereto): 0.26"
- Mono 'N' lathe (New York, 1955-62): 0.25-0.255"
- Mono 'P/T' lathe (New York, designated post-1963; used post-1962; 'N' prior thereto): 0.24"
- Stereo 'W/X' lathe (New York, designated post-1963; used post-1958; 'N' prior thereto): 0.24"
On some occasions, the mastering engineer's initials were on the acetate label. Maurice Long was one. Hal Muhonen (another Hollywood mastering engineer of the 1960's) was another. And of course Wally Traugott. (Don't know about Don Henderson or Billy Smith, though.) By and large, the New York mastering engineers did not put their initials on the labels of their acetates (I have an acetate from Capitol's New York studios, cut late 1969, of "And When It's Over" / "On the Edge" by The Majic Ship, released on the Crazy Horse label; the acetate was mastered in New York, though in the case of all Capitol acetates the labels were printed by Bert-Co Press in Hollywood, with their label copy typesetting clearly in evidence; can't say whether it was Hal Diepold, Gene Thompson or George Marino; the acetate was an Audiodisc, manufactured by Audio Devices, from after the period they were taken over by Capitol, which led in 1968 to the reorganization as Capitol Industries which in turn led to the "Subsidiary" perimeter print on post-1968 LP and 45 labels).

The other is that on mono acetates, New York last cut with ⅛" eccentric grooves was around 1958-59; while in Hollywood, the future 'H'/'J' lathe cut their last ⅛" eccentric grooves in late 1959/early 1960, and the future 'F'/'G' lathe was the last do so, towards the end of 1960. Stereo acetates had no ⅛" eccentric grooves whatsoever.

 

The Nat & Keeley acetates were cut onto blank discs manufactured by Presto & Audiodiscs. It's just where Capitol bought their lacquers from. The actual cutting on them should have been done at the Tower from the masters.

Play them at least once, and maybe make a copy. They probably sound great if the groove isn't worn.