Styrene LPs...........

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Tetrack, Feb 7, 2005.

  1. Tetrack

    Tetrack Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Scotland, UK.
    Mmmm.....Judging by the description or what to look for, to identify a Styrene record in this thread, i was looking thru my LPs.

    The following are examples -

    Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced UK Track Mono 1st press

    Four or Five Plum/Orange UK Atlantic LPs

    These have flat/square edges, not tapered or rounded and are seemingly consistent in width across to the centre hole. I did find one Rascals Plum/Orange UK Atlantic LP with a tapered edge though.

    Are these styrene pressings?, would major labels like Atlantic use Styrene for LPs... :confused:
     
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  2. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    Hmmm, Atlantic used it for some stuff in the late 1950's but DECCA, USA used it for everything from 1949-63 until they opened GLOVERSVILLE, NY or so; they called it DECCALITE. It was pretty good actually, not like the crappy styrene 45's that other plants used..
     
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  3. Ed Bishop

    Ed Bishop Incredibly, I'm still here

    Yeah, the Decca/Coral/Brunswick vinyl has held up very nicely, if you have clean pressings....

    Then there's that very fragile crap vinyl some labels used for a time: Laurie, Chess, Red Bird, and more than a few Sunset(Lib subsidiary)budget titles. The kind of vinyl where the label was known to literally fall of! Just pasted on. literally.

    Most recent acquisition along those lines: a JFK tribute album that charted(#42)on the Documentaries Unlimited label. Pressing is very quiet, but the kind of vinyl you don't want to handle too much, it's that fragile, subject to nasty cracks, though not like those atrocious Bell labelless Bell 45's, lost many of those as a kid, had to rebuy 'em later....

    :ed:
     
  4. Tetrack

    Tetrack Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Scotland, UK.
    Maybe it's a UK thing with certain labels. I know the plum Atlantic label was replaced with the Green/Orange one around '71. The ones in question are -

    Rascals - Once Upon a Dream Mono
    Wilson Pickett - Hey Jude
    Clarence Carter - Patches
    Clarence Carter - Testifyin'
    Aretha Franklin - Never Loved a Man Mono

    They all look nice and clear & shiny, not grey or anything. They do have a slight raised edge at the label/ run out.
     
  5. rmos

    rmos Forum Resident


    But yet, DECCA pressed their 45s on vinyl during this period (at least the ones I've come across).

    I have one EP of the ROCK PRETTY BABY soundtrack that's sounds a lot better than my LP of the same tracks, as the LP was played with a heavy tonearm at some point and was ruined (thank goodness I can play the LP on one channel and the surface noise is minimized somewhat).

    I'll admit that when you get a good pressing on DECCALITE, it sounds pretty good. However, I always wondered why DECCA did it this way-LPs on styrene, 45s on vinyl-instead of the other way around, as Columbia was doing.
     
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  6. Ed Bishop

    Ed Bishop Incredibly, I'm still here

    Yes, I'm sure every Decca/Brunswick/Coral 45 I have is from vinyl....the Lp's, on the other hand, were made from fairly lightweight material during the '50s, but unlike the '60s styrene Lp's I'm thinking of, these were fairly durable.

    :ed:
     
  7. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    Those pressings -- styrene, B.T.W., just as the 45's -- came from Shelley Products, Ltd., of Huntington Station, L.I., NY. At first, they had a reverse-stamped "X" (raised) on one side, replaced c.1969 by a reverse "S" in a circle (looking like the logo was designed by a dyslexic or something). Around 1967 they improved the label situation so that its adhesion to the record was on par with, say, Columbia's (and Columbia-pressed) styrene 45's, in short after then they didn't come off. Around late 1967, Shelley switched LP manufacture from styrene to regular vinyl, in which the label was embedded on instead of pasted. I also noticed that, from the mid-1960's on, whether styrene or vinyl, Shelley-pressed albums had center labels measuring 3⅞" dia. rather than the usual, customary 4".

    And speaking of Columbia and styrene LP's . . . Columbia pressed such, mostly for budget (Harmony) albums, right up to c.1960 - and never, to the best of my knowledge, on stereo Lp's. I have, however, seen early pressings of Mitch Miller's first Sing Along With Mitch album (mono, of course) in styrene . . .
     
  8. Ed Bishop

    Ed Bishop Incredibly, I'm still here

    Thanks for the info...:edthumbs:

    Yes, there are some mono pressings of some of Mitch's albums on that styrene...not sure I own one, only because what I've seen are either cracked, chipped or beaten to hell(and you're right, I've never seen a stereo pressing on that vinyl, only mono)....they do play well when mint, though, but must be prone to groove damage much more readily than regular vinyl, from what I've seen with the 45's....

    :ed:
     
  9. MMM

    MMM Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Lodi, New Jersey
    So I guess these "DECCALITE" pressing LP's need to be played with a conical/spherical stylus?
     
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  10. I'm curious about that too...I've played a bunch of styrene 45s LPs with both my Stanton 500 EMKII and Shure V15VMR and have never noticed any groove gouging.
     
  11. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    No.
     
  12. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    You never noticed when you put your elypt. stylus on the lead-in groove of a styrene 45 and it makes that scraping sound (like it's cutting a new groove)? It IS cutting a new groove.
     
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  13. MMM

    MMM Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Lodi, New Jersey
    Thanks Steve! :)
     
  14. It's very odd; now that I'm thinking of it the only time I had this happen was with a 45 of "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough", which sounded exactly like you describe. That was years ago with the Shure. I've played bunches of 45s since and haven't had the problem that I can tell...in other words, I don't hear scraping, and the records play fine more than once with no distortion or hissing. I think another poster mentioned here one time the same experience with the Shure. But I haven't had trouble with the Stanton, either, although I don't use it as much.
     
  15. texquad

    texquad Senior Member

    Location:
    Home of The Alamo
    I know all about styrene 45's because I own a ton of them. Sad part is a have an old Wurlitzer jukebox and a single play with a styrene disc usually causes permanent damage to the disc. Kind of like my old Victrola and 78's.
    Anyway I recently picked up an old Hendrix Barclay twofer of Are You Exp. & Axis the one with the Moebus cover later used on the 90's MCA/Alan Douglas CD "Voodoo Soup". Both albums look like they were pressed with styrene to me. This was released in 1975 with black molded labels that look styrene like.
    I just recently saw a Polydor Axis on ebay that also had this look. I don't know if I have any other styrene LP's. Guess it was a trend in the mid 70's, but glad it went away.
     
  16. lennonfan1

    lennonfan1 Senior Member

    Location:
    baltimore maryland
    I have that but I'm not sure it's styrene.....I have a Shangri-La's '65 original that is definitely styrene as well as a few others. If you flick your fingernail across the edge it has a weird tubby sound that vinyl lps don't have.
     
  17. Urban Spaceman

    Urban Spaceman Forum Eulipion

    Not sure about European pressings, but here is a link to a thread a few months ago about styrene LPs that was quite fascinating. Forum members W.B. and narkspud gave excellent descriptions of what styrene albums look like, as well as the manufacturing process. Cheers!
    ------------ Chris
     
  18. texquad

    texquad Senior Member

    Location:
    Home of The Alamo
    Forgot to mention that the label looks painted on and some of that paint came off on the original slip cover.
     
  19. goodiesguy

    goodiesguy Confide In Me

    Location:
    New Zealand
    I don't think I actually own any styrene vinyl.
     
  20. CK Dexter Haven

    CK Dexter Haven Member

    Location:
    Selinsgrove, PA
    I thought this was gonna be about Poly Styrene.
     
  21. texquad

    texquad Senior Member

    Location:
    Home of The Alamo
    I thought polystyrene and styrene were the same.
     
  22. BradOlson

    BradOlson Country/Christian Music Maven

    CK Dexter Haven was referring to Poly Styrene, the punk singer
     
  23. CK Dexter Haven

    CK Dexter Haven Member

    Location:
    Selinsgrove, PA
    Yeah I'm sorry I should have indicated. Sorry just trying to be funny.
     
  24. Hamhead

    Hamhead The Bear From Delaware

    Interesting.
    All of the styreme LP's I come across on Harmony, Sunset (Liberty), Debut, Transition, and (early 50's) Columbia LP's have paper labels that were glued on, those usually come off in the jackets and inner sleeves. The only LP's I see with inked on labels are Allegro and Ultraphone budget LP's. Lots of European LP's and singles in the late-70's have inked on one color labels but I never seen one painted on.
     
  25. texquad

    texquad Senior Member

    Location:
    Home of The Alamo
    Your correct I've seen a Harmony LP that's styrene.
    BTW-did Poly Styrene release on records on Polystyrene?
     

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