Records That Are Pressed Off Center

Does anybody know how this occurs in this day and age of high quality 'audiophile' pressings that I pay a lot of money for?

I routinely get new records pressed off center. It seems to be the norm. I mean waaaaaaay off center, not a little bit. I wind up reaming the center holes just to get the grooves perfectly aligned on just about every record I buy these days. It seems to be much worse than plain old pressings in the days before comapct disc.

Conversely I have seen very few Japanese pressings off center, including the older JVC pressed MFSL's from the 80's. With them it is the exception rather than the rule.

What technique do the Japanese know that all the other pressing plants in the world do not know about.

If there is a prior thread on this, just point me there.

 

I haven't seen dramatic examples of it in audiophile pressings, but slight ones are common. If you're getting LPs that are so bad the sound is greatly affected, have you sent any back, or have you always just bored them out? I don't know how many they drill out at a time, so maybe better ones would be available, even from the same vendor. Also, when you play one you bored out, do you clamp it in place to keep it from moving around, and how well does that work?

 

I, too have some recent audiphile pressings that are slightly off center, including one of the sides of the 45rpm Charlie Brown Christmas. Not dramatic, but you can hear it in sustained piano tones towards the end of the side. After paying $50 plus shipping on a limited edition album (weren't there only going to be 1000 of these pressed?) this IS a little frustrating.

 

I don't think the records are drilled after pressing. I think the records are pressed with a pin in the center to align the two stampers together at pressing time.

I think the hole for the registration pin is drilled in the STAMPER, so once a stamper is off center, every pressing pulled from it will be off center.

This explains why the grooves are off center from the edge of the record. The edge of the record is trimmed around the edge of the press, which is perfectly centered in relation to the stamper registration pin.

If the records were drilled after pressing the grooves would be centered on the LP in relation to the edge, but the hole would be off center.

 

I get a lot of off center pressings nowadays. Probably 1/4 of the new vinyl I buy has at least one side (usually side 2) pressed off center. I've found that if one is off center, they all are. This occured to me after returning a Brian Wilson album 3 times. Finally I just accepted it and that was the first one I boored out the hole on. It worked fine. The latest Decemberists album has side 2 off center. I fixed that one last weekend. It's an extra hassle. At least it's fixable unlike eltremely off center labels that extend well into the dead wax, poor vinyl with recycled labels embedded into the grooves, and deep scratches caused by debri caught in cardboard and cheap paper inner sleeves. All these problems are way more common than they should be. I'm getting pretty fed up with crap quality. I don't care if a record is $7.99 or $57.99. It should be free off defects, period.

One of my local stores informed me today that new vinyl is "one way". That means that he can't return it for credit when people return defects. And the music industry wonders why their customers hate them. It makes me think twice about buying sealed vinyl from the little guy who's takes such a hit when the product is flawed. At some point they're gonna get fed up with ME. Buy your vinyl from stores with a generous return policy is all I can say.

I've actually started picking up cds again. It's just a lot easier than buying everything twice and making multiple trips to the store to make exchanges. Music should be relaxing and enjoyable. It really becomes a pain after awhile. Half the new vinyl I buy has major defects or damage and I'm sick of it.

 

I had a copy of the Ritchie Family's "Life Is Music" I just bought at my local Goodwill that was so off center that my turntable couldn't play it very well without me working on it. I hated working with that particular pressing so I snapped it in half and threw it away while in the jacket. Oh well, it was only $.50 lost.

 

What would you use to bore out the hole ?

 

I use an exacto knife and slowly shave it back.

First, I'll pull the belt off the platter and turn the record by hand with the stylus down looking for the point where the arm swings most outward. Mark that point on the label with a piece of tape, pull the record off and start shaving the hole. A few shavings and a test will show if your on the right track. Push the shaved part of the hole against the spindle and test. Repeat as many times as necesary. Once it's finished, mark both sides at the hole on the label with some indication where it needs to touch the spindle. Done.

 

Mostly.

A stamper has no real alignment. There is a 2.5 inch hole in the middle. A large puck screws into the press to hold the stamper. The puck basically holds the label during pressing. The way the puck and stamper connect, the stamper can be moved a little to center it. Or not, in the case of incorrect pressings. The puck/label are always in the center of the disc pressed, but the grooves may not be precisely aligned around that.

I don't think you can tell until you do QA on a test pressing, both sides. I've seen film of this - the disc is played with an arm, and the 'swing' has to be within tolerances. It's clear that sometimes this is skipped, or that a stamper is not fitted securely and shifts.

I make the hole bigger, and center the disc myself. It's easy, really.

 

A cordless drill and a drill bit. Very fast and cuts a good clean edge. I just roll the edge of the drill bit around the hole while I hold the LP tightly with a paper sleeve.

Even though I usually buy several LPs at once to cut down on the shipping costs, sending them back one at a time can add up quick and greatly increase the cost of the purchase. So I typically only return them if there is some other bad defect like a severe warp or lots of pops or a bad scratch.

I have some $30 LPs that ultimately cost $40+ by the time all was said and done!

 

In the case of the Ritchie Family LP, the stylus was jumping around like crazy and that's how off center it was.

 

that seems unnecessary - why break it in half? better to just donate it back to goodwill and maybe someone else could've been more patient and able to work with it

 

I've found the exact same thing to be true regarding off center side twos! I don't know if they consistantly use the top or bottm press for side two but there is a much higher percentage of off center side twos than side ones, espescially with whoever is pressing much of the indie rock vinyl. They need to get their press fixed!

 

no wonder b-sides have such a bad rep!

 

On my turntable (Roksan Xerxes) you can remove the centre spindle. Then you can position the LP wherever you like.

Tim

 

Off center vinyl. The bane of my record buying existence.

Thanks to this forum it is now less of a problem. Rats tail file for me.