Who wants to compile a list of pressing plant initials?

W.B.,
What are the fonts type on Stax129 and 164 (Monarch)?
It's difficult to find the correct Univers type especially the letter "Y" on Stax241.
Can you feel the difference between a regular pressed King 45 and the one from Columbia (James Brown King6141)?

Rene

Rene

 

First, about Stax 241: The Univers variation was from a type company called Varitype which had a whole batch of typefaces as used by different pressing plants and/or printing companies over the years. I.I.N.M., Varitype is no longer in business and their style of typesetting certainly became outmoded with the advent of phototypesetting which, in turn, was superseded by computer-based fonts. You may have better luck either going to a library which has old type specimens (say, 1950's-1970's) or, if you know anybody in the printing trades that kept old type specimen books . . .

As for King 6141: The difference was that on Columbia's styrene pressings, the label used a glossy Reflex Blue (either as from Pantone or Handschy) printed onto the paper and King's label-copy artwork printed in offset; whereas on King's own pressings they used a dull-finish Reflex Blue and label copy printing (mostly) done on letterpress with the molding as noted either here or in one of your private messages (zinc based, I.I.N.M.).

Now about the fonts used on the Monarch pressings:
- Stax 129: Catalogue number, title and artist in 12(?) point Spartan Heavy (Linotype equivalent of Futura Demi Bold); text type in 6 point Linotype Trade Gothic Condensed (a.k.a. Gothic No. 18).
- Stax 164: Text type in 6 point Trade Gothic Condensed (with "and THE BROWNS" and matrix number in 6 point Trade Gothic Bold Condensed); title and artist in 12 point Intertype Franklin Gothic; catalogue number in 10(?) point Trade Gothic Bold Condensed.

 

First...thanks again for helping Bruce and me out with Swan and Atco pressing plant info.
Now...on to Polydor.

We know that Polydor used Monarch Records to press west-coast LP's during the 1970's. Does anyone know what other plants were used by Polydor from 1970 to 1988?

Frank

 

Among the other plants used by Polydor (for both LP's and 45's) in that period included:
- Columbia Record Productions, Pitman, NJ (56) and Terre Haute, IN (73) (their Santa Maria, CA plant [25] handled pressings for them in the late 1970's)
- Philips/PRC Recording Corp., Richmond, IN (72) (also, after late 1970's, Compton, CA [26])
- Capitol Custom Pressings, Scranton, PA (to late 1973) and Winchester, VA (I saw a copy of a 45 of James Brown's "Sexy, Sexy, Sexy," PD-14194, pressed there)
- North American Music Industries, Scranton, PA (plant spun off in late 1973 from Capitol)
- Shelley Products, Huntington Station, NY (54) (by this time, their "pop-off" 45 labels were but a thing of the past)
- Sonic Recording Products/Goldisc Record Mfg., Holbrook, NY (16) (typesetting on early 1970's pressings from Progressive Label Co., Brooklyn, NY)
- Specialty Records Corp., Olyphant, PA (49)
- Hauppauge Record Mfg. (ex Keel Mfg.), Hauppauge, NY
- Bestway Products, Mountainside, NJ (19)
- Presswell Records Mfg. Co., Ancora, NJ (18)
- RCA Custom Records, Indianapolis, IN (70)
- Allied Record Co., Los Angeles, CA (22)
- Plastic Products Co., Memphis, TN (30)
Incidentally, their code for Monarch was (24)
The numbers in parentheses or brackets are the known codes used by PolyGram beginning in 1979 to indicate which plant was pressing for them.

 

W.B.,

Which plant used the code (53)?

 

I don't have the info on me at this time; if you have records with that code, may I recommend looking at the dead wax and reading which plant initials are written. That could be your clue. (And mine as well.)

 

Sadly, I don't currently have any PolyGram LPs with that (53) code. I used to, however -- and the only identifying code in the deadwax is a double-ended arrow (as in this: <--->).

By the way, some of the later pressings from Bestway (19) have in the deadwax the letters "EDP" inside an oval (stamped) instead of the etched letters "BW".

And Plastic Products Co. of Memphis, TN (30) continued to press vinyl at least until the late '80s (though Atlantic and associated labels ceased using that plant by the mid-'70s): I have in my possession a 45 RPM single of John Cougar Mellencamp's "Cherry Bomb" b/w "Shama Lama Ding Dong" (Mercury 888 934-7, 1987) which was pressed by Plastic Products Co. The etched "PP" appears at the end of the matrix in the deadwax.

 

More about Polydor

So, there have been quite a few plants pressing for Polydor. Which of them was/were pressing for Polydor in 1970?

Thanks again.

Frank

 

It all boils down to three outfits that I know of: Columbia Record Productions in Pitman, NJ and Terre Haute, IN (I don't know if Santa Maria, CA pressed copies); Shelley Products, Huntington Station, NY; and Monarch Record Mfg., Los Angeles, CA. And that's just 1970. There may have been another plant, but I'm not too sure.

 

Plastic Products first started in 1950 at Chelsea in Memphis. Later,they also opened a huge plant in Coldwater, MS. After late 1960 all records were pressed at Coldwater.
An old Plastic Products'employer told me that the Coldwater plant closed in 1976. Others told me it was in 1978. Anyway, the Memphis plant was closed when I was there in 1978. But I don't know about the Coldwater plant. For sure it was closed in 1982 when I was there.

Rene

 

W.B.,

I like to continue with some older Plastic Products'pressings.
The first scan is the first Satellite release (Jan 1958). The font of the song title looks very similar as Vogue however the "M" looks different and not shown in the Intertype Faces book.
What are all the fonts type,also from the word Satellite? I also made a 78 label scan with the song title in the same type faces. Sun is from August 1956.
The third one is from July 1960. I like to know the type faces of the song title (Vogue condensed?). The fourth scan is the same record, also pressed at Plastic Products however on the Atco label and is also from 1960.
The last one is from April 1961. What are the type faces on this one?

Rene

 

W.B.,

I just found in the Intertype faces book that the "M" is a special Vogue one : Vogue Special no 3.

Rene

 

The text font on that one is Vogue Light (or Medium). The word "RECORDS," "45-RPM," title and artist are in Futura Bold (that is, if the font in question was from Intertype; as Linotype's equivalent was called Spartan Black). I'm not sure but the 'SATELLITE' on this and #102 looks like Karnak Black Condensed (a Ludlow serif font).


Those fonts look like they could've come from Bert-Co Press in Hollywood. I'm not necessarily saying it is, but it could be. That's because the fonts on this one - 6 point Spartan Medium, and 10 point Spartan Medium with Heavy (all Linotype) - had been used by the company in question. (Actually, the 12 point size was where Medium with Heavy had been used by Bert-Co. I know they used 10 point Spartan Medium, but not sure if Heavy had been included.) Definitely not as associated with Plastic Products, those typefaces.


On this and Satellite 106, the song title was in 12 point Vogue Bold Condensed. The song title on Atco 6177 was set it 12 point Vogue Heavy; these three also employed 10 point Vogue Heavy (for artist name, catalogue number, etc.) and 8 point Vogue Bold (for the text type; except for the line "and the Spartans" which was 6 point Vogue Bold. The wide spacing of the individual letters for the lighter font suggests that Vogue Bold as constituted here was with Vogue Heavy; labels with the same Vogue Bold in tighter spacing were in tandem with Vogue Bold Oblique (Intertype's name for italic).

B.T.W., would you know whether it was from Nadine Eastin (the composer of the song on the first scan) that East Publ. (later absorbed into East/Memphis Music, the house publisher for what would become Stax Records) got its name?

 

W.B.,
Regarding the Sun 78 : Can you give me some main differencies between Vogue Futura and Spartan? In any case, PP had, at that time, already printing facilities. Also, I bought this 78 in Memphis from a huge 78 stock.
East = EAstin and STewart.
The word "Satellite" : could that be Cairo?

Rene

 

Spartan was Linotype's equivalent of Futura. The quotes of each font differ. As for Vogue, the quote marks are straight, like small "I's" on top. And that's for starters. Not only that, but the C, E, G, M, N, Q, S (among others) are very distinctive.

The Vogue fonts were what were used by Plastic Products. Even during the 1950's Sun days.

And if it were Cairo used for "Satellite," it could be the condensed or extra condensed.

 

Thanks very much, W.B. fot your info. It helps me a lot to find out the small differencies between those type faces.
To round the 78's off (unless you want some more scans) I attached two more scans.
Also a Stax scan with an unusual large catalog number. Probably from Monarch.
What do you think regarding 78's and the Stax one?

Rene

 

Rene,

I can definitely tell that the Stax 45 at the bottom of your most recent post is a Columbia pressing - and from Pitman, NJ, at that. (That single ain't from Monarch at all, partner.) That single was issued in 1966 - and the typesetting on that Stax label is consistent with the label copy of Columbia's own releases of the period.

Columbia's Pitman, NJ factory had pressed some 45's for Atlantic and its associated labels during the mid- to late- '60s.

 

Thanks RJL,
I did not know that Colombia pressed any blue Stax (or any red Volt?) 45's.
Yes,the record was issued in August 1966.

Rene

 

As RJL2424 noted, that Stax 45 was indeed pressed by Columbia; I have a copy of that variation myself. I also have copies of Carla Thomas' "B-A-B-Y" and Otis & Carla's "Tramp" pressed by them. They also pressed at least three of Otis Redding's orange-red label Volt 45's - but not "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay," alas; I'm still looking. As well as a post-1968 label design Volt single by Redding. (I.I.N.M., the period Columbia pressed Atlantic and subsidiary singles was c.March 1966 to c.March 1969.)

As for the other label scans:


That appears to be Plastic Products typesetting. The Vogue Bold type (openly spaced, indicating a coupling with Heavy) was a clue. I can't vouch for the Meteor 78, though. All I do know is that the fonts in use on that label consist of (Linotype) Spartan Book with Heavy. (The way the "a" was shaped - in the line "And His Orchestra" - is a clue as to what typeface this is.)

 

Gosh, I've never seen one of those - that looks like Capitol pressed it!

 

The typesetting and layout are very much like Plastic Products - Vogue Bold for the text type, Vogue Heavy for the catalogue number, artist and title. It may be a counterfeit, however; the label size looks considerably smaller (similar to the 3-5/16" size of post-1968 Capitol 45 pressings, as 'vanmeterannie' suggested). It wasn't pressed by Capitol itself, however, as such pressings they made had a ring of 360 interlocking serrations, which this doesn't.

Now, since you asked about "B-A-B-Y" (Stax 195; the color looking like Pantone 318 to me) . . .

 

Thanks W.B. for the label scan.
What are the fonts type used on that one?

Rene

 

The small text type - 6 point Gothic Condensed No. 4; the catalogue number - 14 point Erbar Bold Condensed; the title and artist - 12 point Gothic No. 16. All Linotype fonts. They don't make 'em like they used to.