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Old Records with Dimples

mozcho

mozcho

Well-Known Member
I saw some very old LPs in a shop with little "dimples" on the surfaces, some have only one or two, some have around half a dozen or more. These are very old LPs, as early as 1959, and are in mono, mostly classical music from RCA, Decca, Brunswick, etc. Despite the age, the surfaces look almost prestine, like they have never been played before. Are the dimples something to worry about? Will they get worsened as time passes? I can't try them out before buying because these are bargain items.
 
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These are pressing defects that result in low level rumble and noise. I'm not sure how dangerous they are for the cartridge suspension but they don't sound great, especially classical and especially mono records. If the music is of some interest they may be worth trying out with a mono cartridge but I wouldn't pay much for them.
 
dimples_pothole_Marcia_Aitken_-_Reggae_Impact_(LP_bumps)_-_Copy.jpg

This photo doesn't capture all the dimples. Prolly pressing error or contamination.

Doesn't affect playback.
 
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ripblade said:
I've read that it's dust between the stamper and press bed. It gets progressively worse as the stamper wears. A sign of one worn out. The record usually doesn't sound that great, either.
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I have several reggae original pressings with such issues. It's hard to find good vintage ones.

Mislabeling galore! That album, I uploaded, is marked STEREO. There never was a STEREO version made.

Too much ganja. Eh? ;)
 
Mr Boochie said:
I have several reggae original pressings with such issues. It's hard to find good vintage ones.

Mislabeling galore! That album, I uploaded, is marked STEREO. There never was a STEREO version made.

Too much ganja. Eh? ;)
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Haha yeah. I have a Jamaican Island pressing of Crucial Reggae Driven by Sly and Robbie. One side has the matrix markings stamped over the lead out where the song trails off, and the hole is so offset the pitch wow makes me seasick. Hard to see what you're doing with bloodshot eyes lol.

Amazing music, though.
 
ripblade said:
Haha yeah. I have a Jamaican Island pressing of Crucial Reggae Driven by Sly and Robbie. One side has the matrix markings stamped over the lead out where the song trails off, and the hole is so offset the pitch wow makes me seasick. Hard to see what you're doing with bloodshot eyes lol.

Amazing music, though.
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Yes! And the sound quality is very good on some of them. But you have to hunt to find them. Worth the search. :thumbsup:

 
I have mono recordings with dimples...using a mono cartridge doesn't show up at playback. Probably because the Mono cartridge only tracks the middle of the groove and not the sides where most distortion happens. Also vinyl in the 60's like Decca, FFFF, Columbia 6-eye, RCA, etc used higher quality materials than what is found in todays pressings.
 
Thank you so much for the replies so far. One more question: are these defects visible fresh off the pressing plant 60 years ago, or they were invisible when new, but grows and show up progressively? In that shop, I saw almost like 70% of the LPs in similar age have no dimples at all, and the rest have dimples from one to many. I have a feeling that they grow as time passes.
 
mozcho said:
Thank you so much for the replies so far. One more question: are these defects visible fresh off the pressing plant 60 years ago, or they were invisible when new, but grows and show up progressively? In that shop, I saw almost like 70% of the LPs in similar age have no dimples at all, and the rest have dimples from one to many. I have a feeling that they grow as time passes.
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I don't remember seeing any dimples, years ago when opening a new LP.

But then again, I was buying mostly US pressed LPs, not Jamaican or UK private studio reggae ones.
 
Attached here are two views of a dimple mentioned, or "pimple" - for they are protuding rather than sunken.
 

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I find it common, both on older and newer releases. I always assumed it as small air or gas pockets whiched formed during stamping
 
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