Classic Vinyl Bootleg Revisited: FIRE ON THE FINGERTIPS (continued)

A total of eight copies are classified into three classes
based on the matrix info, vinyl color and sleeve images.

According to the published bootleg guides, what distinguishes the original (UK) pressing of this bootleg from various later (US) issues is the weight of vinyl: the original disc is said to be made of heavy vinyl (see the previous post on Oct. 24). The presumed UK pressings at hand are certainly heavier than the others indeed. Heavier or thicker LP records are often said to sound better than standard pressings although I do not take this myth seriously. Anyway, if so, the initial pressing of FIRE ON THE FINGERTIPS may be one of such a few audiophile-oriented vinyl bootlegs in existence. This aroused my interest in classifying a total of 8 copies sitting on my record shelf, on the basis of their weight. Note that, according to the matrix numbers, vinyl colors, and sleeve images as explained in the last post, these copies have been grouped into three classes [five (#1-5), two (#6, 7) and one (#8)], as shown in the picture above.

LP records range in weight from as little as less than 100 g of a cheap and light one to 200 g of an audiophile-oriented heavy pressing. Typically, a regular LP on average weighs between 120 g and 140 g. So, here any vinyl copy over 140-to-150 g weight would be considered a “heavy” record (cf. Official record companies seem to define 160, 180 and 200g vinyls as heavy or high-fidelity pressings). Although not enough samples are available for statistics, the result is rather clear. As shown in the table below, all the five copies (#1 to #5), that I have classified as the UK pressing, weighed over 140 g, with the average and maximum being 156 g and 167 g, respectively.  
 

On the contrary, none of the remaining three pressings (#6 to #8), that supposedly originated from the US and included red-colored vinyls, fulfilled the criterion. I have checked a few other Bruceleg titles and found those pressings also fell into 120 to 140 g in weight (for example, an original copy of "E" TICKET was 131 g in weight). We wouldn't know it now, but the bootleggers might try to produce the first pressing of this particular bootleg with possible high-quality sound, because the source (i.e., Intersong acetate or a low-generation tape copied thereof) was considered one of the best possibly available to them.   — To be continued.