For most of Springsteen's vinyl albums from the 1970s to 1980s released in the U.S. from Columbia Records, early pressings are knowable by matrix number suffixes that encode a given disc's pressing history. They are usually a combination of a single number (referring to the version of master tape used) and alphabetical letter(s) (reflecting the lacquer-cutting number from a given master tape; one-letter codes denote earlier cuttings than two-letter codes). From what I've observed, the suffix codes for this album are roughly grouped into two types: those for the relatively early pressings typically start with "3" and "2" on Sides One and Two, respectively, followed by one or two letters (like 3B or 2AC), whereas the late pressings further add a "G" at the beginning of codes (like G3V or G2AD)*. As I previously posted (08/14/2019), the earliest example of Side One/Two combinations found in my collection is 3A/2A (the full matrix numbers are shown below).
Side One: G1 PAL-38653-3A MASTERDISK RL
Side Two: G2 PBL-38653-2A MASTERDISK RL
(hand-etched,
oblique; stamped, straight)
The suffix codes are interpreted to mean that Side One was pressed by a stamper derived from the first lacquer cut from the third master tape, while the first lacquer plate from the second master was used for pressing Side Two. "G1" and "G2" at the beginning of the matrix codes indicate the disc's origin at the then-latest Columbia's pressing plant in Carrollton, Georgia.
*An exception of the late pressing in my collection has "G1A" on Side One.
Another measure that distinguishes the early pressings from the late copies is, as I reported before (09/11/2019), the width of the trail-off groove area, or dead-wax space on Side One, which is noticeably wider on the former (about 20 mm) than the latter (ca. 15 mm). Checking out my collection, I also noticed that an "RL," the initials inscribed by Master/Cutting Engineer Robert C. (Bob) Ludwig, was exclusively found among many (though not necessarily all) of the wide dead-wax pressings, but none from the narrow ones. So, I presumed that the coupling of Ludwig's signature with the wide dead-wax constituted yet another hallmark for the early pressings. At least with this album, he always inscribes his initials on the right of a MASTERDISK machine stamp.
Bob Ludwig has cut Side One of BON IN THE U.S.A. differently, as indicated by the difference in the dead-wax width of two pressings. The upper images show the narrow dead-wax pressing that is a relatively late (newer) copy with the matrix number suffix "3BB." The lower images show an example of the wide dead-wax copy with the suffix "3A," which is by far the earliest known code for Side One of the U.S. pressings (see also 08/14/2019). |
Side One: P o PAL · 38653-3BB MASTERDISK RL
Side Two: P (T-D) PBL-38653 G2S
Side One: P PAL · 38653-3BC MASTERDISK RL
Side Two: P PBL-38653-2BD MASTERDISK RL
(hand-etched,
oblique; stamped, straight)
This means that the maestro engineer recut the master lacquer for this side. You may ask me which sounds better, the original wide or redone narrow dead-wax disc? Unfortunately, I'm just a collector, but not an audiophile and don't own Hi-Fi stereo setups. So, I'll leave the answer to someone who is interested in this small finding because these used copies have been available cheap. Just for your information, these discs are New Jersey's Pitman pressings, as indicated by the leading single letter "P" (however, "P" of "PAL" or "PBL" has nothing to do with Pitman).
Finally, what is interesting to me with the remaining pressing with the suffix codes 3AA/2AM ? I previously showed a Made-In-Philippines copy with the U.S.-specific matrix numbers (09/29/2019), indicating that at least part of the Southeast Asian pressings employed the lacquer master(s) imported from the U.S. Now, this idea is supported by one of the recently obtained U.S. copies that had exactly the same matrix numbers with those of the Filipino disc, including Ludwig's signature, as shown in the above images. A trivial, but interesting aspect of collecting vinyl records.
P.S. Finishing up the blog post last night, and early in the morning, I found that the Atlanta '78 performance is finally available as part of the official live archive series. Just great.
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