Collecting log: a plain white test pressing for TUNNEL OF LOVE U.K. limited edition picture-disc LP (Part 2 of 2)

It was January 2003 when I got what was advertised as a "test" pressing for the picture-disc edition of this album at $29.00 from an eBay seller in Bethpage, New York (disc's images shown previously in the following posts on 03/01/2015 and 01/01/2020). It came in a plain white sleeve but not in a clear plastic bag used for the regular picture disc. This pressing is indistinguishable from my copy of the commercial version in almost all aspects but the plain white appearance.

The commercially available picture disc (upper) and its plain-white test pressing (lower) share the same dead-wax inscriptions and stamps on each playing side (left, Side One; right, Side Two).

The width of each track and dead-wax area is the same as that of the official release, and both have a black rim around the disc edge. Crucially, all the dead-wax matrix inscriptions (Side One, hand-etched; Side Two, mostly machine-stamped) are identical for each side between the two discs, indicating that the "test" pressing was made from the same stampers that pressed the standard picture disc (at least my copy). Thus, there's no logical reason to suspect this "test" record to be a fake or counterfeited product.

     Side One:  AL-40999-#-1B     G7     MASTERDISK-DMM     C     01+460270+6+#A
     Side Two:  LI-B-III     DMM A C-01-460 270-20-B
            (oblique, hand-etched; straight; stamped; #, scratched out)

There is a DMM hand-etching or machine-stamp on each side, meaning that this album is mastered by direct metal mastering.
 

Even though the matrix inscriptions are identical, the two picture records exhibit different patterning of stamper rings. Although not precisely measured, the commercial disc has two inner circles with about 32- and 63-mm diameters, whereas the smaller one is only visible on the test pressing (Side One is shown).

Still, there is one noticeable difference in the center circle space, where a paper label is normally glued on a conventional LP. Whether a regular or picture disc, a vinyl record usually has one or two circles stamped on that region, called pressing rings or stamper rings, which are left when stampers press the vinyl blob or biscuit. The number and size (diameter) of such circles often differ depending on the die, the part of the pressing machine that holds a pair of stampers. As you can see from the image immediately above, the commercial picture disc has two clear stamper rings with 32- and 63-mm diameters. On the other hand, a single 32-mm ring is only visible on the "test" pressing. A simple interpretation of this inconsistency is that the commercial and "test" pressings in my possession were NOT pressed by the same machine (unless the die was exchanged; I don't know the details of pressing machines, though). Then, were these discs manufactured at the same pressing plant?

The U.K. test pressing for THE RIVER, released in 1980, has two
  stamper rings on each plain-white label of the double discs. This  
is also the same for the NEBRASKA test disc (see the post on
09/28/2016, though not pictured clearly).

In the 1970s, the CBS U.K. pressing plant was located in Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire County, South East, England, and moved in 1980 to the new plant in Aylesbury in the same county. A great blog, vinyldiscovery, written by an American record collector, surveyed and listed the summary of the relationship between record manufacturers and stamper ring in the latest post (04/13/2021; a must-read if interested in the topic). According to this extensive list, vinyl discs pressed at the Aston Clinton plant had two stamper rings (with 32- and 63-mm diameters) on each record label (for example, BORN TO RUN LP; see the post on 09/26/2020). Although the Aylesbury plant gets no mention in the list, it is very likely that the Aston Clinton facilities, including the pressing machine creating such a double ring, were transferred to and reinstalled for operation at the newly launched Aylesbury factory. 

In fact, the same double-stamper ring commonly occurred on the labels of the original U.K. pressings of Springsteen's albums released in the 1980s (the label images of THE RIVER, NEBRASKA, and BORN IN THE U.S.A. are shown in the previous posts on 01/01/2020, 09/28/2016, and 09/29/2019, respectively). Although I don't own the conventional U.K. pressing of the TUNNEL LP, the same ring profile was easily confirmed on the label images available online. So, I guess that these studio-recording albums, including the commercial TUNNEL picture disc, were manufactured at the Aylesbury plant. Still, it remains unknown where the "test" pressing originated, based on the stamper ring.

— Back to Part 1.