[78-L] Bluebird dubbed masters

[Anthony Baldwin]

I've noticed that quite a number of mid-1930s Bluebird reissues of  
late-1920s Victor jazz sides are pressed from dubbed masters, but not  
consistently so. The audio quality of the dubs is often surprisingly  
high, with good fidelity and dynamics and without the sudden burst of  
extra surface noise that one associates with typical dubbed reissues.

Given that most of the original sources were less than a decade old  
at the time (and the metal presumably in the RCA vault), does anybody  
know why Bluebird resorted to dubbing?

Also, how did they achieve that good audio? — Transfer from metal  
positives?

Rust isn't entirely reliable about which reissues are masters or not,  
and Tom Lord doesn't approach the subject at all. Has anybody come  
across an accurate listing of which are dubs and which are not?

TB