[78-L] One or three holes?

[David Lennick]

By the way, there WERE 7-inch lacquer blanks made by Soundcraft with a 
punchable center hole for the 45 spindle..found an ad for them in a 1953 High 
Fiddledeedee.

dl

On 6/30/2011 3:17 PM, Martin Fisher wrote:
> Three holed urban legend.  These are erroneously referred to as "punch
> marks" by misinformed Elvis devotees who believe the pressing machine made
> them while extracting the finished 45 rpm records!
>
> Tee hee
>
> MF
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com
> [mailto:78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com] On Behalf Of Milan P
> Milovanovic
> Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2011 2:08 PM
> To: 78-L Mail List
> Subject: Re: [78-L] One or three holes?
>
> Thank you so much for explanation!
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Milan
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Graham Newton"<gn at audio-restoration.com>
> To: "78-L Mail List"<78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2011 1:51 AM
> Subject: Re: [78-L] One or three holes?
>
>
>> Milan P Milovanovic wrote:
>>
>>> not so while ago, the discussion about details of lathes raised. I came
>>> across this record sample
>>
>>> http://youtu.be/tc2FrjRa9Os
>>>
>>> It is clearly visible only one hole mark besides spindle. I always
>>> thought that one additional hole on lacquer was reserved for amateurish
>>> type media and three additional holes for professional blank samples.
>>>
>>> Someone knows what's in case here? Why is there only one? Could it be
>>> possible that recording engineers used semi pro or amateur recording
>>> blanks?
>>
>> It depends on the type and design of the recording lathe.  The extra hole
>> or
>> three holes are drive holes to engage with a single (usually spring
>> loaded) pin
>> to prevent the lacquer disc from slipping as it is being cut for the
>> master.
>> Why some lacquers were supplied with three holes is a mystery, since I
>> never
>> encountered anything where more than one hole was needed.
>>
>> All home use disc cutting machines used discs with at least one drive
>> hole.
>>
>> Many professional mastering lathes like Scully and Neumann used lacquers
>> with
>> no drive holes, only the center pin, and it was hollow to allow vacuum to
>> be
>> conducted under the turntable platter to hold the lacquer flat while it
>> was
>> being cut.
>>
>> Lathes like Presto, RCA Victor and others found in broadcast studios
>> mostly
>> used lacquers with the drive hole since it was much cheaper to make a
>> non-suction-hold-down turntable.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ... Graham Newton (RCA Victor disc mastering engineer in a former life!)
>>
>> --
>> Audio Restoration by Graham Newton, http://www.audio-restoration.com
>> World class professional services applied to tape or phonograph records
>> for
>> consumers and re-releases, featuring CEDAR's CAMBRIDGE processes.
>> ______________