Odd Coupling

[Nocker]

This only happend last night, so I will set the scene.

I collect emidiscs/acetates, so i notice on the old ebay a few days ago a (as described) "7" test pressing", and the scan shows it as such of Cheating Kind, Don Gardner seller is in Greece, so I put it on watch with the intension of bidding last minute.

Well I got home late and the bids have finished, low and behold nobody bid on it....Sh*t i'm having that, so off i pop an email offering him the starting bid (99p) but expecting to pay a lot more.... Here we go

He writes back and tells me its a 1968 original disc and someone has told him it's worth a lot of money so he is relisting it at £400

We exchange a couple of emails along the lines of me expalining the original is rare, but his copy looks like a 1980's emidisc to me and only worth a few quid in comparison, also in light of the fact it has had a recent UK release will he let me have it for a tenner.

I then get another email, this is like 1 am in the morning by now, and it turns out the other side is a genuine DECCA acetate from 1968 with a phyc/garage track on the other side by a band called Plague, and he knows it worth big bucks.

My reaction and next email suggests it was a single sided acetate from '68 that someone had the majestic Don cut on during the 70ts/80ts... He then tells me its relisted with the Plague track for sale..

Two questions, am i correct about the single sided theory, and has anyone else come across a Northern track with some obscure or strange other side?

p.s one thing he did mention, it is 42/42 degrees over there at the moment

[Simon T]

This only happend last night, so I will set the scene.

I collect emidiscs/acetates, so i notice on the old ebay a few days ago a (as described) "7" test pressing", and the scan shows it as such of Cheating Kind, Don Gardner seller is in Greece, so I put it on watch with the intension of bidding last minute.

Well I got home late and the bids have finished, low and behold nobody bid on it....Sh*t i'm having that, so off i pop an email offering him the starting bid (99p) but expecting to pay a lot more.... Here we go

He writes back and tells me its a 1968 original disc and someone has told him it's worth a lot of money so he is relisting it at £400

We exchange a couple of emails along the lines of me expalining the original is rare, but his copy looks like a 1980's emidisc to me and only worth a few quid in comparison, also in light of the fact it has had a recent UK release will he let me have it for a tenner.

I then get another email, this is like 1 am in the morning by now, and it turns out the other side is a genuine DECCA acetate from 1968 with a phyc/garage track on the other side by a band called Plague, and he knows it worth big bucks.

My reaction and next email suggests it was a single sided acetate from '68 that someone had the majestic Don cut on during the 70ts/80ts... He then tells me its relisted with the Plague track for sale..

Two questions, am i correct about the single sided theory, and has anyone else come across a Northern track with some obscure or strange other side?

p.s one thing he did mention, it is 42/42 degrees over there at the moment

There's loads kicking about from the seventies when people cut a northen track on to the reverse of a one-sided acetate, often a non soul sound. In the 80's & onwards the cutting houses refused to do it  because the old acetate's coating had become very britle and knacked the cutting head.

[Nocker]

There's loads kicking about from the seventies when people cut a northen track on to the reverse of a one-sided acetate, often a non soul sound. In the 80's & onwards the cutting houses refused to do it because the old acetate's coating had become very britle and knacked the cutting head.

Thanks for that Simon.. I thought thats what had happened, but its just another example of the strange world of Northern soul ...a UK acetate with a rare NS track and an equally rare other side in Greece....Why???? How the hell did it get over there

Edited July 26, 2007 by Nocker

[Soul-slider]

I bought an acetate about 8 years back by Eddie Holland 'Outside Looking In' (his big one!) for £10, nothing on the flip, no label, center hole plus another hole next to it.

Sold it to my local record shop for peanuts when I bought the 'original' USA Motown 45.

What do you know...a couple of years later I see the same acetate (I know it was mine by the writing on the sleeve) in a box for £300!!!! Seller told me it was a genuine acetate because it had a second hole next to the center hole!!!

I had to laugh, that's gotta be bollocks right? The sound was very low, surely this was a 'made for the Northern Soul market' bootleg?

Someone say it was....

[Nocker]

If its true about two holes I have "The happiest girl in the world" on a disc like that and always like you thought it to be an emi made for the NS scene

[Simon T]

Seller told me it was a genuine acetate because it had a second hole next to the center hole!!!

I had to laugh, that's gotta be bollocks right?

Someone say it was....

Did you ask him how the hell you're supposed to get it to turn on the cutter without the second hole?

Must have been a 'cut out' studio acetate, they have drill holes don't they?!

[Nocker]

Did you ask him how the hell you're supposed to get it to turn on the cutter without the second hole?

Must have been a 'cut out' studio acetate, they have drill holes don't they?!

Don't know about studio cut out, I just know its got a smaller hole at the side of the spindle hole you place the record on..Is real or what, I am now intregued!!! These arn't like the small drill holes in genuine disc's.....Cheers John

[Simon T]

Don't know about studio cut out, I just know its got a smaller hole at the side of the spindle hole you place the record on..Is real or what, I am now intregued!!! These arn't like the small drill holes in genuine disc's.....Cheers John

The blank acetate sits on the cutter like a record on a deck. In the little hole by the side is a metal peg that is needed to turn the acetate around,  (againt the friction of the cutting head). The cutting head cuts out the groove that then become playable like the groove in a record.

[Pete Eccles]

The blank acetate sits on the cutter like a record on a deck. In the little hole by the side is a metal peg that is needed to turn the acetate around, (againt the friction of the cutting head). The cutting head cuts out the groove that then become playable like the groove in a record.

This may appear a tad dumb, but is this not how all acetates are cut? wether they be original studio acetates or later cut 'boots'?

[Simon T]

This may appear a tad dumb, but is this not how all acetates are cut? wether they be original studio acetates or later cut 'boots'?

Yes. You need that little hole to turn the disk around while cutting the track, they work a bit like a lathe.

[Pete Eccles]

Yes. You need that little hole to turn the disk around while cutting the track, they work a bit like a lathe.

Sorry Simon, the way i read it (probably not concentrating or maybe mislead) i thought it was being suggested that the smaller hole determined one way or the other its authenticity, or its origins,

I have watched the process at Chris Kings place years ago,

[Guest]

Not all acetates have the little hole. They also use a vaccum line to secure it.