please excuse my ignorance but what are the small holes punched or drilled in the centre section through the label on some 45's for?

cheers

(not the one that centralises the record)

To mark them as deleted stock so that retailers can't sell them at full price

To mark them as deleted stock so that retailers can't sell them at full price

frequently called a "cut-out hole" and sometimes abbreviated in grading as COH

or BB Hole - due to the fact that they look like they've been shot with a ball bearing.

the best story I heard

bollocks though it is

was they were drilled through and strung together and used for ballast on ships.?

you never know??

The G man

the best story I heard

bollocks though it is

was they were drilled through and strung together and used for ballast on ships.?

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I heard that they are being worn as earrings by whizzy skirted wigginers

some "know all"told me as a young teenager collecting imports that the holes were for the wire to run through them on the planes that carried them here

i thot it was a pleasure hole for the smaller soul collector.

i thot it was a pleasure hole for the smaller soul collector.

i love my music but not that much

does it affect their value?

someone once said they were punch holes from customs.checking for drugs inside the record..

Pete's got the correct answer. They also used to snip the corners off LP sleeves (much thicker card than in the UK) for the same reason.

the best story I heard

bollocks though it is

was they were drilled through and strung together and used for ballast on ships.?

you never know??

The G man

Not total B******s They did use old deleted records as ballast on ships, and if you had a Tandy store in your town they used to sell them off, unfortunately it was mostly rock and pop 45s bit you could always found Motown or Stax reecords in there and I have still got one or two in the collection from the store in Grimsby

I remember reading somewhere, that the drill hole and the cut out on the LP sleeve was for when they were used as ballast on ships. The customs people knew there was no tax to collect from them or export duty as technically they could not be sold.

This being the only quick and practical way to mark and distinguish them from saleable/taxable records.

Dave H.

Does anyone remember seeing the early Motown label cutouts that came over? Rather than a drill hole, they had a gold star stamped onto the label. Cool I thought.

Does anyone remember seeing the early Motown label cutouts that came over? Rather than a drill hole, they had a gold star stamped onto the label. Cool I thought.

And ABC as well.

I remember reading somewhere, that the drill hole and the cut out on the LP sleeve was for when they were used as ballast on ships. The customs people knew there was no tax to collect from them or export duty as technically they could not be sold.

the records brought over cheaply in big lots were already bought in the US as cut-outs with the drill hole/cut corner - they'd gone back to the distributor's warehouse unsold from shops (in the days of sale or return)

drill hole/cut-out stuff was also sold in the US - it just went back to the shops as non-returnable bargain bin stuff as mentioned earlier in the thread

re: the ballast thing - was cross-Atlantic shipping was containerised by the 70s? imagine the ballast thing is a myth, but they may have waited to get cheap shipping prices on ships short of cargo

It's a fookin spy hole. Whilst appearing to be inspecting a record close up you are able to keep a covert eye on what is going on around you. They can also be used for viewing eclipses.

Smiffy was right about 58 fookin posts ago - so no more silly fookin answers and questions.

Pete's got the correct answer. They also used to snip the corners off LP sleeves (much thicker card than in the UK) for the same reason.

yeh thats right no demos should have drill holes

kev

Similar story to the above that I heard. That the holes were drilled to tie them so that they'd stay together on the transport over here. Thought that for years.

the best story I heard

bollocks though it is

was they were drilled through and strung together and used for ballast on ships.?

you never know??

The G man

I was once told that story.....I said f*ck off at the time, what pillock gonna make a little hole to hang records from when there's a big f*cker in t'middle

I was once told that story.....I said f*ck off at the time, what pillock gonna make a little hole to hang records from when there's a big f*cker in t'middle

Drill holes and other variations of "cut outs" (cut sleeve corners etc) are basically deletions. In other words they haven't been shipped out at normal rates or on sale-or-return terms. The holes (or cuts) are made by the record company or their distributor to identify the deleted (and heavily discounted) copies in case an unscrupulous retailer or wholesaler tries to return them to his supplier for credit.

Also, in most cases a drilled or cut-out record isn't liable for artist royalty payments - at least not at the usual rate.

Best regards,

Paul