UK 45's with enlarged center holes
Posted: Sat Aug 31, 2019 11:14 pm
In the UK, there are many Springsteen releases with large center holes. These are not "genuine" large-center copies, but regular small-center ones with the center holes subsequently enlarged for jukebox use. On some releases this causes some of the text on the labels to be cropped off.
Most if not all Springsteen releases with enlarged center holes were created by third parties, mainly jukebox distributors. A fellow collector in the UK had a friend who had a summer job with a jukebox distributor around 1980 and one of his jobs was to enlarge center holes.
The tool to enlarge holes is very common (see attached photo). Just google “dinker jukebox”. I know a fellow collector who has one. Anyone can do it at home. Moreover, on an eBay listing of such tool, a UK seller wrote:
And I found something interesting in this article:
Conclusion:
I personally will no longer consider these UK large-center-hole as different versions, but as much less worthy variants. For all I know they could have even been enlarged by an eBay seller. I will still collect them, but I wouldn’t place any premium value on them and wouldn't regard them as 'essential' for my collection.
Most if not all Springsteen releases with enlarged center holes were created by third parties, mainly jukebox distributors. A fellow collector in the UK had a friend who had a summer job with a jukebox distributor around 1980 and one of his jobs was to enlarge center holes.
The tool to enlarge holes is very common (see attached photo). Just google “dinker jukebox”. I know a fellow collector who has one. Anyone can do it at home. Moreover, on an eBay listing of such tool, a UK seller wrote:
As you see on this page or on this page, CBS UK never released singles with large holes.As used by JUKE BOX suppliers to cut large centers in 45 vinyl records ensuring the correct size hole with minimum wow
And I found something interesting in this article:
It is possible that CBS Records may have enlarged some themselves for particular distributors as it would be easier for them to do it, but we have absolutely no proof that this was ever done.In March 1976 CBS began pressing its singles with their centres removed and sending them out with 'spiders', but 'Music Week' of the 1st of May reported that adverse reaction from dealers had led to the experiment being abandoned - according to the dealers their customers preferred the standard small-spindle-hole type. The article said that large spindle holes would have made stock transfer with abroad easier and would have meant that singles ordered for juke boxes no longer had to have the large hole cut 'cold', a process which had a 50% failure rate.
Conclusion:
I personally will no longer consider these UK large-center-hole as different versions, but as much less worthy variants. For all I know they could have even been enlarged by an eBay seller. I will still collect them, but I wouldn’t place any premium value on them and wouldn't regard them as 'essential' for my collection.