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Comment by GimmeVinyl:
Thank you W.B.lbl for the info... I wasn't going by the pressing rings, I was going by matrix numbers. I may have been just a wee bit confused, by mixing up "second pressing" with the '71 repress. In this case, one cannot go by the label, nor the jacket to put a date on it.. to me, they both look identical. They both have the access box on the front, and they both list Her Majesty on the back and on the label of side 2. Now, I've made up a list of both of the Winchester matrix numbers from the listings I have seen, which I will compare with the copy that I've purchased. With this info, and the info of the pressing rings, I should be able to establish just which copy I own...
Comment by W.B.lbl:
Any first-pressings from Winchester would have had a pressing ring of between 38.0mm and 38.5mm, just as the other three plants. It was around 1970 that it was set at between 35.0 and 35.5 mm, but as a borderline "deep groove" with an outer diameter of usually 37.5mm. If you have a ruler with metric measurements divided into 0.5mm, please double check the pressing ring dimensions. Side 1 after 1970 would have also had a smaller ring of between 9.5 and 10.0mm, and Side 2 about 13.5mm. If the pressing ring is 35.0 to 35.5mm, then Discogs would be in the right to call you on dating it as 1969.
As to the 'P14' dash numbers you cite: That would have been cut around '71 by Capitol's New York studios, before that set of Scully 601's ('P' was the master, 'T' the slave) was replaced with a singular Neumann VMS-66 lathe that cut lacquers with 'R#' dash numbers. As of 1969, most stereo New York lacquers were cut with 'W' or 'X' dash numbers.
Comment by GimmeVinyl:
I'm being told that the second pressing copies from Winchester weren't released until 1971.. with matrix # starting at SO-1-383-P14 and SO-2-383-P14...
I'm going to have to double check the matrix #s on my Winchester pressing for verification.
I got scolded on Discogs for changing the year of the Winchester second pressing from 1971 to 1969. Does anyone have irrefutable proof that the second pressing is indeed from late '69 or early '70?