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Anyone interested in manufacturing old school Tip-On Jackets -

4YearGraduate4YearGraduate 2,945 Posts
edited August 2011 in Strut Central
My people at Dorado have just restarted with an amazing new set up. I have toured the floor and the result is super legit.
Not trying to spam but i know alot of people have wondered how to even go about making these in 2011...

Been a long time since I held an LP sleeve and had that feeling -

interview about it:

  Comments

  • BurnsBurns 2,227 Posts
    Can I get an example/pic of a tip on sleeve?
  • 4YearGraduate4YearGraduate 2,945 Posts
    Most any sleeve manufactured in the US before 1980.. super heavy weight two pieces of cardboard sandwiched by printed paper on the outside - Think CTI sleeves (high gloss gatefold) or Blue note sleeves (white paper, matte)
  • leonleon 883 Posts
    Just wondered about all the flimsy sleeves for reissues and new releases... (well since the eighties really).
    i have this Edwards Generation 'The Street Thang' LP. I believe it to be a counterfeit(?) but it has a thick paste-on sleeve. How come bootleggers get to have these sleeves and legit current issues don't?

  • HorseleechHorseleech 3,830 Posts
    leon said:
    Just wondered about all the flimsy sleeves for reissues and new releases... (well since the eighties really).
    i have this Edwards Generation 'The Street Thang' LP. I believe it to be a counterfeit(?) but it has a thick paste-on sleeve. How come bootleggers get to have these sleeves and legit current issues don't?


    Back then, tip ons were not considered a deluxe printing technique - they were actually just cheap way to make a cover. In fact, when I started collecting records back in the 70's they were considered inferior to their import counterparts.

    Nowadays they are fetishized because they are old school. The new versions are also much nicer than they were back then. Columbia tip on style sleeves were garbage, imo, and it is notoriously hard to find certain titles (Kind Of Blue, for example) with nice quality printing/manufacturing.
  • leonleon 883 Posts
    Horseleech said:
    The new versions are also much nicer than they were back then. Columbia tip on style sleeves were garbage, imo, and it is notoriously hard to find certain titles (Kind Of Blue, for example) with nice quality printing/manufacturing.
    Thanks for the info. I really got to see the new versions, i don't believe i have yet. Still all more or less flip-flop sleeves for the reissues and comps... hope some labels pick up on these tip-on jackets.
  • strataspherestratasphere Blastin' the Nasty 1,035 Posts
    Whatever company that was that manufactured the Desco sleeves did a great job.
  • discos_almadiscos_alma discos_alma 2,164 Posts
    leon said:
    i have this Edwards Generation 'The Street Thang' LP. I believe it to be a counterfeit(?) but it has a thick paste-on sleeve.


    Leon, I am pretty sure you have an OG if it's got the paste-on back (that term makes more sense to me than "tip-on"). The newish reissue is white card-stock. (unless there was an earlier boot I am not aware of).
  • BeardedDBeardedD 770 Posts
    The newer tip ons may be nicer in terms of durability, but they're also kind of a pain in the ass in terms of weight and expense, and they're just not the real thing. The fetishist dream of doing lighter covers ala most everything pre 1980 remains elusive. The difference between the old and the new is in the size of the cardboard shell the printed matter wraps around. The fact is the new school tip ons done at Stoughton and, now, Dorado, are laserdisc sleeves. Laserdiscs, which stopped being made in 2000, are the reason the form still exists. If someone would just get it together and do lighter shells as they used to be done, it would be a game changer. I think that with enough lobbying, Stoughton could be convinced to use lighter shells. Perhaps some of the resistance boils down to the fact that logically they would actually have to charge less for those. Either way, if you deal with either of these companies, ask for them to do covers with the old shells, and maybe someday they'll actually go for it.
  • ReynaldoReynaldo 6,054 Posts
    New-style jackets objectively suck by most objective measures. Nostalgia aside. Thinness in the cardboard is probably the main issue, which is why I hate those thin import sleeves from austere, cardboard-poor/resource-poor countries.

    Whoever Light In The Attic used for the Jim Sullivan LP reissue did a great job. Nice thick, prosperous, Real American cardboard.

    It's 2011, the jackets being made now should be at least as good as the best jackets ever made before. Things should get better over time, not worse. We lost our way when we started skimping on quality and durability.
  • leonleon 883 Posts
    Reynaldo said:

    It's 2011, the jackets being made now should be at least as good as the best jackets ever made before. Things should get better over time, not worse. We lost our way when we started skimping on quality and durability.

    Agreed!

    b/w



    The turning point?
  • 4YearGraduate4YearGraduate 2,945 Posts
    BeardedD said:
    The newer tip ons may be nicer in terms of durability, but they're also kind of a pain in the ass in terms of weight and expense, and they're just not the real thing. The fetishist dream of doing lighter covers ala most everything pre 1980 remains elusive. The difference between the old and the new is in the size of the cardboard shell the printed matter wraps around. The fact is the new school tip ons done at Stoughton and, now, Dorado, are laserdisc sleeves. Laserdiscs, which stopped being made in 2000, are the reason the form still exists. If someone would just get it together and do lighter shells as they used to be done, it would be a game changer. I think that with enough lobbying, Stoughton could be convinced to use lighter shells. Perhaps some of the resistance boils down to the fact that logically they would actually have to charge less for those. Either way, if you deal with either of these companies, ask for them to do covers with the old shells, and maybe someday they'll actually go for it.

    Dorado is doing REAL tip-on sleeves - Meaning they are two pieces of med wieght cardboard sandwiched with printed cardstock and glued at the seams, an arduous process which is almost entirely hand done at this point and the same if not better than 70's sleeves. I have seen tests with paper stock which can result in an identical CTI gatefold, not the easiest thing to do. I understand the weight can be different (i guess?) but the entire process, at least at Dorado, is cusomizable, you could sandwich whatever weight cardboard or stock you want, as the process is hand done each time so if you want lighter cardboard in there just ask.

    Dorado did the Light In The Attic sleeves and paper inserts but i would urge anyone to check the recent release by Beirut to see an amzing, forward thinking possibility of Tip On (cloth wrapped around instead of paper, then foil stamped - it looks amazing)



    Whoever Light In The Attic used for the Jim Sullivan LP reissue did a great job. Nice thick, prosperous, Real American cardboard.

    It's 2011, the jackets being made now should be at least as good as the best jackets ever made before. Things should get better over time, not worse. We lost our way when we started skimping on quality and durability.

    HELL YES. and with dudes in a shop sweating it out here in Cali while most are offshoring their manufacturing to china. Support that ish if you love quality vinyl releases.
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