There are more and more people lathe cutting out there these days.
What is lathe cut vinyl.
A hunt through ebay will reveal lathes of all shapes and sizes and various project rigs the secret society of lathe trolls message board is a great place to start your search.
They are made by cutting grooves into the disc using a record lathe.
Days of lead time are saved because the plating and pressing processes are skipped.
Lathe cut vs pressed vinyl.
Records are cut by hand and in real time so every project we work on is a real labour of love.
These lathes are normally used in the vinyl record manufacturing process to cut the lacquer master discs used to create the metal stampers.
Or lathe cut records on demand from your online store and give fans on demand vinyl records instead of ordering 300 500 records from a pressing plant.
Lathe cut records are made from clear plastic and cut individually one at a time.
This is a bit of a rant but worth reading i think.
Lathe cuts are created with a completely different process than vinyl from a pressing plant.
Pressed vinyl on the other hand is aimed at bulk orders say for example 150 copies of one album.
A lathe cut record is an instant vinyl record.
Lathe cut records have been around since the beginning of the vinyl format itself.
From a single vinyl record to a short run there is no minimum order.
Lathe cutting is the fastest way to make a retail ready record.
A one off vinyl can be made in minutes where one off custom vinyl pressing can take weeks.
Lathe cutting is ideal for short run one off records because each piece is individually hand cut tested.