A quick flip through my limited vinyl seems to show that etching is not such a rare thing. Sub-Pop usually, but maybe not in *all* cases, etches weird things onto the inner rings of their singles. For instance, the Luna single has "kazoo a rama" etched, The Freewheelin' Mark Arm has "kdissch" carved -- but it was pressed in Germany, so maybe that's a German thing akin to the numbering? Dot Allison's single has "and now the end is near" on the a and initials "c.e." on the b side. "The End" is etched on the Lou Barlow record -- that was the last single issued in the first series released on Sub Pop, I think. They seem to do it rather consistantly. Other labels seem to do it as well... randomly it would seem. The Amphetameanies "Tales of the Arizona Highway" has "There's only one R.P.M." etched, while "Last Night" has nothing but the standard numbers. Butterflies of Love on Secret 7 has "Beware the Positive Men!" on one side and a dedication to several people on the other. Going WAY back in time, I see initials on the "Workingman's Dead" and a funky little symbol on the "American Beauty" lps." And someone's name in in tiny tiny lettering is on the Ten Years After "Shhhh" record. Although they are obviously "personalizations" these seem to be stamped rather than etched... probably because they were pressed in massive quantities back then, while vinyl is released in much smaller numbers now. Then I got bored and dusty looking through those antiques -- and felt a shudder as if Tim Hopkins was walking on my grave, and decided it's time to go to the grocery store now. +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the undead Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+