What is a GrooveCoated stamper?
The simplest answer is, a GrooveCoated stamper is a proprietary type of stamper offered by Gotta Groove Records which has a specialized lubricious coating applied after nickel formation that reduces surface tension while increasing surface hardness. Depending upon the cut, this combination can dramatically increase the lifespan of the stamper, and reduce high frequency loss as pressing cycles continue over the course of manufacturing. In most cases, the number of records pressed off a single set of GrooveCoated stampers is double that of standard stampers.
But- before we get into more detail, let’s first discuss a basic primer on record plating in general…
There are three approaches to record plating:
1-step plating: The first metal part pulled away from the master lacquer is turned into the stamper used to press the records. No additional stampers can be made.
2-step plating: The first metal part pulled away from the master lacquer is re-plated to create a mother, and then it is turned into a stamper to press records. Additional stampers can be made from the mother.
3-step plating: The first metal part pulled away from the master lacquer is re-plated to create a mother. Then, it is replated again to form a thin layer of nickel over its silver surface (more on this below); and then it is saved as a “father” for future use. The father can make additional mothers. The mothers can make additional stampers.
In all three types of plating, the process is started by thoroughly cleaning the master lacquers. Different types of lacquers require different cleaning treatments, and lacquers cut by different mastering facilities can even require different cleaning treatments.
After cleaning, the lacquer face is coated with silver — yes, the metal silver. This silver layer has direct contact with the grooves on the face of the lacquer, and is therefore the most sensitive step in producing phonograph metal parts. The silver step is necessary to make the lacquer electrically conductive – without the silver, the lacquer would essentially burn up in the plating tank.
After a metal master is made, in most cases, the silver is stripped away from the original part before proceeding further. The reason for this is, silver is a relatively unstable metal, and tarnishes very easily. A stamper which does not have the silver fully stripped will turn orange after pressing just a few records, and be terribly noisy. Similarly, an unprotected master will tarnish. Sealing a master with nickel can be done. However, there is still a chance of the silver transferring to the mother when it is peeled away from the master. Therefore, since the 1970’s, many manufacturers who seek the best results have been “stripping” the silver from the first part before proceeding to the next steps. As noted by the Audio Engineering Society in 1977, many careful tests on stereo programs have demonstrated that removing of the silver itself does not cause sound quality deterioration. (see AES Journal Vol 25, No. 10/11, Oct/Nov 1977).
In 1-step plating, there is no going back – if someting happens to the stamper during pressing, a new lacquer cut is required in order to make an additional/replacement stamper. For this reason, it has traditionally been generally viewed as an inferior type of record plating, and very rarely used. In 2-step plating, that first stamper (remember – the one that created the mother before being turned into a stamper), is like a stamper made from 1-step plating — the silver is stripped, and the part is then formed into a stamper to be used for pressing. However, additional stampers can be made from the mother in 2-step plating.
In 3-step plating, the first part pulled from the lacquer is used to create the mother, and never turned into a a stamper — it is called a “master” or a “father”. Many additional mothers can be made from the master/father. Additionally, here at Gotta Groove, we seal a mother to the master immediately after creation – therefore the mother/father faces never see the world until they are split apart, and due to this, they can be archived for generations without the risk of tarnishing or deterioration. (Unlike mothers made from 2-step plating).
Now that you are an expert in record plating, let’s get back to GrooveCoated stampers…
In 2017-2018, NiPro Optics / NiPro Records and Gotta Groove Records worked to develop one of the first “new technologies” in record stampers in several decades — the GrooveCoated ™ stamper.
GrooveCoated stampers have a specialized lubricious coating applied after nickel formation that reduces surface tension while increasing surface hardness. Depending upon the cut, this combination can dramatically increase the lifespan of the stamper, and reduce high frequency loss as pressing cycles continue over the course of manufacturing.
With traditional record plating technology, over the course of the cycles of a pressing, the high frequencies tend to diminish first as the cycles go on. While this is always going to be a natural phenomenon in the course of pressing vinyl records, GrooveCoated stampers dramatically strengthen the grooves on the face of the stamper, and allows better material flow. This helps stampers stand up much stronger to the repeated stresses of each pressing cycle.
The truly amazing thing about this new record plating technology is that it does not cause the core nickel substrate of the stampers to become brittle (brittleness is an issue with traditional stampers, because they can break before finishing a run of records). This can help reduce scrap and turnaround time during the record pressing process. On average, GrooveCoated stampers double the life compared to non-GrooveCoated stampers! We have even pressed a few records of over 3,000 copies on one set of GrooveCoated stampers (although, we do consider these to be outliers).
In late 2018, GGR conducted an experiment with a 180 gram 6-LP box set which used GrooveCoated stampers for all copies. We recorded and analyzed frequencies of the recordings of records produced by the same GrooveCoated stampers from record #45 through record #2400 off the same stampers. The results were incredible — even after over 2,000 stamper cycles, the tracks sounded remarkably similar. When viewing the frequencies in a sound editor, the information was also nearly identical.
Due to this attribute, many audiophile records have since been pressed using GrooveCoated stampers, due to their ability to retain high frequency information for more cycles than traditional nickel stampers.
Please contact us at (800) 295-0171 or [email protected] to learn more about GrooveCoated stampers, and to add them to your pressing order.