I took a brief detour off the freeway today to visit Palomino Records Pressing in Shepherdsville, Kentucky. Travis was cool enough to show me around. I’ve wanted to see this place for a long time, they are one of the few places left that use a Scully lathe, like mine, to master their records. The one in Palomino is a very early one, all manual, just like mine. It’s always neat to see the little differences and the modifications.
Then Travis showed me their only record press, an old Finebilt manual press, that he works from sunup to sundown every day. I like this place because it’s a one-man operation, they do everything in house, it’s all very “hands on.” It reminds me of the old pressing plants that I used to go visit in the 1990s, run by all the old-timers who had been doing it for forty or fifty years.
Palomino is a family operation, and sadly, one of the most tragic stories of record pressing happened here ten years ago. The plant was originally run by Travis’s father. He was killed when the steam boiler exploded (the day after the boiler got its annual inspection and passed).
Despite the tragedy, Travis took over the business and has been doing it ever since.
Thanks so much for letting me pop in for a visit today, Travis! Palomino is a super-cool operation. If you’re looking to press your independent record, you should check out their website or Facebook page!
