Custom box set: The Beatles 50th Anniversary Deluxe Editions

Not super deluxe, just deluxe.

It’s been a long couple of weeks. I’m not really built for hot weather.

I did manage to finish some projects though: a custom slipcover for The Beatles and Esher Demos 3-CD set (I still don’t understand why it’s the odd one out of four), a corrected O-card for my Beatles In Mono box set…

…and a custom box set for the Beatles 50th anniversary 2-CD sets (or 3, in the case of TB&ED).

If the box looks familiar, it is.

This Is Not the Greatest Box, This Is a Tribute

I’ve been mulling the idea of putting together a box set for these four albums as soon as I’ve placed my order for Let It Be, the two-CD edition. Of course, there should be some rules: (1) it shouldn’t look like the other boxes I already have, (2) it shouldn’t look like a cheesy Beatles bootleg, (3) the form factor should be different from the Disk Union-style CD box set. After owning two of them — one an official product, the other a custom — I kind of got burnt out real quick.

Around this time, I’ve started subscribing to a lot of Beatles-related channels and that’s when I had a closer look at the classic blue Beatles vinyl box set, catalog number BC-13. Apparently, this was THE Beatles product to have if you’re a true-blue (heh) fan…at least, until the 2009/2012 box sets took over.

But it’s nevertheless an iconic design despite the weird box mechanism, and it conformed with all the rules, so I thought I should give it a go. If anything, it’s going to be a tribute.

Having My Cake and Eating It Too

Okay. That was easier said than done. I never owned the real deal, So I had to watch quite a few videos and compare photos before being able to virtually deconstruct it. The box is actually made of three sections: the back section with the flip top, the front top section that moves, and the front bottom section that’s attached to the back section.

Drawing on my knowledge of bookbinding, I knew how to reinforce the hinges using mull cloth. I also knew that the bookbinding “cloth” is the same kind I used on some of my plain slipcases so I knew where to buy them. Easy-peasy.

Until I got to the actual design of the box…but let’s backtrack a bit.

One of the problems I had with the BC-13’s design was the font. It’s not the “standard” Beatles logo that I wanted to use, but rather a basic one. So the design choice is, should I be more authentic to the original and choose the old one, or break away from it and use the logo that I like?

I first went with the latter, but the logo looked weird when I started sketching the designs. It just didn’t sit right. It went on for weeks.

The answer was staring me right in the face and I didn’t immediately notice it — an O-card! It should put the box in line with my other custom box set and let me have both designs — it is possible to have your cake and eat it!

So the idea was to have the “modern” design elements on the O-card, then the “classic” look on the box itself. After working on one prototype where I worked out the turn-ins and assembly, I started on the design and was basically finished in a couple of days. The font was fairly easy to find (it was the same font used in the Yellow Submarine 2009 remaster) and the other elements, including the signatures, are fairly easy to recreate with some Google-fu.

Drat! Foiled!

Okay, there was one major hitch: the foil stamping.

Foil-stamped packaging is fairly common nowadays, but the problem is they’re only cost-effective when the product is mass-produced. Stamps need to be made, which can be expensive especially if the stamp is machined. To justify the cost of the stamp, one will need to make hundreds if not thousands of the end product. Doing it on a one-off will be just too expensive.

So, Plan B: print.

I converted the design elements to somewhat resemble the original box. The gold color is the same one as the custom Promethea slipcase that I built not too long ago, the main color was Royal Blue overlaid with a black-and-white stock image of leather texture. After the long, slow process of getting the sheets printed (the commercial service I use is one of the best but they tend to have huge backorders, especially during election years) I was able to finish the box. I kind of messed up the hinge at the rear flap but I can live with it.

To cap it off, here’s a video overview of the finished box: