repair warped record

wingnut049 · by **wingnut049** » Sun Jul 08, 2012 8:18 pm

I just bough a very nice copy of The Walkin' Blues by Jesse Powell. It has a wicked warp in it that causes a skip at the beginning of the record about twice before the problem ceases. Also, the record is dished. Any suggestions on possibly flatening the record and getting rid of the warp? It's a vinyl dj copy not shellac.

Record-changer · by **Record-changer** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 6:55 pm

Try this:

Get two panes of heavy plate glass larger than the records. Place one on a perfectly flat surface larger than the glass that won't be needed for a while, in a warm area of the house. Make sure it is not exposed to the sun. Place the record on the glass. Place the other pane on top of the record. Center several heavy books or other objects on the upper pane. Leave them for several weeks. The shellac or vinyl should cold-flow into place during that period.

This should flatten the record to within the needs of normal use. Note that if the record has a groove guard and a thicker label, the warp might remain on the playing grooves, but only to the extent of the thickness of the label and groove guard.

For other people trying this, it might not work if the record was made during the World War II rationing period (1939-1946) because the core of the record might not be made of shellac.

Record-changer · by **Record-changer** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 7:02 pm

One other item: I made a discovery to my horror a couple of years ago that might be useful here.

I deliberately bought a record that had a nasty pinch warp many years ago at a garage sale. I got it to test the ability of a pickup and arm combination to track a bad warp. I stored it in my collection alphabetically by artist/composer, as I keep my records. My collection is stored the proper way, with the records being kept vertical.

I went to get it a couple of years ago to test a tonearm. To my chagrin, proper storage flattened out the pinch warp. It is now an ordinary record.

by **Ron Rich** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 7:28 pm

Record Changer,
Whut kin I say--I hate to be "chagrined"--awful feeling- I sure feel for you ! Ron Rich

sentjourn · by **sentjourn** » Thu Nov 15, 2012 4:01 pm

I go along with the two panes of glass method but I also place the record on a flat surface in the sun for about 30 minutes. This speeds up the flattening considerably. The only precaution is when removing the record from the glass you should slid it onto a flat surface ( a piece of cardboard will do) till it cools of and hardens again. Also I use larger pieces of glass to do several records at a time. I have done this many times and it works great.