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hobbyists's
views for hobbyists |
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There
are various methods
for correcting warped records. |
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2.
Using a special machine that brings the vinyl gradually to a set temperature
and then cools it down overnight. 3.
Making use of time. |
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Use
Time and Patience to Prevent and Fix Warps in LPs.
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The
employee in the pressing plant would lift the fresh pressed record with
the index fingers of left and right hand off the matrix before it was
sufficiently cooled down. This was especially the case when thousands
of records had to be pressed in a short time. On those records there
were generally two warps. In modern factories the pressing process is
more automated. |
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Those
warps will generally not be corrected or you will have difficulty correcting
them because vinyl has a memory. However most warps you will
encounter are the result of temporarily exposing a record to a heat
source, be it the central heating or the sunshine. If the room temperature
is rather high and the records are laying about or not stored with care,
one or more light warps can be the result. Warps can gradually manifest
themselves over time when records are packed in a box with too much
room.
It is difficult to correct warps. The method with glass plates
does seldom work to satisfaction; in my experience it never works! The
main reason is that the vinyl is clamped in between the heavy glass
plates and a gradual flattening over time will be obstructed by the
heavy glass plates which do not allow the vinyl to move/expand/stretch/relax.
The only effective method to correct warps is to use a special component
like Clearaudio's Vinyl Doctor or a similar device. The vinyl
record is put into the device, slowly heated to a safe temperature and
then it is cooled down over several hours or even vernight. But such
a machine is rather costly and only pays off if you have too many warped
records. And in some cases it does not have the desired effect. |
 Light
warps of thin records can generally be corrected on the turntable during
play using a  Peripheral
record ring. But after the record has been played, the warp just
stays. To correct more severe warps in heavy records a heavier ring must
be used. But then correction is not always possible - this is so in my experience
as I have both a light weight peripheral ring and a heavy metal ring as
well. |
 So
what to do with warped records? First let's have a look at those in a box.
Examine what sort of warp you are dealing with. Is there a curve at the
periphery at one spot caused by sagging or does the record have the shape
of a dish? First of all get rid of the soft plastic foam. Plastic foam was
maybe right at the time of production, but after so many years it certainly
has deteriorated and has lost its elasticity and consistency.
If there
is a cardboard filler, it should be sturdy and completely flat. If it is
not, throw it away as well or keep it but outside the box. |
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 So
if you encounter a box containing warped or concave records, do not throw
these away. Just fill up the empty space and make sure that there is no
room left when the box is closed! A tight fit is necessary. Store the box
on the shelf so that it is supported on both sides by other boxes and records.
It is better to store records and boxes rather tightly instead of loose.
You may discover that after a couple of weeks or a month the records will
have flattened. It goes without saying that
the records should be cleaned or at least dusted off with a carbon fiber
record brush and with a velver brush as well. And see to it that the paper
sleeves are free of dust particles also. |
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I bought a box with the complete chamber music of Johannes Brahms. The records were hollow shaped like saucers. I did put several sheets of cardboard in the box. And guess what? After 2 months I discovered that the records were flat again and remained so. And it also worked with Mozart's Violin Music played by Henryk Szeryng and Ingrid Haebler as illustrated on this page. |
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Pressings
of 180 and 200 gr can be tough to correct.
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 A
warp in a pressing from the 1950s and 1960s needs some time to be corrected.
"Flimsey" 1970s and 1980s pressings can be corrected rather
easily, although care has to be taken that the memory of the vinyl is
fully erased over time and the record does not "flip back".
Warps in heavy 180 and 200 gr. pressings are a different matter. They
are not as easily corrected. I have a special section on one shelf reserved
for all the records that need correction. Again all these records are
taken out of their original cardboard covers and are stored in their inner
sleeves in between flat card board sheets/separators. A stronger sheet
of card board or even wood devides the correction section from the rest
of the records on that shelf. See to it that the records are dust and
dirt free. It is best to clean them first and have new inner sleeves before
they are stored in this way. The records on that shelf should be in a
very tight position so that it is not easy to get them of the shelf. Leave
them there for a couple of weeks. You may want to check after some time
to see if there is an improvement and to what extend. |
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Prevent and Correct Warps in 78 rpm Shellac Records.
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 The
same goes for warped 78 rpm shellac records. For single discs in individual
sleeves as well as for albums. Albums can have to much room (separation)
between the subsequent Kraft sleeves. |
 Use
sturdy cardboard which is completely flat. Cut out square sheets measuring
the size of the paper sleeves of the album. |
 Insert
these cardboard sheets between all discs as shown in the picture. |
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This is how it should look like. Now store the album vertically on the shelf in a tight way so that sagging is not possible. You will see that after several weeks or a month the records have become flat again over time. It is easier to correct 12 inch discs than 10 inch discs. I used this method for a Deutsche Grammophon box with concave (dished) vinyls. And I used it for the Cortot-Thibaud-Casals album shown above. In both cases with very good results. I hope that this method is also valid for your warped records and that it will improve your collection and your listening pleasure. That is to say if you have patience. |
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Now
measure the size of the compartment: height and width.
Cut
out squares of thick cardboard and make sure that they can be placed
into the box easily.
Cut
off one small corner so you will be able to take out the cardboard filler
easily if necessary.
Use the cardboard sheet as a replacement of
whatever filler there was in the box before. See to it that the cardboard
is flat and sturdy. You can choose the thickness in relation to the space
(room) you want to fill up. In the picture at right you see ordinary cardboard.
If you want you can buy a nicer material in the art supply shop.
But it should always be completely flat and have no tendency to bend easily.
Put
the records in the box. See to it that there is no room left for sagging.
If there is room left it is necessary to put an extra square sheet of
cardboard on top of the records before adding the document (book or inlay).
Hopefully the documents have the size of a record and are not the smaller
booklets often provided by EMI in Great Britain. Then close the box and
store it vertically. This will prevent warping and will help correcting
light warps over time. As a matter of fact in this way time is your aid.
This
method will also work with individual records. If you have an empty box,
you can follow the method described above. Take the records out of the
outer covers and place them in between cardboard sheets. If you do not
have a box at your disposal place the records as shown in the drawing
and keep them tightly stored for at least a month. This method works only
with vinyl from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Not always for 1950s mono
disks. Give it a try. And if it does not work you always can take more
drastic measures.