Small Crack Repair Edison Record

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audiophile102
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Small Crack Repair Edison Record

Post by audiophile102 »

I purchased "Oh' Mabel", by the Golden Gate Orchestra Edison record that had a small scratch in the first minute of play. The diamond stylus sticks in the scratch and will not play through it like I had hoped. I now start the record passed the scratch which works, but I wondered if anyone had any luck with the repair I found on the web?
http://www.78rpmrecord.com/repair.htm
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barnettrp21122
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Re: Small Crack Repair Edison Record

Post by barnettrp21122 »

Your link shows tips on repairing shellac records; I don't think this will work with Edison records.
The thin condensite surface is extremely hard, and could crack your diamond stylus tip when played over a damaged record surface crack.

If this is a favorite disc I'd recommend advertising for a replacement.
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PeterF
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Re: Small Crack Repair Edison Record

Post by PeterF »

If it was me, I'd just set the stylus down past that point. Mark it with a grease pencil so you can consistently see where, easily.

Otherwise, the challenge is to find something with which to fill in the scratch/crack in a way that the diamond won't wear it away and allow the hazard to return. That's a tall order...there might be certain epoxies and the like, which you would delicately put into the crack and then sculpt grooves into prior to it hardening. The idea is to create a bridge over the crack that will safely get the stylus past the edge but also not let it find an adjacent groove as it does so.

Before applying it to your valuable record, maybe coat a small flat piece of formica with the epoxy, drill a hole in it and "play" it to see how it behaves under the pressure of that diamond point.

Only other solution I can think of is to use a very small sharp point to manually smooth the re-entry points of all grooves affected by the crack. The risk of jumping/skipping will still exist, but you will remove most of the abrupt contact between stylus and edge, and hopefully minimize risk of chipping the stylus.

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