Warped (badly warped) 78s.

[Marco Gilardetti]

Good morning fellow 78s enthusiasts!

I've recently being given an album of 78s which contains a bunch of warped 78s, records made in the very late '50s preminently (recent stuff, then).

I came across warped 78 records many times in the past, but never too seriously warped, and I've always though the defect was mainly due to production, as I tend to consider 78s as rigid and fragile objects which break but do not bend.

In this case, however, the records are warped as much as it is common with badly stored 45s and 33s. They're so warped that the needle jumps erratically and the records prove impossible to be played on any player, old or contemporary. As all the records in the album show the same problem, I persuaded myself that it came out of some adverse storage condition.

Does anyone know what could cause a 78 rpm to warp that way? Heat perhaps? Or humidity?

Also, did anyone ever developed some kind of process which help in flattening warped records, at least to the point that they were playable again, and without too high risk of damaging the records themselves?

Thanks for reading, regards and have a nice day!

[barnettrp21122]

Hello! Here's a link to an earlier discussion regarding warped discs:
http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... arped+disc
This should get you started in the right direction.
Bob

[Marco Gilardetti]

Thank you, interesting. I didn't know they were so sensitive to heat.

[Swing Band Heaven]

All is not lost though - warped records can be flattened out if care is used. I usually used two sheets of glass and put the record between the two and leave in the sun for a little bit. It heats the record up enough to flatten it with the weight of the glass. Take the whole thing out of the sun and put somewhere to cool. Only revove the glass when it has all cooled. Best to try this out on a few trash records first to get the hang of the technique - but it works for me.

S-B-H

[syncopeter]

I agree with S-B-H's remarks. Some people actually use their oven to flatten records, but I much prefer to use the sun. Also because it is far easier to 'monitor' the process.

[Marco Gilardetti]

Good morning fellows! I gave a try to this process this weekend and I must say that it was a complete success.

However, I used a tablet of polished black marble as a base, mostly because I had it at hand around the house and it seemed perfect for the task. This also gave to the whole pile a rigid base which can be put outside almost everywhere, regardless of the pavement. Then, over the marble base, the record and a transparent glass.

For the most warped records, however, the wheight of the glass alone proved insufficient to completely flatten the record. I then tried to apply an extra brass-made weight of 1 Kg over the glass, which helped greatly.

Although the whole thing under the sun, brass weight included, warmed up in few seconds, the first flattening effects could be detected not before than half an hour. In all cases, the record could be considered competely flattened after two hours approximately.

After having brought the "sandwich" in the shade and having waited for it to cool down, all of the records were excellently flat (at least as much as the average record, perhaps even better), played perfectly and most of all the results seemed to be permanent.

Thank you very much, I could finally listen to this badly warped bunch of records!

[larryh]

I'll have to give this a try, I was always concerned that grooves would be damaged by the weight on them. I drew that concern from having found some older recordings that seemed to have been overheated and the grooves sort of mashed in a way that made them not play correctly. But I do have some 12" classical sets that nearly toss the arm off the record in the first inch or so of the records and it would be worth trying to see what happens.

[Marco Gilardetti]

I was always concerned that grooves would be damaged by the weight on them.

Unless you live in the Sahara, that's really not an issue. As you will see, the records are not even soften by the sun heat, they're just made a little more flexible. After all they take around two hours to flatten, so they're not "melted", just a little less rigid than usual.

At the end of the work I could find no secondary effects like decoloring, yellowish casts, label detachment, deformation etc. It was easy and with perfect results in my case.

[schweg]

In Houston, they take about 5 min to flatten in the mid-day sun! Takes about 15 for me to melt..

Steve

[Henry]

And at 30, burst into flame. Pray for hurricanes in Texas, they need that water!