The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I'm not sure if anyone has tried this but I had a Harmony pseudonym record that was warped to the point where it was like a very shallow bowl. My wife has a very flat, round almost ceramic coated-looking pizza baking sheet. I put the record on the back side of the sheet, placed it in the oven and set the heat for the lowest setting. On my oven that is 170 degrees but I didn't even let it get up to that. I let it get to 140 then immediately shut it off. I left it in there whilst adding records to discogs and went to check it about an hour later. Perfectly flat AND I tested it on my player. Sounds beautiful.

Anyone else try this and have any luck? I'll try a few more less valuable records before attempting this with any others, not that I have many but I have a few.

There are many other threads dealing with record warpage and many different methods to correct them, including yours...

Thanks for sharing. Interesting method.

I fixed 3 records that way and then it got away from me. I put a 4th record in last night and got a little distracted. The temp got up to 145 before I stopped it. I thought "no big deal, I'll just shut if off here and let it sit". When I opened up the oven 20 minutes later I was immediately hit with the smell of way-too-warm shellac. It did interesting things to that disc. Live an learn. Just barely warming up the oven and letting it sit is definitely key.

Wow! I once put a warped 78 in the microwave oven for a slight warming. As the oven has a big glass dished plate , l added three cylindrical wooden turrets to create a plane on which to sit the record flat. Guess what...! The record
flattened, but it developed three deep markings where the three supports were placed!

Well,on a nice warm day I put the warped record on a piece of cardboard,and sit it in a spot where the sun can hit it.It flattens out in no time flat(no pun intended).edisonplayer.

I use the plate glass sandwich method in strong sunshine, with two heavy sliding glass doors from a redundant bookcase.
The glass must be scrupulously clean, otherwise any dust or debris will be permanently embedded in the record surface.

Sun...! I remember one hot sunny day at the flea Market, stopping at a stall with a pile of 78s.... As I picked the one on top I could feel how it bended between my hands...! No need to say that I put back the record on the pile and went away fast, would the seller say it was my fault!

I've tried the glass method with Lps and it sort of squished the record flattening out the grooves just enough where it now sounds like you're listening to the record whilst sitting on the beach by the ocean. Ever since I've been a bit gun-shy about applying any pressure from above. I'll just be more careful not to let the oven get away from me!