The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Has anyone had success flattening out Hit of the Week records? I recently found a stack of around 25 of them and they all are not flat. There are no cracks in the surface but don't lay flat on a turntable. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Just play them with a weight on. There are several models for sale made to stabilize LPs, I utilize one of these with no issues when playing the HOW records.

What I've done is to "clip" them in place, using a binder clip like these:

1--Put the record on the turntable.

2--Put a small round piece of cardboard with a hole cut for the spindle over the record.

3--Position the clip as far as you can downward on the spindle to secure everything in place.

OrthoFan

Clever ideas. I remember seeing someone on the Forum selling metal adapters a long time ago for play various records on regular spindle turntables. There were ones for Harmony, Standard, Aretino, United, etc... I couldn't find it. Not sure what the title of it was. I thought there was one to weight the HOW records down also.

KAB Electro Accoustics used to sell what was called The Pig record clamp.

It was made of soft rubber and fit tight on the spindle of my Technics 1200. This allowed me to play many HOW’s that weren’t perfectly flat.

I have also used one of those generic metal ones with a spirit level.

Also storing them at the bottom of a big pile of diamond discs sometimes helps in flattening Results may vary. Try at own discretion.

Glenn

Damfino59 wrote: ↑Sun May 28, 2023 3:39 pm KAB Electro Accoustics used to sell what was called The Pig record clamp.

It was made of soft rubber and fit tight on the spindle of my Technics 1200. This allowed me to play many HOW’s that weren’t perfectly flat.

Glenn

The Pig also used to be standard issue with the first gen UK-Made Revolver turntables. The Pigs worked extremely well for quite some time before the rubber became glazed, and then they didn't stick quite as well. I tried revitalising mine with a product that I use for cassette deck rollers and laser printer rollers, and this restored The Pig a bit, but it was never quite the same.

Damfino59 wrote: ↑Sun May 28, 2023 3:39 pm
Also storing them at the bottom of a big pile of diamond discs sometimes helps in flattening Results may vary. Try at own discretion.

Glenn

I have had some success and some failure with "fixing" unplayably warped 78s by using the stacking method, starting really light and gradually increasing the weight over a period of weeks. Failure, however, results in cracks or worse.

Kurt Nauck sells a very nicely made weight that just slips over the spindle. The mass of the weight holds it in place. It has a green felt on the bottom so there is no chance of label damage.

This works great and the price is right...FREE.

To play Hit Of The Week records, use a tire valve as a record hold down. Obtain a Schrader valve from your local tire store (usually free) and cut off the large end as shown. This makes a perfect hold down to keep the records from spinning...