The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Following previous advice on a similar thread here on the forum, I now use Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure. Works well, and always the comedy moment!

Admittedly it's largely semantics, but I can't understand the notion of "repair" in this context. The most one can hope to achieve is to make the record a little more stable and playable.

Thanks for the hint, Orchorsol. How do you remove the glue from the grooves? Do you use the same method (described in a previous post) of rubbing them with a wet paper towel, and then when dry to play repeatedly with a steel needle?

Marco Gilardetti wrote:Thanks for the hint, Orchorsol. How do you remove the glue from the grooves? Do you use the same method (described in a previous post) of rubbing them with a wet paper towel, and then when dry to play repeatedly with a steel needle?

Yes. Occasionally if one's very lucky, it fills the crack by capillary action (aided by very slight flexing) but doesn't spread into the grooves - but usually there's some excess seepage into the grooves, and some left no matter how I try to remove it. The Captain Tolley product however is fairly 'kind' in this respect, it seems 'soft' and causes little or no sound other than the click of the crack itself (unless doubly lucky and the two sides align perfectly).

I ordered the Weldbond, thank you for the recommendation. Here's what I came up with to get both sides of the cracks aligned. Simply adjust the screws until alignment is acbieved. Shimming witth slips of paper may help if the disc is also warped.

Donnie... good idea. Glad it worked for you.

I recently came across this badly broken GM cylinder. It must have at least 5 or 6 cracks. After rubber-banding it together I was able to get it fairly well aligned and filled the cracks with Weldbond.
It was definitely a lot of work but cake walks are pretty hard to find and this one (Hot Stuff) seems pretty rare.

https://youtu.be/o5miMZzYz2Q

donniej wrote:I recently came across this badly broken GM cylinder. It must have at least 5 or 6 cracks. After rubber-banding it together I was able to get it fairly well aligned and filled the cracks with Weldbond.
It was definitely a lot of work but cake walks are pretty hard to find and this one (Hot Stuff) seems pretty rare.

https://youtu.be/o5miMZzYz2Q

Think it'd work on a wax amberol?

Donnie, considering how many cracks there were in that cylinder, it doesn't sound too bad... Glad to know that the WeldBond held up on a wax cylinder...

That probably will not work on wax cylinders. I take it when they break they are a goner. Tom B

GrafonolaG50 wrote:
Think it'd work on a wax amberol?

I think so. The first trick is to get all the pieces lined up and held in place, then put a layer of glue on the inside of the cylinder. That way it should be stable enough to (gently) handle and start building up layers in the cracks. It probably takes 5 - 10 layers to get the crack filled.
I could not imagine trying to do this without an opti-visor.