The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi Everyone,

I am new to this forum. I hope I can get good advice on these old records which I brought with me from Australia. Four full boxes of albums. See attached pics.

Since I don't really use these records. I want to make sure they remain in good condition for years to come. I've been storing these records upright whilst in storage and noticed some discs have warped slightly. Should I take the records out of the album sets and store them differently?


Bern S

I store mine vertically and have never seen evidence of warping. Are you certain they were's warped before? At any rate, warpage is more likely to be the result of heat - have they been stored where the temperature might get high?

I am sure the result of warping was down to the heat and humidity in the storage unit. Its a pity

Not all records seem damaged but will still continue to salvage what I can. Who knows, maybe I get lucky and find something special.

Bern S

I have some that have warped due to exposure to heat before they came into my hands. They will skip all over the place when played on modern equipment with a light tone arm/reproducer, but all play fine on my antique phonographs.

Clay

The records shown in the storage unit photo appear to be vinyl LPs, as far as I can tell. These can be straightened, one at a time of course, by placing between two 13" square sheets of ¼" plate glass and warming the resulting "sandwich" in the oven; some say it works well by sunlight, too. Use only the very lowest heat (say, 100º-125ºF) for about a half-hour, and allow to fully cool before deconstructing the sandwich. Make sure that both the record and the glass surfaces are scrupulously cleaned, or you'll have embedded schmutz in the grooves---not good. There have been discussions on this topic in various postings here; try the search feature for fuller details.

The same technique may be tried for shellac 78s, but I have myself never done this.

Thank you for the great advice. I will definitely use it:)

I did have quite a few LP's as shown in pic but most of them were left behind in Australia. I only took the best;)

The shellac records were on the other side of the shed and there is twice as many as shown in this photo. I just didn't have a pic to display.

I'll let you know how I go.

Bern S

In the photo the records look sort of flapjacked against each other. If it got hot enough in the unit I can easily see how they could settle into an undesirable form. Most of the 78's are on the left side of the photo there.

Those non climate controlled outdoor facing storage units can get quite hot, especially in summer.