The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

How do you store DD's when you don't have sleeves for them? I think they're pretty cool & pick up good ones when I find them--but I don't have a good way to store them except for the ones that came with my machine, which are stored in the wooden slats on the cabinet. Most of them have sleeves but they are very old sleeves & starting to crumble.

Not sure what everyone is using for sleeves lately. Any thoughts?

Charles F.

I've always used plain old generic sleeves.

I used to use the white kraft paper sleeves from Bags Unlimited, but it was hit or miss finding ones in the batch that were glued "just right" to fit a Diamond Disc well. I found it worthwhile to pay up for the Disc-O-File sleeves which will always fit and will not tear when used with storage racks, although they can cause a tight fit in some racks.

As for storage, I have a couple of the stacked "barrister" or "lawyer" bookcases with wider slots specifically for Diamond Discs. I think a number of manufacturers made these, including Spencer & Barnes and Globe-Wernicke. They're attractive as well as functional.

Edison also offered two-tier filing cabinets holding 160 "Re-Creations" with drop-front doors (solid or with glass) as part of a subscription scheme. These are fairly hard to find, however.

The overflow of lesser Diamond Discs I store in milk crates or sturdy cardboard boxes, mostly from winnings from Nauck's over the years.

Good-condition original sleeves are put together and stored separately, or in rare cases next to the record (in another sleeve) all inside a clear vinyl sleeve.

You can make your own sleeves/covers/envelopes/call 'em what you will, as I outlined here https://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/diy_sleeves_e.html (I discussed diamond discs toward the bottom of the article). I've remained quite happy with the results both for diamond discs and for Pathés. The "raw material" to fit Edison discs can still be had here: https://www.amazon.com/JAM-PAPER-Square ... r=8-8&th=1

As to storage, I keep mine in a couple of standard office-grade file cabinets (one of which my daughter "decorated" when she was a little girl), in catalogue number order with the discs facing fore-and-aft. In effect, it's a modern take on Edison's own drawer-style storage in the diamond disc phonographs. Note: if going this route, go to a thrift store and get older, sturdy cabinets designed for office use. The ones in places like Target tend to be too flimsy, and the ones in office supply stores, if you can find one these days, don't always seem as well built, either.

Well, I followed through and purchased 25 envelopes from Amazon. Here is my review of the Jam ten and a half inch envelopes which can be modified for Edison records. I discovered that the Edison record was loose in the envelope with the extra half inch. I also discovered that cutting a hole in the envelope in order to reveal the record label was an issue. When I cut out the hole, it would bind on the wood slat dividers in the drawer of my A250. In order to fix all the issues, I made a few changes which work quite well. The record sleeves now fit the records perfectly. They slide in and out between the wood slat dividers without binding. I removed the flap from the top of the envelope and found that it was pre-glued for sealing. Those flaps came in handy for reinforcing the bottom of the envelope. I also photographed and printed the record labels making them larger so I could read them without my glasses. The following pictures show the steps I had to work through for all 25 envelopes. It's great being retired with so much time to spend on my record collection! Thanks to dhr for posting his tutorial.

Cool the way you put the labels on the sleeves. Well done! Glad I could kick off the process.