Turtlerock Forum

Wondering if anyone has some tips to repair warped vinyl?

I have slightly warped 78rpm mini-single (1950 vintage) that I'd love to record - unfortunately it's just a little too warped and the stylus arm jumps...

It's an extremely rare kiddies record by John Mystery (Lester Sinclair) who was an Oz publisher during WW2 - he produced children's books focussed on Australia whilst the rest of the publishers were creating war propaganda....

I used to play it on our wind-up gramophone and remember songs called "The Pig with the Curly Tail Tra-La" and "Three Funny Little Pigs are we".........

I've had it between two flat pieces of glass for a year and that has helped a bit, but not enough.

Any tips to help me save a copy of this wonderful little piece of history?

Here's a little more info on his recordings:
http://www.78-records.com/78s-labels-johns-mystery.htm

Here's my method.

Get two sheets of thick glass, some oven mitts, a heavy weight (eg a large book) and an oven warmed to about 80 deg C (170 F). Have a flat, heat-proof surface ready (a board with a clean tea towel will do). Clean the glass sheets as perfectly as you can.

Wash the non-label part of the record in warm soapy water, then air dry. Rinse in distilled water if possible.

Now place the vinyl between the glass sheets. Place into your pre-heated oven.

Remove after 90-120 seconds (glass should be warm but not hot) and put on your flat surface. Place the heavy weight on top of the glass. Allow to cool in its own time (could be 15 mins or more).

That's my technique... anyone have a different one?

EDIT - according to a few websites I just consulted, my temperature is too high. Apparently the optimal temp is 54 deg C, for a much longer period of time.

Play it back at 33rpm with the needle weighted a bit and record it into daw then varispeed up 234%....?

Thanks Manning - those details are really appreciated. I'll need to be very careful with the heat (see below for more about this little record)

Thanks Andy - yes, I tried 33 1/3 but it still jumps. Varispeed will be my next step if I can get it into Wavelab - I've done that with a few 78s with good result.

fyi this is a very strange little record - it's a cardboard square with a soft vinyl pressing of the grooves in the middle - the part with the music is only as big as the centre label on a "regular" record. It's not brittle shellac like regular 78s......

78 are rarely poly vinyl .. more a shellac construct ( this is bad news for every part of the process your attempting ) so keep the tempertures not much hotter then a hot day ( in the 40s ) at the most
your home oven will not and cannot stay that low without hotspots and eddies and the plastics that 78s are made of tend to not like heat at all anyway .. so best of luck

I have a lab oven which does those low temps evenly .

actually my advice is find a different project .. or use to much heat as you can have them melt
have a sit down and a swear at yourself
and call that project fixed once and for all ...

on a serious side there are specialists in historical restoration .. so I must firmly believe there is a solution
but i dont know of a surefail ..

my solution historically for important artists legacy recordings when all that was available was pressings was to say "how many different copies can we find and I will edit all the versions together and make one good one "
the warped ones where dismissed as "well that ones fucked "

thanks Rick,

yes, the brittle and delicate shellac - I wouldn't attempt flattening one of those.

Sadly, this may be the only surviving copy of this little song (nursery rhyme actually) - it's very flexy and similar to the more flexible cheap vinyls from the 70s - you'd remember things like "20 Dynamic Hits volume 1"- so there's not much risk of it breaking..... my 70s turntable with 16rpm speed would have been just the ticket, but it's long gone...

atm I've got this "single" sitting on a marble slab weighted down with a low-temp electronic thingy - hoping that will flatten it a bit more.... and I will win then you guys can all have a laugh at it along with me.