I started to play a record of Hawaiian music last night and noticed that the record was badly warped in one spot. It looked like it might have been left in sunlight years ago. I was thinking of trying heat to flatten the record — something like a clothes iron over a towel. Do any of you have any experience with trying to flatten a significantly warped record? What worked best? Is it possible to flatten the record and not still have a problem with integrity of the grooves or the needle being able to track adequately? |
The Beginning of the End, “Funky Nassau”
I was at the local Walmart today and noticed that it caries certain record albums. The albums all claimed to have some enhanced features for improved sound. I suppose that most of the people purchasing records now are seeking superior sound — the average listener is just going to stream — so it makes sense that even at Walmart the offerings cater to discriminating listeners. I still found that interesting . . at Walmart! |
Condolences on your and your wife's loss, tomic.
Listened to that promotional album I had by Cheryl Dilcher. She would likely have had a better career playing more up-tempo music -- voice is OK but can't carry singing ballads. |
I keep going through and cleaning this stack of old albums left to me and was pleasantly surprised by this set of covers (e.g., “Walk On By”). The album cover had what looked like a rag-tag, almost cartoonish, bunch of characters and I assumed the music would be just as hokey. But it was actually relaxing.
”Baha Marimba Band Rides Again”, A & M Records |
The Shocking Blue, self-titled
Carly Simon, “Hotcakes” |
@richmon: It took my old lady more than a night to plump up — guess I was lucky! Lol |
@slaw: Haven't heard that SB album — will have to check it out. And Emmylou — love her!
Tonight listened to Dr. Hook, Revisited All songs written by Shel Silverstein
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@nicks25: I noticed that too — except for Simmonds, band members would come and go frequently. Made me wonder if Kim Simmonds was a bitch to work with/for. |
@slaw: I confused heat with steam. Unfortunately don’t have a steamer either — wonder if a steam iron would work? . . . carefully though, so as to not warp the record. Or lighter fluid, like goes in a cigarette lighter? I could try that. I played the other side of the album and it pops and ticks a lot. Don’t know if this one can be saved.
Found an an old copy of the Beatles second album. Sounded pretty good, better than some others I have. Just don’t have the album cover for it, unless it’s hiding among the other albums I’ve yet to look through.
Found a comedy album by Alan Sherman, “My Son the Nut” with “Camp Granada”. 😁. And “Introducing The Monkees”. WTF? |
@bug_greg: Haha . . never thought anybody would have that Savoy Brown album . . except me. Looking at it right now. Need to clean it tomorrow and see how it sounds. 👍🏻 |
Country Joe & the Fish, “Electric Music for the Mind and Body”, mono version. Not what I expected. Mellow psychedelic vibe to it.
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@j_damon: I listened to “Sticky Fingers” earlier today.
@slaw: unfortunately, my ex-girlfriend took the hair dryer (which is fine since I don’t have much hair, but I don’t have it to heat the album to try to remove paint spots. I judiciously used the microwave 5-10 seconds at a time with damp record, but to no avail). Might not matter anyway, as the other side without the paint drops sounds pretty worn. This was the Grateful Dead’s first album, released in 1967.
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j_damon: I have that Alan Parsons Project on CD and like it!
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@tomic601: The album just says Grateful Dead. Probably from the mid-1960’s. Jerry “Captain Trips” Garcia is clean-shaven and trim. Album cover is gold, with photo in red and yellow of sun surface eruption. Figurine in Center that resembles The Creature. Garcia wearing red, white and blue top hat. First track, side one is “The Golden Road”.
@slaw: I will try heat. I got vinegar and soaked the spots in it, then re-washed on the Spin Clean, to little effect. That old paint has been there a long time and won’t let go!
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So far, so good. There have only been a couple of old albums that didn’t sound good even after cleaning.
I knew Gregg Rolle was with Santana but wasn’t aware that Neil Schon was also. I have a couple of old Santana albums — haven’t dug that far into the collection yet. This staying-home period is the perfect time to be doing this. |
I just saw your question about my Kenwood TT. It’s a KD-64f. Linear-tracking. After sitting unused for years, it wouldn’t work. I watched a couple of YouTube videos and felt emboldened to open it up. Along with the usual dust, there was corrosion on the bar that the tonearm assembly rides on, and debris on the cog that drives a pull string and mobilizes the tonearm. I got the tonearm to move back and forth, but it still would not lower enough to contact the record. I fiddled with it as much as I could but still wouldn’t work right. One guy on Youtube thinks I should keep it, in hopes that I might get it working later. He noted, “They don’t make them like that anymore.” |
@spirit, I just cleaned up my Journey album, “Look Into the Future”, from 1976. Haven’t listened to it in years — will play it again tonight or tomorrow.
I listened to my elder sister’s John Mayall, Eric Clapton and Blues Breakers, from 1966. Monaural recording but sounds remarkably good!
I cleaned up a 60’s Grateful Dead album but can’t play it yet — noticed tiny drops of what looks like white paint on it. Apparently someone painted the ceiling with a roller and forgot to put the record away. I want to try vinegar to see if that might soften the paint — read on-line that vinegar won’t harm the vinyl — but I was out of vinegar and all of the big jugs of vinegar were sold out at the local Kroger. ☹️
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@reubent, Thanks for the welcome! My new turntable . . embarrassed to say after seeing the equipment you guys use. I don’t anticipate playing vinyl much, so when my 30+ year old Kenwood died, I was looking for a replacement in the $300-$500 range. Found an offer from Turntable Lab on a Denon DP—300F for $280. Denon puts their own lesser cartridge on it, but Turntable Lab was offering an upgrade that included a pre-mounted Ortofon 2M Red, so I bit.
Im cleaning 40-60 year old records using the Spin-Clean and they don’t sound too bad. Actually, I don’t remember them sounding this good back in the day. Of course, the equipment Im playing them through is considerably better than I ever had back then.
Found an old Cream Album and some young Roy Orbison (I inherited records — a lot I didn’t purchase, which is cool too!) |
My old turntable died and I have been waiting a week for it’s replacement to arrive. It came today! I have been cleaning and listening to old albums:
* Woodstock, 3 album set
* Jefferson Starship, Red Octopus
* Ohio Players, Honey
* Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here
* Joni Mitchell, Court and Spark
* Jimi Hendrix, Hendrix in the West
* Jon-Luc Ponty, Imaginary Voyage
Dont sounds bad for albums 40-50 years old! |
