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Time between playing the same LP

To all vinyl lovers,

I have always believed that an LP should have a 24 hour grace period to cool down before being played again. Reason being that the plastic is still soft from the heat generated by the stylus going along the groove and replaying the LP while it is still "warm" will distort the groove permanently and cause distortion.

Is this an old wives tale or is there truth in it?

I'd be interested to know, as I do discipline myself to give a record a "rest" and I sometimes feel that I would like to hear that particular piece again.

Your comments very welcome.
shiprepair
ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse
4,306 posts
 
Shiprepair-
Whether old wives tale or not, scientifically-based or not, I'd heard the same recommendations about waiting 24 hrs between replays of vinyl "back in the day". Seems from the feed back here it's an overly conservative "rule". None the less, one I'll have a hard time breaking! On the other hand, I like what Mitch4t said. Good post.
larryi
3,983 posts
 
One other thing to consider is that some of these rules might be directed at the general public using cartridges that can barely track a groove even at 6-10 gms of downforce. In that environment, the stress placed on the groove is considerably higher and it may take longer for the groove to elastically snap back into its original shape.

Phono cartridges these days, even cheaper ones, are much kinder and more gentle than the crappy ceramic/crystal cartridges used in the past.
goatwuss
877 posts
 
Wives tale. Play em over and over again.
stevecham
3,340 posts
 
If anything I would think that the record industry of the time would have wanted us to play them as often as possible simply because, it this wear issue were true, then we would be replacing them that much sooner, and the money would roll along too with more frequent playing.
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