fixing rare and pricelss "warped" vinyl records

[daddy pisces]

this goes out to all reggae vinyl collectors, who have rare and pricelss records that are irreplaceable. you might be able find these gems, but for way more now (notably ebay) than what you paid for them originally.
i came encounter with some records, jus a couple. i skimmed through alot of them and still seemed ok, though i didn't go through every single one of them, it would take too long. i'd rather pay someone to search for all the warped one's. i swear i found more warped records, it would bruk my heart, because i put alot of blood, sweat and tears in geting alot of these records, through the years.
but the other day, i did come across an LP that was warped, though maybe might be disreagrded than most and not as pricelss as others, but personally priceless to me. the one that warped was the dj clash record with billy boyo and little harry on greensleeves. warped bad on one side. dun really know how them got like that, because all the ones i regard pricelss are all in flight cases and 45 cases. but it has been pretty hot on my room and jus the area lately.
i seen a few remedies, but the one that caught my attention for a better remedy out of others was using 2 pieces of glass 1/4 for each glass, sandwich the record. the way people do it is either put it in the sun for an hour or soand the other is throw it in low heat in the oven for a few minutes. these 2 procedures i wouldn't even try doing.i would do the glass procedure, but use a blow dryer, to conduct the heat, to where i can control the heat. because i thing the other procedures would flatten out the grooves and would be unplayable. but surely to remember that, it would be necessary to wipe away debris and dust of the record as well as the both pieces of glass.
everyone who collects vinyl records should know what i'm going through. is there anyone else in the forum that has had this warping problem and has sucessfully fix the problems with there own personal remedies? sure could use the help. i do have a fe 45s too that need fixing, i jus don't want to think about it.

rispek,
daddy pisces

[Litelet]

I know that anbessa did it once successfully... you can pm him... but it was with a non valuable one if Im correct...

[Matthew]

daddy pisces:
Sad to say but they may be un-repairable.
I've researched this and talked to countless people about the topic.
At first you hear all the myths or remedies but in the end it's the same reply..."nothing works".

I've heard all the fixes, glass in the sun, glass in the oven, weight on top of them "car, books, other vinyl"....

I even saw a place in Holland I believe that you could mail records to for repair.
The process consisted of a giant press similar to a steam clothing press or a waffle iron.
Under controlled temps and pressure it "repaired/restored' your vinyl.
Never tried, I think it was like $20 US a record!


slightly off topic: anyone have records that are warped/off center just on 1 side?
This always puzzled me.

[cpeetz]

I have done the 2 pieces of glass in the oven method and it worked for me....
But it created another problem.
The record is now flat as can be but the groove jogs slightly side to side now.
When you watch the record play at the spot of the now flattened warp, the needle "goes around a curve" and comes back to it's original place on every rotation.
The record sounds fine and never jumps the groove, so for all intents and purposes
it is fixed but looking at it whilst it is playing is kinda weird.
Their are a number of people out there who have flattening services, that range from $15-$25 per piece some with discounts for multiples.

The one person I know is Johnny at goodrecordsnyc.com, go to his webiste and contact
him. He's good people and can hook up some dewarping action.

I'd be bummed too if my DJ Clash Vol II was warped.
I love that record!

[Rootsgal]

I have the 12" REAL ENEMY by the MIGHTY DIAMONDS. One side is fine the other WARPED...(sad face.)
I was told to TRY heating the warped side slowly with a hairdryer and then stacking a few heacy books on it for 24 hours. I have not tried this yet as I fear warping the goos side. Thankfully I paid only 3 dollars US for it. If anyone does try this, let us know if it works please....
The Kingston record store has a turntable right in the shop. Next time I will give it a test run before buying. All the rest were fine, so I give thanks for that~

[leggo rocker]

I just cannot get my head around a record being warped on one side only!

How can that be?

[James]

I have seen warps where you could only hear a problem on one side. Usually it's the side with the "bump" not the side with the "dip" that has problems. Still warped on both, but maybe folks are only counting the problems that can be heard.

I've also seen uneven distribution of the vinyl, so there's a "hump" on one side of the record, but not the other. That's a manufacturing problem--usually found on short press runs. It takes a certain number of pressings to get everything in the manufacturing process to run correctly. The problem with this is that the manufacturer usually charges for the entire run and, usually self-produced, artists with little cash have to sell the whole run since they can't afford to throw out the first 300 copies.

Beyond all that, the notion of a one-sided warp messes with my head too!

[leggo rocker]

Warped BOTH sides methinks, but only effecting play on one, maybe due to the expansion or contraction of the grooves?

[Rootsgal]

That could be Leggo....like I said, only one side is affected by "the hump".

[leggo rocker]

This topic has been covered before here.

And remember there are two distinct types of warp.

There's storage warp and then there's the dreaded heat warp.

If a record has gone out of true in storage, often caused by the shrink wrap shrinking with age and 'dish warping' the vinyl, then it should play fine with a little extra weight on your headshell. So don't bother with your heavy books or glass plates, leave it be or you might turn a little dish-warp into something worse - heat warp!

Heat warp: If you've left it next to the heater and it has warped, the grooves will have deformed and the music has probably deformed too! You might make the record straight, but it will never play properly as the grooves will deform some more during any process.

As for the pits, ramps and other nasties that afflict JA vinyl in particular, there's little you can do about them, except try to find a better copy!