[78-L] Repairing cracked records

[Sammy Jones]

Assuming gluing works to hold down the lacquer, I'm still left with the
problem of the space of the crack itself: the two sides of the crack do not
fit snugly together.  That's why the stylus will not track through them.

Is there any way to fill the gap so that the grooves can be tracked?

Unfortunately the disc was in this condition when I got it.  It's not a
complete Lux Theatre show, but it was made off of an air feed from WABC, NY.
I think it's unique because I have good reason to believe that the existing
copy in circulation is from the West Coast version.

The show in question, btw, is "Richelieu," broadcast on January 23, 1939.
The recording was made my Edwin Strong, and I have parts two and four.

Sammy Jones

Mike Biel wrote:
> The wax method won't work because it is being used for the exact
> opposite purpose -- to fill the space in a widened crack of the entire
> record.  You have a crack in a thin top layer that probably has curled
> upwards a bit to create an uneven surface.  If the lacquer can be
> pressed down then you might be able to use a THIN glue to hold it down,
> such as crazy glue.  But you have to be careful because the repair
> can't
> be undone.
> 
> Re-record the disc first.  Of course, you should have already
> re-recorded it when the lacquer started cracking.
> 
> Mike BIel  mbiel at mbiel.com
> 
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Repairing cracked records
> From: Sammy Jones <sjones69 at bellsouth.net>
> Date: Mon, October 04, 2010 4:24 pm
> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> 
> I wonder if this method will work with a lacquer disc that has a
> lacquer
> crack. I've got a Lux Radio Theater show from the '30s that has a
> lacquer crack for the first five or so minutes. It will not track over
> the crack unless I use my finger to nudge the stylus. That gets
> tiresome
> after 33 1/3 times every minute for five minutes!
> 
> Obviously the metal substrate won't soften as a shellac will, but the
> grease pencil part sounds interesting...
> 
> Sammy Jones
> 
> Malcolm wrote:
> I had been holding some other similarly
> > cracked, but
> > common records for awhile to test on and finally came up
> > with a decent
> > method using a heat gun, grease pencil and razor.
> >
> > First I would lay the record on a flat surface with the
> > heat gun on one hand
> > and the grease pencil in the other. The heat gun will
> > soften the pencil
> > enough to drag along the surface of the crack. Be as
> > careful as you can not
> > to get too much of the pencil wax into the actual grooves
> > as you can easily
> > make it noisier than it was with the exposed crack.
> > After I have covered the crack, I shave the excess with a
> > straight razor to
> > get the wax & the top of grooves at the same level.
> > I then apply some more light heat to slightly soften the
> > wax again & bring
> > it over to an old victrola to re-cut the groove through the
> > wax.
> > Don't use too much heat at this last step or it will melt
> > the wax into the
> > grooves causing noisy playback. Once the wax has dried,
> > there is no need to
> > use glue.
> >
> > Of course it will not play like a new record, but it will
> > turn a nasty
> > thumping crack into a lightly ticking one. This also only
> > really works if
> > the crack is big! If you can not see light through the
> > crack, applying the
> > wax will only make it worse.
> >
> > I also tried epoxy once (read some other online tutorials)
> > and completely
> > destroyed the record I was working on - so I don't
> > recommend it! The wax is
> > somewhat forgiving & epoxy is not!
> >
> > Malcolm in GA
> >