Flattening Old 78s

The other day a friend of mine tipped me off on some very warped, dirty 78s he saw at a thrift store. He sent me some pics. They were in an old worn out gramophone and even though it looked unpromising, I stopped by.

When I arrived they were indeed beat up (warped, extremely dirty, mold, scratched up, etc.) and I think most would deem these unusable and would be chunked. I brought them home anyhow to see if I could flatten some of them in the oven. There were some great artists in here, Texas Bill Day, Uncle Dave Macon, Rev. A. W. Nix, Darby & Tarlton and others. All of the records were from the late 1920’s or early 1930s.

I washed the Texas Bill Day and put it between two panes of glass I had from a frame. Turned the oven up to 170 and waited 10 minutes. Then I grabbed a 5lb weight I had from the garage and gently placed it on top.

I checked on it periodically and within 20 minutes the record was mostly flat. Considering how warped it was when I began (the record was warped about a full inch) I was very pleased with the result. I pulled it out of the oven, let it sit for a few minutes and then washed it with cold water and let it dry.

Listen to the IG post to hear how it sounds!


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