If you’re going to buy new records, buy them directly from the label, If possible, and email them if you receive a warped record. Sometimes they want a video of the warp, but they’ll send you new copy. I just did this twice with Sub Pop. If enough people complain and request replacement copies, eventually the labels will hold the pressing plants accountable, and maybe they’ll learn to press records finally
Even then you can get a dud or two. I got one recently from one of my favorite labels that when I put it in my spin clean I could clearly see a curvature, and turned out to be a really bad bowl warp. I put it on the countertop on top of a microfiber cloth and spun the thing like a friggin' top. I took video of that, and video of the other side popping up and down like one of those Pop-o-Matic children's games and sent it to the label. They sent me a replacement immediately. Still had a bit of a bowl warp but was much better, very playable, no wow and flutter, and sounded great. Unfortunately I think the label usually uses those folks in the Czech Republic, but so far I've only gotten two bad ones from the Czechs over the last several years.
@@MyWeirdRecordCollection I checked out your most recent episode (the one where you spoke about working in the library, etc) - you've got a great voice for podcasting!
YES! Glad you finally see the magic of the record pi. I've been using this for the past 3 months, and have about 75-85%% success rate in flattening all sorts of warps, on all types of vinyl (colored vinyl, black vinyl, VR900 OneSteps, etc.). 125 degrees gets me to the lower end of success rate. The sweet spot that gets the success rate up to 85-90% is 130-135 degrees, 4 hours minimum, and I let it cool for 6 hours in the pouch. Fixed all sorts of warps - pinch warps, dish warps, storage warps. I vouch for Record Pi, 100%.. works excellent, and no longer scared of warped records.
I found a 76' pressing of Presence in the $1 bin. It had a domed warp. It's the only warped record I've ever purchased. I put it under heavy books for five days (ignoring all the talk that the weight of the books will damage the grooves...it was a $1 record!). It removed the warp and the record plays and sounds great! It was a super fun experiment and I got Presence for $1!
Very cool and successful review. The thing I can't help but think about is that if it is heating the record then the grooves are also heating up and I wonder if it can cause some type of microscopic damage to those grooves? I have an original pressing of Eleh Radiant Intervals that has a warp. I'd love to get it taken care of.
I had the same thought about the grooves, Alan. I suspect if the temp was too high and it heated for too long bad things would happen. The records sounded great after being fixed - so it seems 125-130 is the magic spot for this.
Record PI is the shit, hands down! I’ve been using it for the past 2 years and have fixed close to 70 records. This product won me over when I was able to fix (make it playable) an OG Waynes World 2 wax! The folks at record PI state that this product will make your warp records “playable”, even though, there is still a bit of warp on my Waynes World LP, still it is playable and I can finally listen to it all the way through. Cheers bud! JC/Miami
Another great video I’m grateful for! Lately I’ve been digging through tens of thousands of records and every once in a while a great title that’s warped. This Record Pi looks to be my record Lord and Savior! 🤘🏽
I've had my Record Pi for quite some time now. I learned about the record pie from Chris at Vinyl Attack on TH-cam. It has been the best accessory for record collecting that I bought. I used to fret about buying brand new records because of the warps, but I don't worry anymore. I just got a brand new record from Amazon and it was warped. One other thing I know you don't play picture discs, but do not try to flatten a picture disc with the Record Pi because it will damage the artwork. I run mine at 129 ° for 2 hours and then I let it rest for 1 hour and that works for me for the majority of my records.
@@geneobrien8907 Yes it is a big price for the Record Pi but it seemed I was getting a lot of warped records from Amazon. I just got tired of returning the records.
Bought mine initially thinking I was only going to use it a few times. I’ve used it more than 30 times now. Not to mention I’ve helped some trusting friends. More than worth buying in my book. Nice video.
An important thing to mention that a warped record has to be thoroughly cleaned preferably in an ultrasonic machine, otherwise any dust praticles get permanently baked into the grooves. Regarding flattening just by applying some weight alone, like books, I tried putting a few records between two pieces of wood board and putting about 20 kg (40 lb) of weight on top, I let it like that for a whole year (I’d already tried 4 months of less weight before) and it didn’t help at all, I guess it has to be heat assisted to get some result. An alternative solution to play warped records may be using an outer stabilization ring weight or a vacuum stabilizer, like AT665BX, AT666EX, IQ1300A, there are also a few others. This way you can apparently play even a record which is not fixable. ;-)
I bought a Supertramp LP new in original from around '85. It was flat when opened and warped in a few months. The edge warp was huge and a box style cartridge would touch the vinyl. I tried books and put it on the shelf. A few years later it was less warped. A decade after the purchase, it is playable by the box cartridge (Koetsu Rosewood). I have a few with a slight edge warp, not sure it's worth spending money to fix, but is on my list. Thanks!
I've read about the record pie and was intrigued about how it might work. So, I'm glad you reviewed it. I only have one warped record in my collection, so it's not a major issue for me, but it's nice to know this is a reasonable option.
Same here. It took me a while to find some slight warps in my overflow. Then there was the badly rippled Blondie album which was decades old and sealed when I bought it,
Great video as always 👍 A very smart device , unfortunately it is NOT for sale here in Norway. Luckily I have very few warped records. Keep up the very good work you do on your channel. All the best from Norway 😁
I got a Record Pi last Christmas. I'm very impressed. I used to avoid still sealed old records because, in my experience, 9 times out of 10, they were warped. Now, I don't give it a second thought. I buy with confidence. Btw, my go-to is 130 degrees for 3 hours. Plus I make sure I clean it with my Record Doctor V before I put it in the pouch.
I've had my Record Pi for awhile now and I love it. I set the default temperature to 128 degrees and let it go for 2 1/2 to 3 hours with a long cool down. It may be nothing, but if you put the warped part of the record in first I've found that to be helpful as well. The worst records are the 180 gram records, but it's not been a problem for the Record Pi. Rarely have I had to do a second bake.
I’ve had about an 90% success rate with Record Pi. It’s great. I’ve done it for myself and for friends. One thing I’ve found is that new records with warps almost always come right out on the first bake. And some of the toughest warps to mitigate that I’ve encountered are on older records. I *feel* like the longer a warp has had to “set” the tougher it is to get out.
Good video, thanks. I've been able to just replace (or will) the few I have that are warped. But if I had enough warped ones to justify buying this I certainly would.
I love the Record PI! I buy alot of garage/estate sale records. I have flattened about 30 of them. Only once has it not worked completely to my liking. But, I did flatten that one to an acceptable stage. If you have a large collection, this is a no-brainer. Or if you have collector friends, go halvsies.
Interesting video. I tried the two glass treatment and it was a disaster and I made the record worse and unplayable. I regret it so much because had I left the record alone with the warp, it was still at least playable. Lesson learned.
Good video on warped records i have a vinyl flat for warped records it's works good even though i have some warped records i'll have to go through them someday and try to fix it.
@@TheJoyofVinylRecords Yes the vinyl flat have a pouch and today I'm going to be doing a Bob Dylan that is warped I got it at the antique store this week it did play the record tonearm didn't jump or skip but I'll get it fixed.
An update on the vinyl flat on fixing the Bob Dylan Nashville Skyline album I did get it to flattened down but not perfect but it is playable and it took me 6 tries to flattened also I went to order the record pi for a tryout and tested with very bad warped record which it was the Village People Macho Man so I tried it and I was very impressed it did a great job flattened the record and it was perfectly flat and this took 4 tries to flattened down both vinyl flat and record pi works great and I'll go through my other warped and get them fixed.
I bought a Record Pi about a year-ish ago; thankfully they were running a deal on those with a huge discount so it didn't break the bank! (Yeah, I know, it's a lot cheaper than other options but for me, breaking the bank would be, say, paying more than $30 for a one-record album!) I literally found out about the Pi a day after I actually *broke* a warped record while trying to fix it, and not an exactly easy record to find either. When the Record Pi arrived, I DID try to fix the two broken pieces to see if I could just line them up together, but naaah; you can probably guess as to why that didn't work so well. Not long ago I reviewed an eight-record set for my podcast, and during production, to my horror I found that one of the records was warped to the point that the tonearm was literally airborne. I did a couple of day-long bakes at 135 degrees F and could *see* improvement, but the record was still not playable. After one more burn, I found that the record WOULD play if I used the stylus that came with my ATLP1240 and set the tracking force at the recommend 3.5 grams, the record played through, but not with my Ortofon Blue at 1.8 grams. No prob - I just needed to be able to play through the record once (I recorded it for later playback and editing), and that it was a spoken-word record, it didn't matter if there was still enough warp to hear flutter and wow. The only concern I have with fixing warped records is that last point: flutter and wow. I have a bit of fear that the science of heating and bending the material could result in a flat record that has some such fluctuations. I haven't yet had an opportunity to try the thing out on a music record, but I am curious. Your thing about storing records in an attic, btw, gave me some PTSD - after my dad died a few years ago, my mom had me go through his old records (all 7-inchers) to see if I was interested in any. I said, "What happened to the albums?" She said, "Oh, I don't know if we still have those - if we do, they're in the little attic in the garage!" I nearly pooped out all of my organs upon hearing that: my mother lives in the Chicago burbs, where it gets crazy-hot in the summer and dangerously cold in the winter, and no WAY would all those records NOT be warped to hell! If it turns out they are indeed up there, I might have to run the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack through it.
I have also thought about the wow and flutter you mentioned. They played absolutely fine but my ears aren’t as good as they used to be (getting old). Sorry about aggravating the ptsd with the attic. I get it! Back in the 90s when I was seduced by the allure of CDs I stored my records in the basement and it flooded one year. Fortunately they were on pallets but the water did ruin a few covers. What is your podcast? I have one too (science related) that I’ve run for 10 years. I’d love to check it out.
Bought an old copy of Eat To The Beat. Tried to bargain the price down from $9. It was in such bad shape but they wouldn't budge. Looked like someone used it to play frizbee on the beach. It was a black label poydor French pressing so I couldn't pas it up...able to scrub the cooked in fingerprints, mold, dirt and paint drippings off and it plays great ! No skips and little hardly noticeable pops. Shocking!
I have a few slightly warped records I'd like to try. All were expensive to buy. I've been looking into the Record Pi for a while. Nice demo. I've been talking with a friend and hopefully we'll go in on buying one together.
Very interesting! I really only have one badly warped LP and after getting a real turntable was I able to get it to track and play okay. But for $249.99 I'll have to pass, but it was great to see how good it worked.
Had good luck with pizza oven..put thin flat wood on top of oven,warm oven till wood on top is warm turn of oven put lp in paper sleeve on top of wood,put another thin piece of wood on top,put some weight on top and let it sit for a few hours...
Useful gadget but around £200+ in the UK, to be honest for the very few warped pressings most people have either new or poorly stored, i'd shove it under a pile of books for a year or so, read reviews about the quality of the pressing and either buy another or avoid altogether if it has a bad reputation/bad batch etc, much cheaper and easier.
Moving coil cartridges are generally the worst for warped lps, because thay almost always have a very low compliance compared to most moving magnet cartridges. Still worth it though, if you want to hear all that is in your grooves. And openness, dimensionality and transparency.
An example of a rare moving coil cartridge with higher compliance is one of the Audio Technica OC9 phono cartridges. That was a very poparular cartridge and there is the original version, a MK. II version, a MK. III and I think MK.IV etc. I know at least one of those versions is higher compliance. Low compliance cartridges are usually iideal in medium to heavier tonearms. Moving coil cartridges because of their non-compliant stiff suspensions are something like a car without shocks. They put a lot of energy into the headshell; and choice of headshells becomes of extreme importance. I used a magnesium headshell on a tonearm which had a removable headshell. Some tonearms have a fixed headshell, and are supposed to sound a little better, ( all things being equal), but removable headshell arms are so fun, as they let you easily switch cartridges back and forth. As for Audio Technica moving coils compared to Ortofon cartridges; a guy I talked with said the AT F5 moving coil beat his older model Ortofon Black. The AT F series, was their series before the OC 9 series, which I think were a few decades ago. NOS cartridges are often available on places like ebay. A little rare but not that uncommon for one to turn up. You mentioned the Hana line, the models over $1,000 were the ones to get, although I think they've come out with a new line. A guy on here whose TH-cam channel compares different lp pressings had some problems with one of the under a grand Hana models of moving coil cartridges. They let him upgrade to the $1,200 model; whose sound he liked a lot better. If a record had a warp, I'd often tape record it, as warps are the worst thing for your cartridges suspension. Most peoples styluses are still in pretty decent shape by the time they hear mistracking from worn cartridge suspensions. They think they need a new needle (stylus).
I bought several Deutsch Gammophon Original Source Series Vinyl records the past year or so... So far so good.. Except for one recent record that came badly warped. Replacement came scratched.. So sad.... Trying to get that replaced again...
It is a little pricey for my taste, and I don’t need it for a lot of records, but I am trying to get a PI co-op together with a bunch of friends. I figure if I can get 5 people together, we chip in a share it, might make it worth while.
I collect 16 inch radio transcription records, transfer them to digital, and post them on my channel. I have a couple hundred of them at this point, and I have NEVER seen one that was warped. They're made of the same vinyl as LP's, just larger, and the groove is wide like a 78. I think the difference that causes them not to warp is that they are the same thickness all over - there's no raised lip or raised label area on these records.
@@TheJoyofVinylRecords Thanks for your kind words. They don't all come out that good, it depends on the age and condition of the vinyl, of course. I have some I'm working on that had actually begun to show some mold spots, and mold actually eats into the vinyl, so you can clean the mold off, but the damage remains. There is digital filtering I can do, but it has limits.
I have around 700 records in my collection which is a combo of 3-4 family colections combined. records from the 60's-90's some of which are DJ singles(45&33) some still sealed in original plastic vacuum wrapand some 2-3 copies for DJ use. most need deep cleaning from mold and dirt. but very few have any warps even though they were stored in warm humid conditions for a long time. I guess I have my work cut out for me in cleaning and mayby flattening the warped ones.. as well as the damaged CD's and DVD's that my wife removed from the cases and put into zip-loc sandwich bage to save space and now most are either scratched or scuffed and wont read/play right. so I need to address those as well. a disc buffer is my best option for that issue... so much work to restore my media to playable condition. Instead of a CD and/or DVD player i'm getting a cheap Blu-Ray player to cover all 3 disc types. saving space and cable routing and other issues. Wish me luck...
Wow - that is a lot of cleanup to take on all across the board. I remember those disc buffers too. I had one back in the 90s and it seemed to do the trick
I’ve been looking at one of these to purchase for some time but I never pulled the trigger. Mainly because I only have maybe 3-4 semi warped records and that’s a lot of money for only a few records. Too bad I can’t rent one for a few days. Lol
Interesting product. I would have to look a long time to find a warped record here, but I would think applying 130F to a record for a long period of time would not only flatten it, but also change the groves in a not good way. You are slowly melting vinyl. Common sense says it would HAVE to affect the sound quality too.
Vinyl flat ,works every time ,I have it down to a science ,I do 2.5 hrs for most records on high setting in the groovy pouch from a cold start, then after 2.5 hrs switch it off to cool.
Sadly not available in UK-spec of 220v mains electricity, without using s separate step down transformer. Shame as it looks to be a great product at an affordable price. Maybe they will produce one in the future ..
I tried to un-warp an og Ramones ST record and it just pushed the bump to a different spot and made it more violent, it went from a long slow bump to a short quick bump. Yes the record is more flat now but is worse than it was.
I must be real lucky when it comes to record warps, because as far as I know, I have NO records with a visible warp, not even my ancient Original Beatles "Hey Jude"! KNOCK ON WOOD!
my OP of mc cartneys ram kills me its so warped. it was fine for a longtime on crappy players but once i got serious....its a nightmare. i tred it by putting it under my kallax unit but it made little or no difference.... this record pi looks very interesting
When a record is warped it is "stretched" out of shape. It is very hard to unstretch something that is not elastic and does not snap back into shape. It is sort of like ironing "in" wrinkles on clothing. The laws of physics are a bitch. That and many other reasons made me give up on vinyl for the most part. I still have a turntable for music I cannot find in a more stable media. Recently I found a very old favorite movie soundtrack album from the late 1950s on TH-cam that has better fidelity and a stereo sound mix that was never available on vinyl. If you are truly someone who just loves the music, vinyl is not and never has been the best or only media. In the sixties if you wanted the very best fidelity from a mass producer of recordings, it was 7 1/2 ips prerecorded magnetic tapes.
Let's do the Time Warp again It's just a jump to the left And then a step to the right Put your hands on your hips You bring your knees in tight ... sorry couldn't resist.
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Hey man would this work for 45s ?
@@someoneunknown2003 It sure does. They have a different felt protector included for 45s
If you’re going to buy new records, buy them directly from the label, If possible, and email them if you receive a warped record. Sometimes they want a video of the warp, but they’ll send you new copy. I just did this twice with Sub Pop. If enough people complain and request replacement copies, eventually the labels will hold the pressing plants accountable, and maybe they’ll learn to press records finally
Good advice, Serge.
Even then you can get a dud or two. I got one recently from one of my favorite labels that when I put it in my spin clean I could clearly see a curvature, and turned out to be a really bad bowl warp. I put it on the countertop on top of a microfiber cloth and spun the thing like a friggin' top. I took video of that, and video of the other side popping up and down like one of those Pop-o-Matic children's games and sent it to the label. They sent me a replacement immediately. Still had a bit of a bowl warp but was much better, very playable, no wow and flutter, and sounded great. Unfortunately I think the label usually uses those folks in the Czech Republic, but so far I've only gotten two bad ones from the Czechs over the last several years.
@@MyWeirdRecordCollection I checked out your most recent episode (the one where you spoke about working in the library, etc) - you've got a great voice for podcasting!
@@TheJoyofVinylRecords *blush* Thanks!
YES! Glad you finally see the magic of the record pi. I've been using this for the past 3 months, and have about 75-85%% success rate in flattening all sorts of warps, on all types of vinyl (colored vinyl, black vinyl, VR900 OneSteps, etc.). 125 degrees gets me to the lower end of success rate. The sweet spot that gets the success rate up to 85-90% is 130-135 degrees, 4 hours minimum, and I let it cool for 6 hours in the pouch. Fixed all sorts of warps - pinch warps, dish warps, storage warps. I vouch for Record Pi, 100%.. works excellent, and no longer scared of warped records.
Thanks, Tim! So the extended cool down seemed to help?
I found a 76' pressing of Presence in the $1 bin. It had a domed warp. It's the only warped record I've ever purchased. I put it under heavy books for five days (ignoring all the talk that the weight of the books will damage the grooves...it was a $1 record!). It removed the warp and the record plays and sounds great!
It was a super fun experiment and I got Presence for $1!
Can't beat that! And glad to hear that worked too!
Very cool and successful review. The thing I can't help but think about is that if it is heating the record then the grooves are also heating up and I wonder if it can cause some type of microscopic damage to those grooves?
I have an original pressing of Eleh Radiant Intervals that has a warp. I'd love to get it taken care of.
I had the same thought about the grooves, Alan. I suspect if the temp was too high and it heated for too long bad things would happen. The records sounded great after being fixed - so it seems 125-130 is the magic spot for this.
Record PI is the shit, hands down! I’ve been using it for the past 2 years and have fixed close to 70 records. This product won me over when I was able to fix (make it playable) an OG Waynes World 2 wax! The folks at record PI state that this product will make your warp records “playable”, even though, there is still a bit of warp on my Waynes World LP, still it is playable and I can finally listen to it all the way through. Cheers bud! JC/Miami
Cheers to you as well 🍺. Thanks for sharing your experience with it!
Another great video I’m grateful for! Lately I’ve been digging through tens of thousands of records and every once in a while a great title that’s warped. This Record Pi looks to be my record Lord and Savior! 🤘🏽
It worked well. I was impressed. Depending on the warp it might need a longer "baking" time but it does as it says.
I've had my Record Pi for quite some time now. I learned about the record pie from Chris at Vinyl Attack on TH-cam. It has been the best accessory for record collecting that I bought. I used to fret about buying brand new records because of the warps, but I don't worry anymore. I just got a brand new record from Amazon and it was warped. One other thing I know you don't play picture discs, but do not try to flatten a picture disc with the Record Pi because it will damage the artwork. I run mine at 129 ° for 2 hours and then I let it rest for 1 hour and that works for me for the majority of my records.
At $250, I'd rather just return the record to Amazon.
@@geneobrien8907 Yes it is a big price for the Record Pi but it seemed I was getting a lot of warped records from Amazon. I just got tired of returning the records.
Great advice on the picture discs. I only have one that I have to say sounds amazing - Brody Dalle's "Diploid Love"
Bought mine initially thinking I was only going to use it a few times. I’ve used it more than 30 times now. Not to mention I’ve helped some trusting friends. More than worth buying in my book. Nice video.
From what I've been hearing - they do get a lot of use when folks purchase them.
An important thing to mention that a warped record has to be thoroughly cleaned preferably in an ultrasonic machine, otherwise any dust praticles get permanently baked into the grooves. Regarding flattening just by applying some weight alone, like books, I tried putting a few records between two pieces of wood board and putting about 20 kg (40 lb) of weight on top, I let it like that for a whole year (I’d already tried 4 months of less weight before) and it didn’t help at all, I guess it has to be heat assisted to get some result. An alternative solution to play warped records may be using an outer stabilization ring weight or a vacuum stabilizer, like AT665BX, AT666EX, IQ1300A, there are also a few others. This way you can apparently play even a record which is not fixable. ;-)
Great point that I should have mentioned about cleaning them. The Record Pi folks do recommend that.
Those outer rings are very intriguing.
From everything I've seen and heard about this issue the Record Pi is definitely the way to go. Good review.
Thanks, Chris! It was a great experiment for me to see it in action.
I bought a Supertramp LP new in original from around '85. It was flat when opened and warped in a few months. The edge warp was huge and a box style cartridge would touch the vinyl.
I tried books and put it on the shelf. A few years later it was less warped. A decade after the purchase, it is playable by the box cartridge (Koetsu Rosewood).
I have a few with a slight edge warp, not sure it's worth spending money to fix, but is on my list. Thanks!
I also used pressure to fix a couple records - by accident actually. I'm not sure how long it took but they are perfectly playable now.
Very cool! I had no idea such a thing existed! Thanx!
Welcome!
I've read about the record pie and was intrigued about how it might work. So, I'm glad you reviewed it. I only have one warped record in my collection, so it's not a major issue for me, but it's nice to know this is a reasonable option.
Same here. It took me a while to find some slight warps in my overflow. Then there was the badly rippled Blondie album which was decades old and sealed when I bought it,
I tried to fix a warped one as well. Luckily, the store had another copy. 😊
Great video as always 👍 A very smart device , unfortunately it is NOT for sale here in Norway. Luckily I have very few warped records. Keep up the very good work you do on your channel. All the best from Norway 😁
Cheers from NH, Norway 🍺
I got a Record Pi last Christmas. I'm very impressed. I used to avoid still sealed old records because, in my experience, 9 times out of 10, they were warped. Now, I don't give it a second thought. I buy with confidence. Btw, my go-to is 130 degrees for 3 hours. Plus I make sure I clean it with my Record Doctor V before I put it in the pouch.
They do recommend cleaning first as you said. I should have brought that up. Good to know on the 130 degrees. Thanks, Jamie!
@@TheJoyofVinylRecords My pleasure. Thank you for the videos.
I've had my Record Pi for awhile now and I love it. I set the default temperature to 128 degrees and let it go for 2 1/2 to 3 hours with a long cool down. It may be nothing, but if you put the warped part of the record in first I've found that to be helpful as well. The worst records are the 180 gram records, but it's not been a problem for the Record Pi. Rarely have I had to do a second bake.
Good to know. Thank you!
Yes it works. Have been using mine for over a year. Increase temp to 130 and on bad records do both sides for three hrs. each. Works great.
Seems like 130 is a popular setting. Thanks William!
I’ve had about an 90% success rate with Record Pi. It’s great. I’ve done it for myself and for friends. One thing I’ve found is that new records with warps almost always come right out on the first bake. And some of the toughest warps to mitigate that I’ve encountered are on older records. I *feel* like the longer a warp has had to “set” the tougher it is to get out.
That's really interesting. Good thing to test
Good video, thanks. I've been able to just replace (or will) the few I have that are warped. But if I had enough warped ones to justify buying this I certainly would.
True. It's perfect if someone has a lot of warps, as you said, or very expensive records that would be costly to replace.
I love the Record PI!
I buy alot of garage/estate sale records.
I have flattened about 30 of them. Only once has it not worked completely to my liking. But, I did flatten that one to an acceptable stage.
If you have a large collection, this is a no-brainer. Or if you have collector friends, go halvsies.
Cheers, Ed! 🍺🍺🍺
Cool device. Good video. Thanks.
Cheers! 🍺
Interesting video. I tried the two glass treatment and it was a disaster and I made the record worse and unplayable. I regret it so much because had I left the record alone with the warp, it was still at least playable. Lesson learned.
I did that once as well years ago - completely ruined it 🥲
Good video on warped records i have a vinyl flat for warped records it's works good even though i have some warped records i'll have to go through them someday and try to fix it.
Do you use the heated pouch as well?
@@TheJoyofVinylRecords Yes the vinyl flat have a pouch and today I'm going to be doing a Bob Dylan that is warped I got it at the antique store this week it did play the record tonearm didn't jump or skip but I'll get it fixed.
An update on the vinyl flat on fixing the Bob Dylan Nashville Skyline album I did get it to flattened down but not perfect but it is playable and it took me 6 tries to flattened also I went to order the record pi for a tryout and tested with very bad warped record which it was the Village People Macho Man so I tried it and I was very impressed it did a great job flattened the record and it was perfectly flat and this took 4 tries to flattened down both vinyl flat and record pi works great and I'll go through my other warped and get them fixed.
@@daryljspetz2967 That's great - thanks for the update on those , Daryl!
I bought a Record Pi about a year-ish ago; thankfully they were running a deal on those with a huge discount so it didn't break the bank! (Yeah, I know, it's a lot cheaper than other options but for me, breaking the bank would be, say, paying more than $30 for a one-record album!)
I literally found out about the Pi a day after I actually *broke* a warped record while trying to fix it, and not an exactly easy record to find either. When the Record Pi arrived, I DID try to fix the two broken pieces to see if I could just line them up together, but naaah; you can probably guess as to why that didn't work so well.
Not long ago I reviewed an eight-record set for my podcast, and during production, to my horror I found that one of the records was warped to the point that the tonearm was literally airborne. I did a couple of day-long bakes at 135 degrees F and could *see* improvement, but the record was still not playable. After one more burn, I found that the record WOULD play if I used the stylus that came with my ATLP1240 and set the tracking force at the recommend 3.5 grams, the record played through, but not with my Ortofon Blue at 1.8 grams. No prob - I just needed to be able to play through the record once (I recorded it for later playback and editing), and that it was a spoken-word record, it didn't matter if there was still enough warp to hear flutter and wow.
The only concern I have with fixing warped records is that last point: flutter and wow. I have a bit of fear that the science of heating and bending the material could result in a flat record that has some such fluctuations. I haven't yet had an opportunity to try the thing out on a music record, but I am curious. Your thing about storing records in an attic, btw, gave me some PTSD - after my dad died a few years ago, my mom had me go through his old records (all 7-inchers) to see if I was interested in any. I said, "What happened to the albums?" She said, "Oh, I don't know if we still have those - if we do, they're in the little attic in the garage!" I nearly pooped out all of my organs upon hearing that: my mother lives in the Chicago burbs, where it gets crazy-hot in the summer and dangerously cold in the winter, and no WAY would all those records NOT be warped to hell! If it turns out they are indeed up there, I might have to run the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack through it.
I have also thought about the wow and flutter you mentioned. They played absolutely fine but my ears aren’t as good as they used to be (getting old).
Sorry about aggravating the ptsd with the attic. I get it! Back in the 90s when I was seduced by the allure of CDs I stored my records in the basement and it flooded one year. Fortunately they were on pallets but the water did ruin a few covers.
What is your podcast? I have one too (science related) that I’ve run for 10 years. I’d love to check it out.
@@TheJoyofVinylRecords It's called...My Weird Record Collection. :)
@@MyWeirdRecordCollection 😂 I’ll check it out. Should have guessed it from your name 😂
Bought an old copy of Eat To The Beat. Tried to bargain the price down from $9. It was in such bad shape but they wouldn't budge. Looked like someone used it to play frizbee on the beach. It was a black label poydor French pressing so I couldn't pas it up...able to scrub the cooked in fingerprints, mold, dirt and paint drippings off and it plays great ! No skips and little hardly noticeable pops. Shocking!
Nice!
I have a few slightly warped records I'd like to try. All were expensive to buy. I've been looking into the Record Pi for a while. Nice demo. I've been talking with a friend and hopefully we'll go in on buying one together.
If you do, let me know what you think, Dan. Cheers 🍺🍺🍺🍺
I use the Vinyl Flat with heat bag. Works, most of the time
Record Pi has been working wonderfully for me. Although it takes time + patience and a lot of both!!
Agreed on the time and patience, Robert!
I've never heard of it, so I will look at Amazon😊😊😊
Hi Barry! I think it's only available direct from the company on their site.
Very interesting! I really only have one badly warped LP and after getting a real turntable was I able to get it to track and play okay. But for $249.99 I'll have to pass, but it was great to see how good it worked.
I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the results
Try putting a spring tensioned clamp on the spot with the ripple when you put it on the pie. That might do a better job of flattening it out.
Not a bad idea at all, David
Useful!!!
Thanks, Elliott! 🍺
Had good luck with pizza oven..put thin flat wood on top of oven,warm oven till wood on top is warm turn of oven put lp in paper sleeve on top of wood,put another thin piece of wood on top,put some weight on top and let it sit for a few hours...
Can't knock it if it works!
Useful gadget but around £200+ in the UK, to be honest for the very few warped pressings most people have either new or poorly stored, i'd shove it under a pile of books for a year or so, read reviews about the quality of the pressing and either buy another or avoid altogether if it has a bad reputation/bad batch etc, much cheaper and easier.
Vinyl Flat user here. Fixed everything I’ve throw at it with the exception of 1 early-80’s record. Pretty inexpensive too.
Similar concept, right? Do you use it with the heating pouch?
Moving coil cartridges are generally the worst for warped lps, because thay almost always have a very low compliance compared to most moving magnet cartridges. Still worth it though, if you want to hear all that is in your grooves. And openness, dimensionality and transparency.
An example of a rare moving coil cartridge with higher compliance is one of the Audio Technica OC9 phono cartridges. That was a very poparular cartridge and there is the original version, a MK. II version, a MK. III and I think MK.IV etc. I know at least one of those versions is higher compliance. Low compliance cartridges are usually iideal in medium to heavier tonearms. Moving coil cartridges because of their non-compliant stiff suspensions are something like a car without shocks. They put a lot of energy into the headshell; and choice of headshells becomes of extreme importance. I used a magnesium headshell on a tonearm which had a removable headshell.
Some tonearms have a fixed headshell, and are supposed to sound a little better, ( all things being equal), but removable headshell arms are so fun, as they let you easily switch cartridges back and forth. As for Audio Technica moving coils compared to Ortofon cartridges; a guy I talked with said the AT F5 moving coil beat his older model Ortofon Black. The AT F series, was their series before the OC 9 series, which I think were a few decades ago. NOS cartridges are often available on places like ebay. A little rare but not that uncommon for one to turn up. You mentioned the Hana line, the models over $1,000 were the ones to get, although I think they've come out with a new line. A guy on here whose TH-cam channel compares different lp pressings had some problems with one of the under a grand Hana models of moving coil cartridges. They let him upgrade to the $1,200 model; whose sound he liked a lot better.
If a record had a warp, I'd often tape record it, as warps are the worst thing for your cartridges suspension. Most peoples styluses are still in pretty decent shape by the time they hear mistracking from worn cartridge suspensions. They think they need a new needle (stylus).
Behold the resurrection….well,it’s not the second coming ..but a new lease on life that’s for sure 👍👍
🤣🤣🤣 Yep!
@@TheJoyofVinylRecords GM ☕️💊….Monday’s
@@carminedesanto6746 ☕☕☕
I bought several Deutsch Gammophon Original Source Series Vinyl records the past year or so... So far so good.. Except for one recent record that came badly warped. Replacement came scratched.. So sad.... Trying to get that replaced again...
Ugh - sorry to hear that!
Sold. I'm buying one of these.
I was happy with the results, Kraig 🍺
😂I'll glady pay you on Tuesday for a record pi today
Lol - ok Wimpy 🍺🍺 😂
Wonderful 👍 review. I'll take 2 🍺🍺.
There's only one left 😂 (just kidding) 🍺
It is a little pricey for my taste, and I don’t need it for a lot of records, but I am trying to get a PI co-op together with a bunch of friends. I figure if I can get 5 people together, we chip in a share it, might make it worth while.
Good idea, Greg! 🍺🍺🍺
I collect 16 inch radio transcription records, transfer them to digital, and post them on my channel. I have a couple hundred of them at this point, and I have NEVER seen one that was warped. They're made of the same vinyl as LP's, just larger, and the groove is wide like a 78. I think the difference that causes them not to warp is that they are the same thickness all over - there's no raised lip or raised label area on these records.
I just checked out your work. Great stuff - and so clear sounding. I'm listening to the one with Mindy Carlson right now.
@@TheJoyofVinylRecords Thanks for your kind words. They don't all come out that good, it depends on the age and condition of the vinyl, of course. I have some I'm working on that had actually begun to show some mold spots, and mold actually eats into the vinyl, so you can clean the mold off, but the damage remains. There is digital filtering I can do, but it has limits.
I have around 700 records in my collection which is a combo of 3-4 family colections combined. records from the 60's-90's some of which are DJ singles(45&33) some still sealed in original plastic vacuum wrapand some 2-3 copies for DJ use. most need deep cleaning from mold and dirt. but very few have any warps even though they were stored in warm humid conditions for a long time. I guess I have my work cut out for me in cleaning and mayby flattening the warped ones.. as well as the damaged CD's and DVD's that my wife removed from the cases and put into zip-loc sandwich bage to save space and now most are either scratched or scuffed and wont read/play right. so I need to address those as well. a disc buffer is my best option for that issue... so much work to restore my media to playable condition. Instead of a CD and/or DVD player i'm getting a cheap Blu-Ray player to cover all 3 disc types. saving space and cable routing and other issues. Wish me luck...
Wow - that is a lot of cleanup to take on all across the board. I remember those disc buffers too. I had one back in the 90s and it seemed to do the trick
I have my own "system"
130 degrees for two hours. Sometimes as much as three "cycles"
Same with
130 degrees at three hours.
130 seems to be a sweet spot
"Vinyl Flat" gets the job done too.
I’ve been looking at one of these to purchase for some time but I never pulled the trigger. Mainly because I only have maybe 3-4 semi warped records and that’s a lot of money for only a few records. Too bad I can’t rent one for a few days. Lol
Renting would be a great business model
Interesting product. I would have to look a long time to find a warped record here, but I would think applying 130F to a record for a long period of time would not only flatten it, but also change the groves in a not good way. You are slowly melting vinyl. Common sense says it would HAVE to affect the sound quality too.
Vinyl flat ,works every time ,I have it down to a science ,I do 2.5 hrs for most records on high setting in the groovy pouch from a cold start, then after 2.5 hrs switch it off to cool.
Sadly not available in UK-spec of 220v mains electricity, without using s separate step down transformer. Shame as it looks to be a great product at an affordable price. Maybe they will produce one in the future ..
Sorry to hear that - hopefully they will, Ralph. Cheers 🍺
I tried to un-warp an og Ramones ST record and it just pushed the bump to a different spot and made it more violent, it went from a long slow bump to a short quick bump.
Yes the record is more flat now but is worse than it was.
Yikes! What method did you try?
@@TheJoyofVinylRecords
A heat pack and a few weights
I’ve had mixed results using the Vinyl Flat product, both without heat over time, as well as with heat. Sadly, some records cannot be saved.
True - especially those crazy edge warps
when will record companies learn: you don't skimp on cellophane, i rather see the wrapping a little loose
I second that, Larry 🍺
I solved my warped records problem when I stopped sleeping with my records.
Rick, I suggest you do the same.
Great advice and I am going to stop that practice this week (maybe). I'm sure Mandie will appreciate it 😂
How much do they cost ??
About $250 last I checked.
@@TheJoyofVinylRecords thank you 😎
I must be real lucky when it comes to record warps, because as far as I know, I have NO records with a visible warp, not even my ancient Original Beatles "Hey Jude"! KNOCK ON WOOD!
You have the Midas touch when it comes to buying records my friend! - just knocked on wood for you as well
What sucks is some new records have warps and you can't return them as they say it's normal. Quality control these days suck
I wholeheartedly agree. QC is awful in some plants.
I fix warps by sending the record back. I pay for a vinyl disc I expect a disc.
I DL high quality, high resolution vinyl "rips" in FLAC instead :D (They dont warp)
my OP of mc cartneys ram kills me its so warped. it was fine for a longtime on crappy players but once i got serious....its a nightmare.
i tred it by putting it under my kallax unit but it made little or no difference.... this record pi looks very interesting
Is the Kallax from IKEA? Sounds familiar.
If the warp is a slight bow or concave, the RecordPi would probably fix it.
@@TheJoyofVinylRecords yep indeed
When a record is warped it is "stretched" out of shape. It is very hard to unstretch something that is not elastic and does not snap back into shape. It is sort of like ironing "in" wrinkles on clothing. The laws of physics are a bitch. That and many other reasons made me give up on vinyl for the most part. I still have a turntable for music I cannot find in a more stable media. Recently I found a very old favorite movie soundtrack album from the late 1950s on TH-cam that has better fidelity and a stereo sound mix that was never available on vinyl. If you are truly someone who just loves the music, vinyl is not and never has been the best or only media. In the sixties if you wanted the very best fidelity from a mass producer of recordings, it was 7 1/2 ips prerecorded magnetic tapes.
I use mine to keep my pizza warm 😂
Did the pepperoni warp?
I agree. Warped records, suck!
🍺🍺🍺
Let's do the Time Warp again
It's just a jump to the left
And then a step to the right
Put your hands on your hips
You bring your knees in tight
... sorry couldn't resist.
😂😂😂
Have can normal people destroy a record???!!!
I suppose if you leave it in the car in direct for too long
@@TheJoyofVinylRecords well spoken!
shopgoodwill.com is where I acquire my warped records :)
Scorpio Records is another location but it's mail order.
😂😂😂😂
The rekid waas wicked waaped. 😅
You nailed it 🍺😂