I just got in the mail Bruce Springsteen's Magic on vinyl. Side A skips while Side B plays perfect. Does anyone know how to correct this problem?

how old are you? Try boiling the album in water for about 5 minutes. That should get rid of the skips.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-05-06 23:52 by More Hot Rocks.

Don't boil anything!

The problem is in stylus or record. If you got decent table, properly adjusted, with stylus in good shape, it's record and there's nothing to do to fix it.

If the album is buckled place between two
sheets of glass and leave in the sun for about 15 mins....It really does work



ROCKMAN

The old between the mattress and boxspring MIGHT work.

Quote
CrazyDadda
I just got in the mail Bruce Springsteen's Magic on vinyl. Side A skips while Side B plays perfect. Does anyone know how to correct this problem?

yes...send it back and get a new one

Smash it with a hammer and buy a new one..you cant fix vinyl...
JR

...Work in Aussie sun only, Rockman?
Here they froze into pieces, my vinyls from time to time.
Some hot summer day one could get a "v" or "u"-shaped disc also ..

Yeah ya need that Aussie summer sun.... It really does work...



ROCKMAN

Buy a smaller record - it's called a compact disc!

Quote
skipstone
Buy a smaller record - it's called a compact disc!

Yeah right...who wants those then. Vinyl is king :-)

Apart from which we still don't know whether a CD will last 50 years !
It's widely believed that at some point they may delaminate and the information carrying layer will oxidise.
[Though it's doubtful that anybody will still want to listen to the appalling things in 50 years time.I can't envisge a love for old CDs like the love we have for old vinyl...crackly or not ;^) ]

The fellas above are right. Sandwiching a badly warped record between two sheets of glass and exposing it to moderate heat [even a warm oven] will work.

What folks should avoid...unless they really know what they're doing... is any attempt to deep clean old records.There are very effective professional record cleaning machines and processes but many DIY solvents and techniques do more harm than good.

The best thing to rake out and clean the record groove is the stylus !
Let the stylus clean the record and keep the stylus clean.
The best thing for cleaning a stylus [believe it or not !] is very fine abrasive paper. The striker from a book of safety matches will do well enough.
Just gently draw the abrasive from back to front accross the stylus with the arm unlocked from its rest and sitting on the cueing platform.
[Don't do it when you've had a drink ;^)]

Second hand record vendors have a habit of washing discs with lighter fuel to make them look cleaner. I wish they'd desist with this harmful practice

well it's an old and non-tech approach i sometimes used during all my formative years buying singles the LP's...
put a dang dime or penny on the head of the thing and dig that sytlus into the groove...don't ever take no for an answer.
(actually if it's light enough it will do no to negligable damage)

(when the kinks released 'muswell hillbillies' RCA was using this new ultra flexible ultra light vinyl setup, so almost every copy came warped but we made it work)
tho puttin' a bit of TOO much weight might
scratch up your grooves and stylus a bit. dang, at least you got one side to groove to for now...bruce is a heavy meal, no?

...i don't know if returning this for another is gonna be a bad hassle for you,,,do all your other LP's mostly work properly?
lovin' and learnin' from the Rockman suggestion; brilliant effin cat that he be...totally erase any warp; i learned a little lesson there.

seriously tho, very sorry you are having troubles with this. i just ordered 'Magic" myself and am quite excited about getting it.

You can always try cleaning it. Sometimes that does the trick. If not, putting it in the sun CAN work but it will only do so much. Basically, if the vinyl is really damaged, not much can be done.

As far as just wanting to listen to the record, a CD LP works better than the vinyl LP that won't play. Better than the internet. Not as good as vinyl? Maybe. That depends.

Or just buy another vinyl record.

"yes...send it back and get a new one"

Sounds obvious!

If it appears to be a single skip then using an old stylus turn the power off, and rotate the disc backwards while applying gentle pressure on the cartridge as the stylus passes over/through the skip.

I've had loads of succes this way and always keep an old stylus for this very purpose.

This thread's getting a bit too "rustic" for me now ;^)

Ah Beelyboy,the oil crisis in the 70s and the thin RCA pressings,I remember my copy of Lou Reeds Transformer doubled as a wableboard.

I remeber buying Ziggy from Bowie years back and it skipped too, looking at the record I saw a little bobble in one of the grooves.

So I took a perforator and removed the bobble (this is a joke) I just went back to record shop and changed it.

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