How Did 3 Warped Vinyl Records Fix Themselves? 

I have shared your experience, Rick. I store my LPs vertically in protective sleeves and closely "packed" together loosely in archival storage boxes. I keep the archival boxes in a cold, dark (and dry) room. I was surprised that a once-unplayable warped record became flat. I'll continue to keep my LPs stored in this fashion because it helps.

Hey Rick my man! What's up! My experience with warped records is that it takes a very long time for a record to de-warp itself. It has to be compressed between other lp's for months before it straightened itself out. I'm a fairly busy old Black man (63 and still working) 😊 who does not have time for this. I want to spin the black and silver disk maaan!, especially if it is a favorite. So I'm considering buying one of the various disk flattening systems that are available. I just have to decide which one so I can stay rotating Bro!😁

It's happened to several of my records over the years, like you i did nothing and just left them sit on the shelve. I feel like with yours the pressure over time helped flattened them back out.

I stored my entire record collection for over a decade, virtically, in 12.25" x 12.25" by 16" moving boxes, stacked vertically and tightly packed. But here is the interesting part. They were in a non-climate controlled uninsulated shed and saw temperatures up to 110 degrees down to about 5 degrees. And summers here in central kentucky are VERY humid. I moved here from Seattle 13 years ago. The humidity took some getting used to. But here's the thing: When I finally took them out they were all in excellent condition. And as you noticed, no warps. I confess there were a couple of minor mold spots, but they cleaned up very easy. This included about 3,500 records, btw. Interesting side note: I also had a few hundred cassette tapes. They were in several boxes and I stored them in the house because, well, I couldn't pack them tightly. They are loose in the case. Except I accidentally allowed one box to find its way into the barn. When I discovered it I brought it into the house. The tapes are downright furry with mold. All ruined. I suppose that if they were important I could run each tape through a soft rag or something to clean them, but none of them are worth the trouble. I got almost all of them free at estate sales in Seattle, so no big loss.

That is really quite something, Will certainly try this out. I have a few warped lps so here's hoping it will work.

I bought a couple of new records which arrived warped. The supplier replaced them without asking for a return so I placed the warped records flat under a stack of 100 records and forgot about them for over a year. The warp is now almost unnoticeable and they play fine. No heat required.

I think it's possible what you're describing could happen. I purchased Steely Dan's Gaucho album a while back. When I got it out I noticed the edge of side A was turned up in one spot. It was weird looking. I decided to put it on and see if it would play okay. To my surprise it played flawlessly. Interestingly side B wasn't affected much by the way it was turned down on that side. It was weird watching the needle go up and down on side A through the first couple tracks. I played it recently and noticed that the warp, while still there, seemed much less prominent than before. I thought the same thing as you did. Maybe a few months sitting in my storage cabinet must have pressed it down.

Greetings, thanks for bringing that up. warping is a serious problem in the vinyl collecting community and I'm surprised I don't hear collectors complaining enough about it; right now I'm more into going to used record stores and buying old used records that I can inspect in the store before I pay for them. I have purchased expensive box sets(Fantomas: Wunderkammer is one of them) that I had to return because all records were badly warped, not even 1 was in a decent shape. recently I purchased the Ramones's Leave Home deluxe edition which contains a vinyl and the record is badly warped, I decided to keep it because everything else(3 cds and a giant booklet) are flawless and trying to exchange it for the same product is very likely I'll receive another warped record. It's like you said, I've noticed that some of my warped records are less warped now than when I bought them. Now I hope that the records of the Motley Crue Shout at the devil's deluxe set that I pre-ordered will be flat. Thanks.

Yeah well... As of last week I have officially given up on records. MoFi Hotel California finally arrived into stock. Thank goodness I ordered it through a store and had the opportunity to open it before leaving the store. Needless to say, three had to be opened before we found one undamaged from the manufacturing. Of the four discs, one was warped, three were scratched and one was warped and scratched. Now I am in Australia and that album was $300. Over the past twelve months I have stupidly purchased twenty three albums or box sets; seventeen have had to be returned. I have purchased all the various TS 1989 LE variants from her store... I am absolutely sweating blood with anxiety that they'll arrive ok. I am seriously considering sending them all back to the states and having them graded and slabbed in the shrink and be done with it. Let them be someone else's problem. Sticking to CDs from now on... Rant over! Still love your videos though.

The only explantion has to be the vertical tight storage. I've never encountered this phenomenon but if I do now I know how to possibly fix a warp. Thanks for sharing.

I have had plenty of slightly warped and dished records flatten just by storing vertically with other records on the shelf. Your correct about the pressure.

Hmm, interesting. 🤔 I bought Chilliwack's 1976 LP Dreams, Dreams, Dreams back in the 80s and the beginning of the LP has a nice enough dip that it would skip. About 6 years ago when I digitized my collection it actually played through. The dip was still there, but upgrading from my POS Audio-Technica AT-LP120 to my Rega Planar 2 with my Ortofon MC-3 Turbo cart it played straight through with no issues. It's the only LP that has a bad enough warp to cause any issues. I guess if you just by chance had your room warm enough and with your collection pressed together tight enough I could see them healing themselves. 🤨🤨

I had the same experience very recently. The record was a new sealed copy of Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots. I assume the warp was caused by the shrink wrap and, luckily, the vinyl was able to de-warp itself once the pressure was off.

I got a 1985 LP online, originally wrapped in cellophane with the marketing stickers. It was not warped. A few months later it was very warped in one place at the outside edge. My block Koetsu Rosewood would drag but my Sumiko Blackbird open stylus would not. However, it would not stay on the surface. That was on the AuddioMods Series Six arm that replaced the dead sounding Rega arm on my RP8. The Rega arm would track it! Anyway, I just looked at the LP after seeing this video and it is flatter -- probably 5 or 6 years have passed. I didn't seriously consider the oven and glass fix, figuring it would distort the grooves. I figure internal forces in the vinyl warped it once confinement by the wrapper was released. I thought it needed annealing but didn't know a safe way to relieve the internal forces. I thought elevated room temperature could help. I didn't think forcing it flat would be good for the grooves either. So, I bought a CD replacement as hi-rez wasn't available then. It may play now without resorting to reinstalling the original Rega arm!

Unexplained dewarping, sounds like a previously unknown phenomenon. Definitely supernatural in nature, lol! I did it! The Audio Technica should be here tomorrow and looking forward to finding a good copy of The Best of Bread or/and Jim Croce Photographs and Memories at the vinyl expo this Saturday. Even got my wife a little excited with the thought of her finding some Karen Carpenter :-) Too funny, you wouldn’t think that we were 49 and 44 respectively, lol! Just love the good stuff and that time frame between the late 50s and early 80s was the best of the best. :-)

Wow, i'm jealous, usually my flat records become warped (I store them absolutely upright, out of heat/sunlight, not leaning). I thought maybe the extreme dry weather may be a contributing factor. Not sure though.

A few years ago I bought a preowned copy of Robbie Roberson's Storyville online and it arrived warped. Quite stressful watching the extreme movement of the MC cartridge! I bought another copy but now I can't tell the two apart.

I got The Man Who Sold The World By David Bowie back in the 70s On the RCA lable. it made from Dynoflex (I think that is what it was called). Dynoflex was supposed to be warp proof, or at least warp resistant... The record was so baddly warped That I had to get a second copy because my new player would not play it. I got the second one on the Murcery lable, it was as thick as a house brick and just as heavey but it never warped 🙂

Very possible that standing up and being tightly pressured could help a warp. Factory 'sealed' records can also be warped from the shrink/temperatures as well. I've posted the fix for warped records before... a relatively safe process, but I have nothing to prove in arguing about it because it has worked for me. I can't say I ever noticed stacking upright under some pressure long-term did anything, but it's entirely possible!

So a few weeks ago i bought a sealed 2013 double lp, 1st pressing of the album abominator by doyle, i wont be here if the record didn't come out warped, very sad because is one on my favorite to play i try to find many solutions and now the vinyl is in his protective sleeve (not the album cover) beetween two pieces of glass and it's been pressing for about 24h by some lf my most everier (but not too much eavy) of my comics and law books, i will update after a week of pressing, let me know if any of you have any tips

What really chaps my ass is a new record that is bowl shaped. I purchased a new copy of Deep Purple's BURN album recently. I played the 1st side without any issues. It was when I played side 2 that I noticed the problem. There was little to no bass on side 2. That's when I took a closer look at my TT and noticed that the entire edge of the record wasn't making contact with the platter at all.

I think you have an minion coming out of your Turntable and straightening your records in the night while you sleep, but i dont😢. What kind of turntable do you have?? 😂

I just got into Vinyl again, all the used ones I have bought are decent. The new ones, terrible warps, only 2 but for $50 CND, come on. Amazon, they are crap, learning that fast.

I like the amp

@2:15 "You know my feelings about 180 gram vinyl." @2:21 "I have yet to encounter one that sounded better than the original. Maybe I just haven't encountered the right one -- maybe." And you probably never will. Heavy vinyl is a marketing gimmick. I used to purchase them, and learned via my wallet that I was getting shafted. Unless a reputable source recommends a heavy vinyl title, I will never purchase one again. I used to purchase White Hot Stampers from Better Records, when I could afford their records. Their site's commentary had nothing good to say about heavy vinyl. It was a long time ago, but as best I could remember, they decried the sound quality of heavy vinyl. And I trust the owner's (Tom Port) ear. A White Hot Stamper will likely do more for a quality stereo than an expensive component upgrade. @3:17 "And I have another cabinet that holds the overflow. That's in another part of the house. And even that one's busting at the seams." Rick, when was the last time you played a record from your overflow storage cabinet? If the answer is years ago, or never, then do not hold on to a problem that need not exist. Perhaps some of those overflow albums have sentimental value. But the rest? Free up that space, and bask in the freed up room you will have -- and no more worrying about being out of space.

Did you recently replace the dilithium crystals in your warp core? Sometimes your core will inadvertently warp space within just a few feet of the matrix and in the case of your record, will have returned it to the previous state in which it was flat. Oh......wait......your listening room isn't equipped with a......ah, never mind. Just forget what I said. Of COURSE you don't have a warp core....silly me!