Over the Christmas holidays, I had bought a couple of new (sealed) LPs in Omaha, Nebraska only to find out (once I got back to Texas) the vinyl looked like it was stored next to a space heater. I got tired of calling back to the record store trying to connect to "the right manager" to get them replaced, so I took matters into my own hands (er...oven).
Following the ground-breaking work of others in the 'asylum, I ran out to Home Depot and bought (2) highly polished 12" square marble tiles (for a whopping $3.48 each). I scrubbed the tiles to remove any dust and dried them completely. Then, I went searching for the most warped LP I could find - Silversun Pickups "Carnavas".
I gave the LP a good manual scrubbing with DiscDoc products, and vacuumed it dry with my $1.76 vinyl vac tool (see other thread in the Vinyl Asylum). After pre-heating my oven to 175 degrees, I sandwiched the LP between the 2 marble tiles, and baked it for 25 minutes @ 175 degrees. After 25 minutes, I turned off the oven and opened the door until cool.
Results? The LP is now flat as an accountant's ass (my apologies to any accountants I have offended). Actually, I'm quite amazed.
My questions are:
1) Has anyone else tried this method?
2) Is 25 minutes @ 175 degrees the optimal time / temperature?
Any other suggestions? If you have a warped (but otherwise pristine LP) you owe it to yourself to try this.
Subsequently, I've learned that this works better with thicker LPs. I tried this with a *very* mangled Traveling Wilbury's LP (that is paper-thin) and the results weren't as significant.
Following the ground-breaking work of others in the 'asylum, I ran out to Home Depot and bought (2) highly polished 12" square marble tiles (for a whopping $3.48 each). I scrubbed the tiles to remove any dust and dried them completely. Then, I went searching for the most warped LP I could find - Silversun Pickups "Carnavas".
I gave the LP a good manual scrubbing with DiscDoc products, and vacuumed it dry with my $1.76 vinyl vac tool (see other thread in the Vinyl Asylum). After pre-heating my oven to 175 degrees, I sandwiched the LP between the 2 marble tiles, and baked it for 25 minutes @ 175 degrees. After 25 minutes, I turned off the oven and opened the door until cool.
Results? The LP is now flat as an accountant's ass (my apologies to any accountants I have offended). Actually, I'm quite amazed.
My questions are:
1) Has anyone else tried this method?
2) Is 25 minutes @ 175 degrees the optimal time / temperature?
Any other suggestions? If you have a warped (but otherwise pristine LP) you owe it to yourself to try this.
Subsequently, I've learned that this works better with thicker LPs. I tried this with a *very* mangled Traveling Wilbury's LP (that is paper-thin) and the results weren't as significant.