Hi Phillip:
Respectfully, I doubt it's a factory problem because I have other copies of the same record (in not as good condition) that don't have the whitish-hissy vinyl problem. It seems to be a storage problem and based on the few records here that have it, it seems to be related to those awful clear plastic inner envelopes that seemed to be popular in the mid and late 50s. My theory is that the whitish substanced leached out of the plastic and bonded with the vinyl. Further testing on another record indicates that it's fused into the surface material, not a coating unless it's a perfect coat that sits over all contours (I liiked with a microscope and varied the angle to see the groove contours). I also looked at the hiss in a spectrum display and it's annoying because it's high-frequency hiss and not fuller-spectrum hiss like on tapes. Most present in the high-midrange area but up into the upper frequencies. EQ'ing out the top -- where there's no music anyway on these old LPs -- say above 12K or so, actually makes it more annoying because it brings out what's present in the music-containing bands. Bottom line is, c'est la vie.
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message ----- From: "phillip holmes" <insuranceman@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2006 10:33 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] White haze on older LPs -- cure??
They could be pressing defects from the factory. I have a number of Mercury jazz titles with this hazy appearance that makes a constant hiss/crackle. I believe it was a problem with Mercury's presses. I may be wrong on this, but when they switched from shellac to vinylite, they had to reduce the heat on the machines. If they didn't, the vinyl would cook. Just my theory on that.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Fine" <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2006 7:05 AM
Subject: [ARSCLIST] White haze on older LPs -- cure??
Hi All:
I have here a couple of mid-50's mono LPs, excellent condition as far as scratches and grit but they have that dull white-ish haze, which seems to make the vinyl hiss when it's played. Kind of like tape hiss, but less full-spectrum. Not swish-hiss, which seems to happen when this film doesn't uniformly cover the whole record surface. I think this white-gray substance might be leached out of plastic inner sleeves, but why only on one side of the records? VPI fluid doesn't remove the substance but does remove any crud from the grooves because the records play beautifully except for the hiss -- not a single tick/pop and no groove crackle.
Any way to remove this or is it now part of the vinyl?
-- Tom Fine
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