I've been on this list quite a few years now, but this subject has never come up. What are the best ways to earthquake-proof your record collection? - especially 78s. I implore everyone that I am dead serious, so?PLEASE no flippant remarks for this thread. I'm looking for some meaningful solutions. Right now, my record shelves are all bolted to each other and to studs in the walls of my house - 95% of my 78 collection is sitting on a concrete slab (my garage floor). The records are all 1" to 1 1/2" from the edge of the shelves, but I'm thinking about stringing piano wire or some other system across each length of shelving to keep records from moving outward in case of extreme shaking. Of course, if the quake they are forecasting for us here in So. Cal. is as strong as they say it will be, all of this might be moot, since the entire house might be flattened, but in case we have a 6-7 strength quake (which is more likely), I'd like to prevent damage as best as I can. In the 19!
94 quake, the shelves held firm but all my CDs, which were not anchored done, toppled onto the floor, with only damage caused to a few jewel boxes. Collectable bric-a-brac (commemorative glassware, old radios, and other 3D memorabilia) is secured to shelf tops with Quake Hold putty, which seems to hold pretty well. It's the open shelves I'm most concerned with. Stringing piano wire will make things a little cumbersome relating to the retrieving of records, so I'm thinking of some kind of latch system where I can "unlock" each shelf and mount the wire on a clip or a post until I'm through with the records in that section. Those of you who work in record archives might have some helpful comments about this, but I think private collectors would appreciate inexpensive solutions in addition to the archival measures taken by formal archiving organizations.
Cary Ginell Origin Jazz Library www.originjazz.com