Many people have asked me if you can save a 78 rpm record that has been broken or cracked. Here is my story of how I was able to repair this copy of “Wildwood Flower” by the Carter Family (Victor V-40000).
Last year I found this scarce Carter Family record in the wild – unfortunately, it was cracked in half! Fortunately, the crack was clean – and was still holding together somehow (by the label?) on its own. I really wanted to save this record if possible!
Here’s what I did:
First I very carefully placed the record between two sheets of smooth granite tile so that just one of the edges (with the crack) stuck out. After putting a heavy weight on top of the tile and carefully running my finger across the grooves to ensure they were perfectly smooth, I applied a small amount of elmer’s glue to the edge of the record across the crack.
I turned the record over and glued the bottom side – then did the same thing to the other end of the record. Once the crack was stabilized at both edges of the record, I applied a thick layer of glue across the label where the crack appeared to give it some additional stabilization.
You can see the parts that I glued in the video. When Elmer’s glue dries, it is clear, so it blends in pretty well with the record.
Playing the record was successful – though you could hear a very light audible tic. This tic was easy to remove when I made this transfer. The only downside of using Elmer’s glue is that it dissolves in water, so I won’t be cleaning this record anytime soon.
Have you repaired a broken 78? What’s your method?
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