Plastic inner sleeves.

Coming from the UK and not buying much in the way of vinyl since the 80s, it is only this year that I have encountered the plastic inner sleeve. All of the records I have from the UK either had paper sleeves, printed sleeves or poly lined paper sleeves. However since buying records this last year I have found a huge amount of them come in just these plastic inner sleeves. My question is, how are you supposed to get them back in the outer sleeve without them creasing, bunching up and looking a mess?

 

Take them out of the jacket and slip the LP in, then put the filled sleeve back in the jacket. If you try to cram the LP into the sleeve while it's still in the jacket you'll have difficulty. Taking them out each time will keep them from getting crumpled and this will also help you. I've been dealing with plastic sleeves for 30+ years and have never had a problem.

 

Yeah I do that, as I always have the opening upwards so the record cannot slide out, but the corners always crease up when sliding the cover and record back in.

 

Err...wait...now I see you mean how do you get them back into the OUTER sleeve without them crumpling. I don't know, just be careful, I guess? I've never had an issue with it. I mean, they're just plastic sleeves with no particular character, so if a corner is a little folded, I don't consider it an issue.

 

I don't like them, they're a pain in the ass.

 

I usually replace an "all plastic" inner sleeve by a polyester lined paper sleeve.



I think 90% of all WG releases had this type of inner sleeve, until the "art work" inner sleeves came in fashion in the mid 70's. All my Deutsche Gramophon and Philips releases have the poly-lined inner sleeves.

 

I am not sure that I understand what you are saying? By 'plastic' inner sleeves do you mean inner sleeves like those they use in Japan on all of the LP releases there? Nagaoka Japan markets these sleeves too under its own brand.

I guess that must be what you are saying. While I love everything the Japanese do with vinyl and the fact that they use these inner sleeves to ensure that you get a pristine record, I too find them a bit of a pain to use and I replace them with the same sleeves that SquaRoots uses, only the black polylined ones are my first choice!

The Nagaoka type always tend to go into a 'twisted' type of shape when you are trying to insert the disc and as you say it is difficult to get them back into the jacket without causing a fold or cease at the extremities. Having said that though, I have never got less than a first class record out of one of these sleeves but they are difficult to manage.

As a matter of interest, who is using these inner sleeves currently, outside of Japan? Kudos to those companies who are. I really do not like printed inner sleeves or card types as they cause scuffs and hairline damage. The Japanese, to their enormous credit, give you everything on the U.S. or U.K. issue including card/printed inners but they put the precious vinyl in plastic/anti static sleeve.

 

What about the MoFi inner sleeves? I managed to pick a pack up on a good deal a few weeks back, are they actually held in high regard?

 

It seems he's talking about the RTI inner sleeves. If so, you can chunk those and replace with a high quality poly paper sleeve as shown, mofi sleeves or what I've found to be the best, "the ultimate audiophile" inner sleeve at sleeve city.

A lot of high quality new releases have high quality sleeves, usually this is how you can determine "budget pressings" from "high end" but not always.

 

Love the MoFi sleeves - I replace all my vinyl sleeves with these. Easy in & out, no static (I live in Denver & it's dry as a bone here). Worth the cost, IMO.

 

I hate paper inner sleeves. I've tried the poly lined paper ones, and although those are preferable to regular paper inners, I'm not a huge fan of those either.

The best inners I have found are the Diskeeper ones from Sleeve City made of HDPE. I use the square 2.0 ones for most records, and the 1.5 round bottom ones for ones with tight jackets. I like them better than the MOFI style inner sleeves or anything else I've seen/tried. I usually don't have problems with bunching or whatever.

 

Those pink tinted things from RTI are crap, IMHO. I've also found them to scratch records. There is another non-pink tinted one that I've gotten on some RTI pressed releases that seems fine.

 

This is the kind of sleeve I mean, I just find them so annoying, at least the poly lined paper sleeves don't get all creased if you are careful, these seem so awkward to slide in without creasing them.

 

Yeah, those kind of plastic sleeves suck. I don't come across them often. When I do, I throw them out and replace them with something better. I still have different kinds of plastic sleeves and some poly-lined sleeves. But I've always wondered about them after reading the last post in this thread:

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...paper-inner-sleeve.332130/page-2#post-9542599

 

I had never encountered them until this year picking up loads of old records from the 80s.

 

Regardless of extreme heat (like in a house fire), I think there are certain types of plastic or plastic-lined sleeves that could leave some sort of residue on records. I would just buy a package of paper or heavy plastic sleeves to replace the ones you don't like.

 

Colocally those are indeed sucky inner sleeves. If you use one of the sleeves someone recommended here you won't have that problem unless a particular cover is extra tight. It still means you should take your time putting the record back in its jacket as even these others could crimp if you quickly shove the record in the jacket and I'm not suggesting that you've been doing that.

 

Yes, when I used to pick up a lot of vinyl, I'd wince when I saw these annoying plastic sleeves.
As an acceptable work around, I'd just fold one corner - the leading corner that first gets inserted into the outer jacket, and then there'd be no wrinkling.
(Also, gently and carefully squeeze the top edge and the bottom edge of the outer jacket together, when inserting the plastic sleeve with vinyl. That should allow a little more "sliding motion" space to reduce bunching.)
Does the folded corner on the plastic create a potential for some weird mark on the vinyl that it's touching? Possibly, but I haven't seen it yet...

 

Reminds me of Capitol Canada discs from the 80's Even with my usually careful approach, the corners look dog eared. Replacing by Polylined paper might be an idea or the 'audiophile' plastic sleeves like Mofi's

 

I'm using nothing but paper inner sleeves these days. Way easier to handle, less plastic in my world & cheap as chips.

 

I see that you're in BC too. Do you have a preferred source for your paper sleeves? My local record shops only seem to carry the plastic ones. I've also seen the MOFI sleeves at London Drugs.

 

Yeah I would be interested where there is a good supply too? I have had enough of these sleeves.

 

There is a correct procedure I learned on the back of an old Columbia lp. The housewife puts it in the inner sleeve, puts the lp jacket against her waist, bends it slightly so it creates an arc and slips the lp in effortlessly. ☺

 

I use the paper sleeves. Like many others, I am also super-anal when it comes to care of my records and their LP jackets... but for some reason, I think some collectors tend to worry unduly over inner paper sleeves. Seriously, they won't harm your records if they're not torn or they're real old and dirty.

 

Wrinkles or not, they're still better than any paper sleeve. Paper sleeves will eventually scuff or scratch your records leaving tiny ticks of noise.

For the kind of sleeve you picture, I just fold the two bottom corners up. It's a little easier.

The flimsy Japan sleeves with rounded bottoms work much better.

The poly lined Nitty Gritty sleeves work well, but they never close completely flat, with a slight buckle opening at the top.

MFSL and VRP inner sleeves have always been my preference, but a tight fitting outer sleeve will always be a problem.
In those cases, I store the record in it's inner sleeve, outside of the outer jacket, both in a poly outer sleeve.

Sleevecity.com and another site I can't recall offer pretty good deals, customer service, and free samples.