Can MOFI sleeves damage the record?

I checked a third time, and Im actually unsure now. The plastic is so thin its hard to say if its printed on both or just coming through very well from the other side.

 

Agreed. it is difficult to see.

 

I dont think it is on both sides though, it doesnt make much sense. They would have to flip the printing so that it perfectly overlaps the other side and its just extra unnecessary work. The inside looks barely less black than the outside though so Im pretty sure its only the outside though.

In any case, should we contact Diskeeper you think or Sleevecity you think?

 

I've never seen that on my MoFi sleeves. I will say that the material has changed over the years. The ones today are a bit stiffer than the ones from the early 80's.

As to the image, I don't think the black print is doing any transfer, I think the sleeve material is doing something as the printing presses it tighter to the vinyl. I wonder if the ones affected are packed tighter than others.

 

If it were me, I would contact them to get them to look into the issue and correct as necessary.

 

Thanks for posting this, this indeed the same effect the Mo-fi sleeve has, the record was less than a year in the mo-fi sleeve and has the complete black text imposed on the record itself, I still have to check others ... I have the record in this sleeve, outside the cover, inside a sealable Japanese Blake sleeve ...

 

I always believe that the first signs of what these type of sleeves can do over time, in terms of micro-scratches, is usually visible in the deadwax. You usually start to see the hairlines appear here, particularly with QRP sleeves. As it gets worse over time, you start to see it more on the playing area aswell. In the end, your record (depending on how fussy or how well you grade records) starts to end up looking the upper end of VG+.

I’ve even seen some people in the vinyl community who are happy with those RTI clear bags. It’s the same thing with other aspects of vinyl collecting, many people think it’s absolutely fine to send records in those square mailers. So there will always be a lot of people out there who won’t be as bothered or ignorant to some of these things. When a guy sent me a damaged record in one of those crappy square mailers, he told me he had never had any complaints and he had no negatives. Maybe some people aren’t bothered about getting dented corner and covers...let alone bothered about hairline scratches....

 

I'm bothered by all those things and of course, I've been called "OCD" but that's ok. My "music stuff" is as important to me as that of a classic car to a car fanatic. My biggest issue is avoiding any linear scuff marks whatsoever on CD surfaces...next to impossible!! but that's for another thread.

 

Mofi sleeves? I never had a problem with one ever except for that defective Nevermind that was full of white powder.

The only inner sleeves I seen and used in the 70's that caused damage were those paper sleeves that had a thin clear plastic lining like the ones used by MHS and DG,
the moist humid Florida climate used to reek havoc to records in those sleeves, you would rip the sleeve to remove the record since it was literally glued to to it.
Speaking of crappy inner sleeves: Concord, Nautilus, (late 70's early 80's) Warner Brothers and purple Capitol plastic inner sleeves crumble like biodegradable plastic, they literally fall to pieces and at the same time texture the record's surface with ripply grey lines.

 

Are you talking about the square LP mailers like you would get from Bags Unlimited like this?



Or the flimsy mailers they use n the UK.
I had 2 records come from the UK in 12x12 envelopes with no cardboard packing boards to keep the package from bending. It's a miracle they didn't break.
At least we (in the US) don't have to worry about Goodwill opportunists/dealers using flattened out priority mail boxes turned inside out to send records (with a sheet of newspaper wrapped around the record cover to protect it if you were lucky) to protect their bottom line, if they didn't come broken in two, the glue from the flattened out box destroyed the cover.

 

The UK ones are worse but I don’t think much of that either

 

And please report back. After finding my perfect- sleeve the Goldrings and then going through the nightmare of them leave residue on all of my records - it’s important to track this stuff down. The LOC is right and hi density polyethylene carefully handled is archival grade but these things are manufactured lot by lot in China and - things happen.

 

The music matters sleeves were horrible, couldn’t get my copies out of those fast enough

 

RTI sleeves.

 

Agree with this. These people take preservation and archiving seriously. And have done lots of research on the subject. And have done so for many years. Therefore, I trust the Library Of Congress more than I do many.

 

Big issues in vinyl pressing since the glory days. Heating and Cooling cycle times have been too rushed in terms of modern demand for records. Quality control is not what it used to be. Sometimes, speed of production has been favored over making quality records with some pressing plants due to the overwhelming demand. I am not saying even records made 50-60 years ago were always perfect, but there were fewer pressed than the rushed times of the later 1960's-1983 period. From 1983 to the end of vinyl's first wave, the records got better later on towards the end.

 

I have MoFi sleeves in nearly all of my records with the rest inside double Diskeeper inner sleeves. Although my records visually range from VG+ to NM and one or two VG records, I have not noticed any added scratches/damage to any of my records or as a result increased surface noise from either those or the Diskeeper's.

I suppose any inner sleeve can damage if you're pressing it against the record while pulling it out, but you're safe otherwise in my experience. Seems like user error if you're fudging up your records.

 

We should sticky a post for proper totally OCD record handling.

1. Flip the MOFI sleeve paper side up
2. Let the light film side fall down from gravity
3. Reach in and put your fingers on the label
4. hold the sleeve so the stiff paper side "floats" above the record with very little pressure
5. Slowly* slide out the record.

*Don't whip them in and out like the guys in the youtube videos

I firmly believe if you use this technique you will not be scratching the vinyl in a meaningful way. I prefer the poly lined paper sleeves that came with the Beatles 2014 mono pressings to all others and think that they are remarkably good at not leaving hairlines. Unfortunately they don't seem widely available .

 

This is how you do it. The problem is, the thin layer always sticks for me, I have to peel it off with my hand to reach the label.

 

Some of those people need to learn the correct way to remove and insert a record from it's cover, I cringe watching some of those videos.
If one of those bozos pulled out one of my records and handled it like on one of his/her YB videos, there would be serious hell to pay.

 

Then slapped it on the Crossley, right?

 

If the record has static this will happen. The degritter leaves them with no static after I’ve cleaned them now. But sometimes new records have so much static I literally cut off the inner sleeve rather than try to pull them out - happens with both paper and poly sleeves.

 

Most likely yes. In Sweden it can get below 20% humidity which is the real problem. So I just stick with poly lined paper.

 

Are those the same ones the Blue Note Tone Poets come with?
Never knew what to make of that type, I've seen people be heavily against them but I've never had any problems.
I try to avoid them since better to be safe than sorry.

 

Yes.
I hate them. Very tight, clingy, stiff and abrasive.
Poly lined paper is the way to go.