It took 5 years but it finally happened...I scratched a record. What would you do?*

I dropped and scratched a record! Now I probably scratched a record or two as a kid but since returning to vinyl 5 yeaes ago, I've been very careful. I have dozens of $1 crate records that have surface scratches and still play and sound wonderful. However my new records are flawless...until yesterday. The record in question is AC/DC's Highway to Hell so easily replaceable and not a record with quiet passages obviously. So it slipped and I got it as it hit the edge of the turntable. Some profanity likely occured. Two noticable scrathes on two tracks. I test played the tracks and then the entire side. Played absolutely fine. I will likely just move on and continue to enjoy the record but as someone who has always taken care of things, yeah, it bugs me. What would you do or have done?

 

thoughts and prayers

 

Relax then. You're human. You caused it 2 INAUDIBLE scratches. Glass half FULL.

I remember scratching my first Joy Divison title; I handled it with excessive zelous and it slipped my grip. The corner of a cd box that was nearby caused a scratch on it, just like you described. Not audible during playback, but man did I want to cut my hand off!

 

Such a cataclysmic event calls for an over-expensive, extensively-researched solution.

1) Change immediately to a European cappuccino machine and locally-roasted Ethiopian beans, finely-ground on the finest Italian burr grinder.
2) then get a Mac.

 

Just did this recently to one of my Norah Jones LPs. Sadness all around.

My condolences.

 

Has happened twice in my 6 or 7 years in the hobby. You really feel awful.

 

Your first scratch?

Take some lessons to get to the next level:

 

The worst thing you can do is beat yourself up over it.
Considering it still plays fine and that it's an easily replaced LP, either get a new copy and give that one to a friend or get over it and count yourself fortunate that it still plays well. There's way worse sh!t happening in the world to lose sleep over.

 

Time heals all (psychological) wounds, just move on. If you can’t, and each time you play the record it sets you off again, then replace it since it’s easy and inexpensive to do so.

I can vividly recall the last three accidents I had with records. For two of them the damage was inaudible, but the third, the 33 1/3 AP pressing of Cat Steven’s Tea for the Tillerman was not. My phone had rung and I dropped the record clamp. It scratched the LP right in the middle of the beautiful song Father and Son. Even my miracle worker Sugarcube can’t completely remove the scratch sound. Well I have a NM original pressing and the MFSL CD too, so I’ll live.

I also caused a scratch in my 1963 mono pressing of Kind of Blue during All Blues. Fortunately I was able to eliminate the clicks using the toothpick method.

 

In the days before all the Beatles mono reissues, I dropped one of my 1981 mono White Album sides and it caught the rack ear of a parasound zphono. Have a scratch with a barely audible tick through most of Yer Blues.

 

Ok, once you get some scr

 

Make a vow to the Lp gods that you will never let a record become scratched again.

 

Reminds me of a similar event years ago. First spin of the SH mastered In Session Albert King and SRV 45 rpm. Flipping a side the disc slipped out of my hand landing on the floor after hitting the rack. It put a big gouge in a side. I was heartbroken as I had waited months for this pre-order to ship. Finished playing the album while ordering a replacement from Acoustic Sounds for another $50.

After a week and over the remorse I put it back on and to my shock it played flawlessly. Ended up gifting the second copy, sealed, to a friend. Two decades later it still plays fine.

 

Yeah, I've done that. Butter fingers. It hit the spindle and also did some damage to my acrylic turntable mat . Very annoying, luckily it's not audible during play. These things happen.

 

You should be taken outside, stripped and shot.

 

I've done as the OP states. Nothing I know can be done to fix the scratch. It's a risk with vinyl.

 

Man a year or so ago I lost control of a Hendrix record I've had for decades. It was well played but perfect until that day. Now it has a slight tick for a minute or so...forget the song. Oh well worse stuff has happened to me.

 

If it still plays OK, don't give it another thought. If it causes noise and it bothers you, trash it and replace.

 

Same thing I do with every scratch for the last 50 years of course....

 

Inaudible is no more tragedy than all the other grooves cut in it. Or is it just one groove under a scratch? Either way, who cares?

 

Hey man, s**t happens. Buy another, there's lots of them out there. You should see a lot of mine left over from my stoner days. They're enshrined in their own unplayable pile. If I scraped the covers and smoked the residue I'd probably get a buzz.

 

It's a win! You now get to listen to something at a higher BPM than 40 and with stronger vocals than a whisper.

I kid, I kid...

 

I did say **** happens, buy another.

Then I noticed someone else had already said it, so I edited my post.

 

Create a cloud of obscenities that would linger in the air for hours while blaming my wife, dog, anyone but myself.
Then burn the lp and get another.

 

If I couldn't hear it, I'd call it a scuff and play on.