Warning to all record collectors!!! (outer bag/inner sleeve concerns)*

Are you talking about those resealable/open at the top Mylar outer sleeves that come on most of the Japanese CDs? If so I doubt that they would emit anything. (An example would be the material like the outer sleeves on Platinum SHM boxes.)

 

No...maybe I didn't read the posts carefully.

I meant the inner plastic sleeves that come quite often with Japanese cd's. Ala the Beatles Mono Box collection.

I guess it seems silly to think those sleeves could cause some chemical reaction to them...but hey...who'd have thought of the OP's predicament ?

 

I guess, when it comes to inner sleeves, I have come to think:
If it is shiny - I don't trust it.
If it is frosted/matte - It should be okay.

Anyone agree or disagree with that?

 

First ebola, and now this...

 

Frosted !

 

I thought that this question might get lost in my longer previous post:

One thing that I am not clear on: Are the plastic outer sleeves that are so prevalent at used record stores and record fairs (in the US) made of PVC?

Compared to the stiffer/shiny PVC sleeves, they are a little less clear. They are thinner and softer. They tend to stick up a half inch or so above the record cover. They have no flap. That is what I have the bulk of my records in. I'm thinking that they are PVC, but I'm not sure.

 

Remember this nightmare?

Read on:

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...20-cd-packaging-problems.227368/#post-6052399

 

The new Scott Walker/Sunn O))) collaboration album comes straight from the factory in a heavy sleeve that resembles the loathed PVC ones. The cover is oversized (taller and wider than regular LPs by just a smidge) so they've helpfully--or maybe not so helpfully, considering this thread--provided their own sleeve with the album. Wondering if I should ditch it now.

 

I got a lot of these covers years ago, when a local record shop went over to CDs.
The sleeves were left in a box outside, and were free to take.
I took lots of them.
My collection was stored for ten or more years, in a room, and mostly in a cabinet with closing doors. One year ago, i got my collection back, and put it on expedit shelves.

After reading this, i removed all the PVC sleeves, and had a quick check for fogging damage.

I have found one record that is affected (so far...arrgh)
An Eddie Cochran best of, on Fame records.
The inner sleeve is discoloured, as if it has been stained with a brownish liquid (it hasn't)

The record has the fogging very obviously on one side. The record plays ok, but has pops and some crackles. I owned it from new, and these weren't previously there.

 

No, I don't think that the sleeves commonly used in record stores in the US that you are describing are PVC. I think they are polyethylene or something similar. I think they represent no danger at all to the records, and I have had quite a few records in them for 30 years without problems and despite moving approximately every 3 years during that time, in various different climates. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Yes immediately. these inner sleeves left milky crap all over my Dylan box set. Just replace with the el cheapo U shaped poly inner sleeves - perfect and don't harm your vinyl

 

I believe what has happended is the PVC outer sleeve with flap has created a seal. You now have a sealed environment and some sort of checmical reaction has been happening. The PVC has slowly been breaking down and leaching through the cover and onto the vinyl.

I have not used those thick PVC sleeves for a long time - just use the el cheapo poly sleeves with a hole so they vinyl can breath, so to speak.

Use el cheapo U shaped inner sleeves and you will never have any issues now or in 30-50 years time.

cheers

 

Wow, glad I happened to see this today. I was putting new inners on some 7"s recently and noticed the milky/foggy effect on a pink Flaming Lips/Mastodon split that came in a PVC sleeve. Had no idea it was a permanent chemical reaction though.

I went through the rest of my collection and removed a handful of PVC sleeves as soon as I got home today. Luckily, most of the records were unaffected. The only other casualty was my copy of My Morning Jacket's 'Chocolate & Ice'. Haven't play checked that or the Lips 7" yet to see if sound quality has been affected.

This should be a sticky topic so everyone knows their collection is potentially in danger.

 

Anything resembling PVC sleeves eg; covers for laser discs, simply vinyl, picture discs etc, whether they are the stiff or the soft types will pose a problem in the future. You should remove them and make sure it does not come into contact with any lps (including the lp covers).
I am also sure the laser discs are affected by this as well because a lot of laser disc owners have related their woes a few years back.

 

I wonder about that sleeve that The Beatles 30th anniversary White Album CD. It was stiff, possibly PVC?

 

Sorry, those are the horrible pink matte inners that leave a nasty residue. Definitely ditch and replace. The shiny pink inners are not affected, though they aren't particularly good either.

 

I'm pretty sure you are correct. Those so-called "poly" sleeves are polyethylene, not PVC (polyvinyl chloride). The only ones that are PVC to my knowledge are the thick picture disc sleeves.

I was a chemistry major in college some 35 years ago, but I'm not basing the above on that. I'm basisng it on this page from Bags Unlimited, which only shows one item that is PVC (scroll to bottom), the rest being polyethylene or polypropylene:
https://www.bagsunlimited.com/c-90-lp-poly-sleeves.aspx

 

Some of those shiny inners (had them on MM33 Midnight Blue) are bad definitely. They leave fine scuff marks on the record especially if the sleeve sticks to the record (because of static) or if you happen to apply pressure on the sleeve against the record as you remove the record.

It boggles my mind why these guys use such ****ty inners when producing what is obviously a 'premium' product.

 

I think you are right.

 

I have that LP. I don't know for sure if the sleeve is the same as the sleeves that are causing problems. I think it's PVC. It feels and smells like PVC. Like the sort of PVC used for inflatable beach toys and air mattresses. It smells of plasticizer, so I assume it's PVC. I removed the album out sleeve and put a post-it note on the sleeve saying "keep this sleeve the hell away from my records, plasticizer may damage the vinyl LPs". I'm not taking a chance. It's the only album I have with that sort of sleeve. I'm not a huge vinyl collector. I don't have any picture discs. And I don't keep any of my LPs in aftermarket outer sleeves.

Plasticizers aren't the sort of thing you want fogging up and depositing on your records. The foggy film that deposits on the interior windshield of new cars is plasticizer offgassing and depositing on the glass. That foggy film is a PITA to clean off the glass. Windex and standard glass cleaners only smear it around. You need a specialized auto glass cleaner designed to remove that film. That new car smell is plasticizer. I don't want to even think about how that sort of offgassed foggy film getting on the groves of a record would damage the sound quality and be impossible to clean off.

 

Just discovered it's happened with my Get Back pressing of Here's Johnny Cash. Can't tell if it started on Electric Arguments, or if that was just a bag mark. So far the Simply Vinyl pressings I've tested seemed to be ok.

 

I cannot keep the inside windshield of my car clean. The stuff just streaks with even the best of auto glass cleaners, and the bottom half of the rear windshield is completely inaccessible.

 

Unlike the glass in a car, the PVC fumes don't just deposit a film on the vinyl, it actually stripes the shine off the record, so it can't be cleaned off.

Thanks to this thread I just checked on some of my picture discs and found a few of them with early signs of fog. I took them out of the PVC liners and cleaned them with soap and water before I put them into paper sleeves. I figured a good cleaning would be good for them as well as new paper liners and covers.

 

Yes, have to agree.

After reading this thread I did a check, I had some vinyl in thick sleeves, they have been on for 30 years. Not a problem with any of them at all.

 

Recently I bought a copy of the stereo reissue of Axis Bold As Love, pressed at RTI and housed in a sticky pink sleeve. The record was so filthy with scummy stuff from the sleeve that it looked white. After I cleaned it, I noticed some large patches of foggy white on the vinyl that do not come off. Before cleaning, the record was a noisy disaster, because that film from the sleeve will gum up your stylus in about a minute of play. After cleaning it played quietly, but I'm wondering why the vinyl itself has permanent white patches. I know I have a number of albums in these sleeves that I haven't gotten around to cleaning yet -- including the Grateful Dead Europe '72 v.2 -- I pulled one of the discs out and it was filthy with white gunk. 4 LPs in that set alone that have to be cleaned and the sleeves replaced. Thanks RTI!