Re: [ARSCLIST] Peeling Lacquers

["Russell W. Miller" <rwm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Aaron Z Snyder writes:

> I was disappointed to see on "Save Our Sounds" that the
> Library of Congress
> considers peeling and flaking lacquers irreparable. I have
> one such disk,
> and was hoping that the prognosis was more positive.
>
> I figure that if anyone knows the definitive answer(s), it
> must be one or
> more of the members of this group. Is a peeling/flaking
> lacquer disk truly
> irreparable? Are there any optical methods of retrieving the audio
> information from these disks?
>
> Any responses, including negative ones, will be *greatly* appreciated.

Here's a web page that details one approach, playing the record with an
optical fiber:

http://members01.chello.se/christer.hamp/phono/poliak.html

As far as I know this technology has not been incorporated into any
commercial product, but as the web page shows a date of 1999 there may have
been further development efforts.  You can see a photo of the lacquer, which
I can't imagine attempting to play back with a normal stylus, and you can
hear the result achieved before and after digital processing.

Russell