Can You Restore A Record Jacket With This ONE Item?

Can an eraser get rid of decades worth of ringwear, dirt, and other crap that has accumulated on your record jackets?
In this video, I test out the hypothesis that a simple eraser can restore record jackets to their former glory. We dive into all sorts of records to see how far this method can go!
Does it work? Do I fail? Find out!

[@realjaxon]

I use a Clorox disinfecting sheet to clean my vinyl lp covers. They work VERY well for doing this. Edit: I also tried a Mr. Clean eraser that took the shine off of one of my record covers. DON'T use that method.

[@howtovinyl]

I'll try both methods....for science!

[@jasonhoffer9017]

Love this video! Thanks for sharing - all your videos are really interesting, useful and informative. Thanks so much!

[@georgeshelton6281]

I also learned not to be like Willie Gilligan from Gilligan's Island.

[@SonicSafari]

It's a great tip, cheap and seem to work in some cases pretty well! 👍

[@drewemars3181]

I've foumd baby wipes often work well

[@georgeshelton6281]

It's a good thing that I tuned into this channel. It's best to keep record jacket albums from receiving any cigarette burns appearing. Colored record jacket albums are hard to restore. There has to be a certain kind of printer to revamp the album cover. Everything has to be precise.

[@ianz9916]

If the sleeve is laminated (glossy) I find Isopropyl Alcohol does a far better job of cleaning it than an eraser. It takes less effort and is far less likely to cause damage.

[@shellyrulli5787]

I found your video interesting and thought I'd reach out to you. I recently had water damage to my property including to my 60-80s album jacket. Would you know if these jackets can be replaced?

[@z1522]

Even white erasers are mildly abrasive, and may damage any print, ink, etc. on the original; artist's kneaded erasers, gray gummy material, can be used the same way with the same negative results - but also, can be just pressed firmly onto pencil marks, dirt, etc as a last ditch means of trying to lift off stuff without aggressively harming the original surface. Solvents like > 91% isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol may work on some covers, but test carefully; the low water content reduces risk of warping or softening cardboard/paper but might still take off inks.

[@howtovinyl]

Good tip to test carefully! Through this video and all of the comments it's obvious that there is no one perfect solution to restoring jackets - and some solutions that work for certain materials destroy others!

[@rydersrecordcollection2927]

Interesting product with nice results on certain jackets, looks like a lot of work though. My go to is the Clorox Wipe method, leave a nice shine, takes off a lot of dirt and grime, and kills anything funky lol. Great video!

[@howtovinyl]

I think I need to make another video trying all of the suggestions that have been commented. I've never even thought about cleaning record jackets until recently and there seems to be a lot of different options!

[@rydersrecordcollection2927]

@@howtovinyl I bet, I never used to till I found some gems at a garage sale with a little bit of mold on the cover, the results were awesome and I’ve been doing it since

[@cradio52]

@@howtovinyl I’d love to see a part 2!

[@howtovinyl]

@@cradio52 On my list of future videos to make!

[@cradio52]

@@howtovinyl I’ll definitely keep an eye out for it! The search for new, different and better ways to clean and/or repair vinyl and vinyl jackets is never ending!

[@georgeshelton6281]

I've used the same stuff for my rear record jacket album covers.

[@allyoopopp]

I use wax based furniture polish spray on a micro cloth to bring back shine and help remove musty smells.

[@magnuslindoff2644]

Great video keep up the good work

[@howtovinyl]

Thanks, Magnus!

[@sandysmith9869]

I use Crayola Crayons to "fill" in ring wear on album covers. Match the background color. Works for me.

[@howtovinyl]

Not a bad idea!

[@jonboy9912]

Its obvious that ring wear is from the finish being worn away - using an eraser is madness!

[@ScottMcCullar]

I use the white Staedtler Mars Plastic erasers. Find them in art supply shops.

[@fredrodnick2881]

When I used to have records years ago, I would just slice the plastic wrap over it across the opening with I think my finger nail to keep it protected. Just make sure it's slightly snug against other records or the shrink wrap could shrink further and warp your record. As for that blue cover you tried to erase, it didn't work cause the white was the cardboards original color. In other words the blue ink was already rubbed away due to friction of taking the record out and putting it away.

[@howtovinyl]

I also do the same with my records! These were all used, and if it didnt show on camera, the Blue had a decent amount of dirt and other junk that has accumulated around the ringwear. Just thought I would try the eraser method to rule out if helped at all. Thanks for watching!

[@vinylwood]

Cool vid, perhaps nothing I would rush to buy. That said I can't think of any of my albums looking like those wreaks especially that Beatles one, yuck. Third vid of yours I've watched now , good stuff , Canadian too. I subbed

[@RemyRAD]

As you only need 2 speakers that are both wired, correctly for, Positive Absolute Polarity, projected output. In what I referred to as my, Positive Pressure Wave Design Control Room, concept. And it's a game changer. It changes lives. When you can finally here correctly to evaluate that which you are hearing better. Because the sound pressure is coming toward you now. Not trying to move away from you, sucking away from you. And then you get the negative polarity rebound out the front of your speakers. It's a real mess. Because it's trying to project the sound out the back of your speaker boxes. Which are closed. But the low frequencies stiill resonate off the back. And then they slapped the wall behind them. Which is then reflected out toward you. And as that soundwave comes to you. The negative frontal sound cancels most of that out. In midair in front of you. And you must be sitting rigidly. In the center of your stereo spectrum. Otherwise, you'll really only hear one speaker you are closer to than the other you aren't. But then when they are in Positive Absolute Polarity. It really won't matter where you sit or where you stand in your room. You will be surrounded and enveloped, in the sound. Not exactly coming from your speakers. But from somewhere in front of your speakers. And then you'll know. You got it wired correctly. When you when you experience that effect. When you can't pinpoint the sound coming from the speakers. It'll be in front of the speakers. Pushing that positive pressure wave out toward you. That's what it sounds like it comes from in front of the speakers. It is no longer sucking in front of you. And so there you go. Mass mistakes do get made. Thankfully they don't hurt or kill anybody in this instance. And who cares if you don't like the sound of your stereo system? It'll inspire you to go out and purchase more stuff. Always trying to chase that right sound you want to hear. But it is elusive. It doesn't matter how much money you spend. Whhen your speakers are sucking. Away from you. Your brain does not know what to make of that? Remember this is electronically reproduced sound. That's 100% unnatural, to begin with. Amplification does not come naturally without electricity. And the production of the sound and hearing. Requires no electricity. So if you throw electricity into that equation. You have to include everything including the microphones. Which they didn't. When they designed this stuff.. They completely forgot about the microphones.. Because they were not Audio Engineers. They were design engineers. And so they don't do what I do for a living. What I learned how to do. They were not taught such stuff. They were taught the math and the textbook information. They were not taught what they are hearing. Or how it sounds the other way? I have found that young audio engineers love experimenting with everything! Except the wiring of their speakers. Which they are convinced are right. Because they follow the instruction manual. Therefore it cannot be wrong. Au contraire. It is wrong. And that is not the only mistake that has been made on a large-scale with expensive recording equipment. There are plenty of others I have had to find.. I have had to solve and repair. The electrical engineers could not. Because they are limited by their mathematics and textbooks. And when it doesn't add up? They don't know what to do? And I have to find the problem. This is where the problem generally lies,, is. It's in the speaker wiring. Something so simple. That everybody got it wrong. Everybody except the JBL Speaker Company of Los Angeles, California. They thought this through correctly. And you will find their speakers. They are out of phase. To all other speaker manufacturers, speakers. All others. Because they got it right. And everybody else got it wrong. It's amazing! And so now in my retirement. This is my New Mission. I want everybody to hear their stereo systems better! And you do that. By reversing the connections on both your left and right channel speakers. Give it a try. Take a listen. Then wire it back the way it was. And you will want to vomit. And will quickly change it back. And try to understand why it now sounds so good? When all you have is a cheap $350 stereo system? But now sounds better than your friends, $2000 stereo system. And he won't understand why? How can your crappy system sound better than mine? And so don't tell him what I told you to do. Nobody figures this out, ever. It's very funny and professionally tragic. And it's very funny when I explained this to Electrical Engineers and Acoustic Engineers. And I really wish I had a camera each time. Because the expressions on their faces are precious. Jaws fall open. Comments like, I never thought about it this way before? You're right! Yes I am. Yes JBL is. And it's thanks to them. When I figured this out in 1978. When I had just designed and built from scratch. Baltimore's, 2nd Largest Music Recording and Commercial Production Facility. Back in 1978 when I was only 22 years old. But I'm a genius, you see. And it took another brand of speakers. For me to figure out what was going on. As Matthew Polk of Polk Loudspeakers was an acquaintance of my business partner. And he wanted us to use his speakers in my control room. So he brought his over. I found his speakers were out of phase to my JBL's. And I wondered why that was? Until I brought in 1/2 dozen other speakers by other manufacturers. Only to find the same thing. Out of phase to the, JBL's. And then I started flipping polarity. I flipped the JBL's. And they now sounded nearly as crappy. As those other speakers. Because I had there polarity reversed. And so when I inverted the polarity on these other manufacturers speakers. To match the polarity of the JBL's. Oh my goodness they sounded so much better! But they still didn't sound as good as my, JBL's. And there are other manufacturers of speakers I like and use. But I'm not the only one. Who keeps going back to my old JBL's. They just sound right. The sound, real. They sound big and open and not squeezed not puny sounding. But not when you have the polarity inverted. Then they sound crappy like everybody else's. Because they are working in reverse.. They are sucking away from you. It's a strange thing I know. And I thought this would have been well corrected by now? But it hasn't been. It's like everybody wanting to vote for a felonious unethical guttersnipe like Donnie Trump a convicted felon. And people still insist on supporting this anti-American felon. Because he is a nasty celebrity that nasty people love. And he doesn't do anything legal. And likes to grab pussy's. And thinks it's funny. It is to him a 4-year-old 77-year-old boy. Because he can do anything he wants to do! They told him so.. And they released a monster virus in the process. Ready to cause death to the USA. As that is his objective his goal his agenda his second coming! He's a scumbag. Reverse the wiring on both of your speakers. Just do it. RemyRAD

[@shortsleave]

What’s “lifting right off” on your Beatles at Hollywood Bowl is the image itself. You’re erasing away the image. See how the ticket started to rub away when you went over it? That’s what you’re doing to the rest of the cover. It’s not supposed to be white. Water damage and ring wear don’t erase away. Only dirt.

[@howtovinyl]

You are correct - I only own the one copy of that record, and thought I remembered it being more white, less cream/yellow. That was my mistake, but it was good to put it to rest the limitations of this cleaning method. Thanks for watching!

[@Peter-Burbank]

I use pink erasers from the 99 Cent Store, and I don’t rub anywhere near that hard, you will remove the finish, and sometimes delaminate the cover if you do

[@Bamali]

Good video. For glossier jackets, a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser works really well too. Just barely wet it and go nice and easy. It can take ink off if you get too aggressive, especially on the matte finishes, so just be careful. I use it on all my used record finds and it can make a big difference.

[@andrew-xr1de]

MAGIC ERASER works, wet squeeze extra water out and rub softly. It's much faster and no dry eraser crumbs. go over quickly and wipe dry with an old rag. Works best on a gloss album cover but use lightly and fast on a flat dry inked cover and watch out for too much rubbing on the black ink area. You will get the hang of it fast, what and what not to do. I did all 2000 lps of mine, let them dry and place into a plastic- non yellowing cover. as for the lp cleaning, sonic and vacuuming works the best. Pre wash lp before if it is dirty and than into the sonic cleaner. warm distilled water and 30min cleaning. keep lps 1.5" distance away from each other minimum for better results.

[@howtovinyl]

Good tip! I had never really thought much about cleaning jackets before hearing about the eraser method that I tried in this video. I might have to give the magic eraser method a go!

[@sp2un]

How do you cut your nails like that ?! So, so short 😮

[@JamboLinnman]

Suggest you protect the opposite side of the record cover that you’re working on by putting a towel, microfibre towel etc underneath. When you’re rubbing the cover with the eraser, the record cover is scrubbing back and forth. Obviously white ring wear on a coloured cover is the base cardboard showing through so rubbing it with an eraser with only rub more of the colour off, as happened with Joni Mitchell’s Blue.

[@chrisrees7054]

TAKE THE RECORD OUT FIRST, DUH!

[@chrisrees7054]

Either that or buy another copy

[@leon9021]

Looks just the same as using a normal white eraser.

[@howtovinyl]

It's definately heavier, and feels more "high quality", but yeah the results look the same as any other eraser!

[@electron0002]

Baby wipe a lite rub over seem to work for me

[@DJStanSteel]

This makes me laugh.. youngsters trying to make this so bright and new. Who cares apart from folks so stupid and have far to much time on their hands. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 just enjoy! Oh that, even if you actually have a TT!

[@seand67]

That's a lot of labor.....

[@howtovinyl]

Yeah - not worth it in my opinion!

[@BlytheWorld1972]

Your voice is too loud turn it down a bit ..

[@TheWolfbass]

Wow, 11 Minutes for stating the obvious. Congrats!

[@RemyRAD]

Yes I can see plenty of those jackets are pretty trashed. And it doesn't matter if the vinyl still sounds good. It's still, vinyl. You really want the digital copy of the master mix tape. Not the backup safety recording with the, vinyl disc mastering gobbledygook processing on it! That's what got them the bad rap to begin with. But it's not going to vinyl.. So the digital copy of the master mix tape. Is, the one you want to hear and have. Because most of those recorded mixes. Need No Mastering.. It needs that nonsense to be put onto vinyl. Not for digital release. I mean you are not going to buck, technology and progress. In fact you are on KZbin! You shouldn't even have a smart phone much less a computer! How authentic are those? How authentic are you? And so if I were you. I would be selling all of those stupid old vinyl records. I want copies of the master mix tapes. That's what I want to hear. And not some Mastering Engineer who was nothing more than a frustrated and failed, Recording and Mix Engineer. That's why they became a Mastering Engineer. So they could listen to how everybody else does it. That knows what they're doing. And you can't go wrong,, Mastering their recordings. Because they are already such great engineers. It won't sound like amateur hour. No matter what they do. Mine certainly doesn't. I'm real good. I was only an amateur 60 years ago. For a couple of weeks. Until I got my footing in the door. At big recording studios. At big television networks. At big advertising agencies. And whatever somebody wants to launch. I'm there to document it.. And so flip the connections around on both your left and right channel speakers. You'll thank me later. RemyRAD

[@butcherbabys]

THIS WONT WORK LOL

[@howtovinyl]

I had to try! Haha!

[@craigsandry6737]

Did someone sell you the Bowie LP on EBay claiming it was Ex+ ? 😂😂😂