After thoroughly washing, it's time for the scary stuff. We'll be using plenty of water. Wet the sand paper, wet the record. Not absolutely necessary, but you can also add a bit of liquid soap to the sandpaper as a lubricant. Place the record on a hard, flat surface and LIGHTLY sand each side, in the area of the scratches using curving strokes parallel with the grooves. Some scratches won't be easily visible and the sanding does remove some of the shine from the record. For this reason, I normally sand the entire surface. That not only guarantees I've hit all the scratches, but gives the record a uniform look as well.







Hint:



I've found that placing the record on the counter with the edge of the disc overhanging slightly allows me to grasp the record and rotate it with one hand while holding the sand paper steady on the other side with the other. This insures the sanding stays parallel with the grooves.







Keep your hand holding the paper open and flat, insuring plenty of surface area is in contact with the record. Make frequent trips to the faucet to rinse and re-wet both the record and paper. 1500 is an extremely fine grit, so you may see extremely small scratches on the surface of the vinyl as it's being being sanded, if any. If you notice the smooth, runout surfaces of the record getting dull, you're probably pushing too hard. Use very light pressure. Don't worry too much about ruining the record if you used too much pressure. No sanding is taking place inside the grooves. If areas start getting dull, just go over them very lightly and they'll begin to brighten up again. Don't sand too long either. 4 to 6 times around is probably enough. If it turns out you didn't sand enough, it's easy to do it again.







The record will be rejuvenated as the lands are smoothed down and the edge of the groove becomes crisp and sharp, just as it was the day it was pressed. Technically, the grooves will be a minuscule bit shallower, but the upper reaches of the grooves had been ruined anyway and new needles snuggle deeper into them, making the upper portion redundant.







Oh, and don't forget to thoroughly wash your new record before trying to play it... All that vinyl dust you just created can't be good for your record or your needle.:)







I've sanded several of my "destroyed" records with an excellent success rate and can again play them on my "floating turntable" without worrying about ruining the needle. Deep, deep gouges that destroy the entire groove and grit inside the groove that's been melted into the vinyl are beyond this method, so if that's the case, you may have to live with a "pop" or two. Everything else should sound spectacularly clear and noise-free, just as it should. The only failure for me so far was a Partridge Family album that I found in a consignment shop. The vinyl was so bad (not even a cover or sleeve), I had to have it just to see if sanding would work for it... Well, grit was so imbedded into the vinyl, nothing in my arsenal was able to pull it out. I managed to improve the sound by 50% or so after the first powerwashing (no, I wasn't about to see how bad it was right out of the store), but it's still unlistenable using my beater needle







Speaking of turntables, I have a remarkable turntable hack that can be added to all brands of turntables, doesn't modify or harm them in any way and virtually eliminates the chance that an accidental bump will carve a new, perpendicular groove across your records' pristine surfaces. It works on the science of physics, is pretty cool and can be checked out here:







( https://www.instructables.com/id/Zero-Movement-Turntable-Feet/ )







So... Take a deep breath, grab that ruined record, a sheet of sandpaper and say "oooRah"...







You can thank me later.







Does anyone know how many grooves there are on each side of a 12" record?







1/30/12: Instructable member Suzanne in Orting does: One! She was the first person to get the answer to me. Congratulations Suzanne in Orting. I'm sending you a patch.







The next one is a little bit more difficult... Who knows the approximate length of a groove on a 12" 33 1/3 rpm record? (don't cheat by looking it up on the internet:)







Feb 11, 2012...Come-on.. No one knows? Tell you what... Forget the "no internet" rule, forget the patch... I'll give the first person I see a correct answer from (within 500'... come-on a GUESS could win this), in the comments section (no emails... Not fair, cause I read those more often) a 3 month pro memb.... No.. Make that a 6 month pro membership.