Vinyl Flat Record Flattener: A Review

For those of you that collect vinyl records, you can share in the frustration when you take home a used -  or even sometimes new - piece of wax, only to lay it on the platter and it moves up and down like the Tilt-A-Whirl! I reached my boiling point when I was gifted two brand-new, sealed LPs for my birthday last year - and what do you know, one of them was so warped that it wouldn't even play. Lucky for me, the store was able to exchange it for another copy.

As Christmas rolled around, little did I know that the heavy package waiting patiently under the tree contained the Vinyl Flat device inside. It's comprised of two, heavy felt-lined circular platters that sandwich a warped record. After tightening up the bolt, the whole unit gets placed in either the oven, or in the Groovy Pouch - I was lucky to receive the Pouch, otherwise you have to have an oven that can regulate temperature under 150 degrees. With the Pouch, all you have to do is velcro it shut, plug it in and off you go. Depending on the severity of the warp, I've found that flattening can be achieved between 4 - 12 hours.

Here it is with the Groovy Pouch:

The felt rings that protect your record from getting scratched by the platters:

Since receiving the Vinyl Flat, I've saved approximately 20 unplayable records that I am now able to enjoy... and as a side bonus, I can score warped records at the shops for cheap, and take them home to flatten! Yay.

This past weekend, I intentionally picked up a badly-warped copy of Neil Young's 'Harvest' at a thrift store. I filmed a before-and-after video sequence so that you can see the results for yourself.

Before

Before / Different Angle

After

Order one for yourself here - and be sure to let them know you saw it on the Life On This Planet Blog! Thanks. - Bret

If you're a vinyl enthusiast, check out our feature on the Spin Clean Vinyl Record Cleaning Machine (click image below)

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