I am indebted to Colin MacKinnon for referring to problems with his
zinc discs. Looking back at my earlier posting about storage, I find
that I failed to use the word "zinc", referring merely to "gray discs".
I should have said zinc discs. They are problems for a lot of reasons.
Best to stick to good, solid steel tune sheets whenever possible. If
one must have a zinc disc, treat it with extra care, for the various
reasons disc-cussed here!
I would say again that except for shipment, putting music box discs
in any kind of holder is asking for problems. Doesn't matter how
"modern", pH balanced, acid-free or whatever the fancy plastic
envelopes are and so on, one risks short-term and long-term damage to
one's discs. The lugs will catch in the material and possibly retain
little pieces, which can then wreck one's star wheel assembly and
dampers. Many plastics also have a tendency to shrink. This in time
will try to warp the discs, just as the shrink-wrap found on new LPs
tried to do. Get them off!
Except for Stella discs, which store horizontally very nicely, one's
best bet is to store vertically. Not so loose that they can start to
curve or tip over, but loose enough so that one disc may be located
and pulled out without catching on its neighbors. If one insists on
storing each disc in its own individual slot, I would suggest
partitions of clean STEEL sheet metal (watch out for that old physics
bugaboo "dissimilar metals"), which will not impart fuzz or chips or
whatever to the discs as might other materials, such as cardboard.
But steel would be extremely expensive, and is simply not necessary.
Happy discing!
Lee Munsick
Appomattox County
South Central Virginia USA
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