Sleeve Strut.

[4YearGraduate]

Thanks all with the advice on the record sales, I've started putting up alot of mid-priced joints on the IG.
In the meantime, lets talk sleeves.

I need to now start the catalogue and archive process of what im keeping, and i'm looking for a certain sleeve. In my whole collection, I probably have 4 or 5 records with this certain sleeve.

The only way i can describe it is its clear as shit and heavy duty as hell. In fact, all three sides have seams where the plastic comes together. This might sound like a pain in the ass, but the seems actually inadvertently protect the lp seems from getting bashed on filing.

anyone know what im talking about? Only sleeve i own with seems, at least 4 or 6 mil, very clear, not hazy at all.

what are you guys rocking for archive filing? lmk!!

 

[4YearGraduate]

i forgot to mention, when you look through it the sleeve almost looks watery but when laying against the record its crystal clear! where the fuck this thing come from????!!!

 

[4YearGraduate]

 

[ketan]

usually see those on records from public libraries. 70s archival style?

 

[4YearGraduate]

@ketan yes! total library vibes. where to buy tho!

 

[Frank]

https://youtu.be/tkevVrLbjuw
https://protected.de/de/lp-schutzhuellen-pvc

 

[klezmer electro-thug beats]

So if the heavy ones are PVC, who knows the chemical voodoo around preservation, degradation etc. between PE vs. PVC? Is PVC more stable long term? I mean at triple the price I'd hope so...

 

[Frank]

I bought quite some of these in 2005 and stored records in them until I re-sleeved them maybe 6-7 years later. I felt some deep rooted fear after having come across a few otherwise clean records in Ghana that had been stored in bad pvc sleeves that had "gassed out" and turned the surface dull with constant noise. I think my fear was unfounded though as I forgot to re-sleeve two or three copies I came across in recent years and they were just fine. I chalked it up as typical, unfounded record anxiety.

I've been buying from this company for over 20 years by now and they've had these ever since, probably for way longer, I'm quite sure there won't be any problems at all. Somebody would have brought this to their attention and their customer service was always top notch in my limited experience.

PVC is short for Poly-Vinyl-Chloride, the same material records are made from. The sleeves that cause the dulling probably had softeners added that can gas out with time.
In any way, they do have a great look and feel to them and make the records slide in and out of the shelf with total ease and luxurious smoothness.

 

[RAJ]

I just did a MAJOR upgrade on inner and outer sleeves when I moved into my new custom shelving unit. It took me a few brands to figure out what I liked.

I'm a fan of durable and glassy. For that, the Big Fudge brand is amazing. For the inner sleeve, I prefer Taguchi Rounds. I haven't been able to get them in the states for a while, though. The "Invest in Vinyl" are a good substitute.

 

[dizzybull]

Co-sign on Big Fudge. I really like their sleeves. Their paper ones for
inside are fine too but it’s the plastic sleeves that are my favorite.

 

[4YearGraduate]

Thanks boys, I just bought some big fudge 3mil and they are wonderful. Much tighter fitting than the old shitty ones which would like a mess on the shelf. This might be the move, thanks everyone for your input!

 

[4YearGraduate]

Frank said:

https://youtu.be/tkevVrLbjuw
https://protected.de/de/lp-schutzhuellen-pvc







Thanks Frank, these are exactly the sleeves i was talking about. Good call!

 

[Yemsky]

4YearGraduate said:



Frank said:

https://youtu.be/tkevVrLbjuw
https://protected.de/de/lp-schutzhuellen-pvc







Thanks Frank, these are exactly the sleeves i was talking about. Good call!



I am not surprised that Frank commented and posted a .de link. These sleeve were very common in Germany when I lived there in the 80s and 90s. I can not say whether they come in different plastics, but I remember them as a big pain, at least in retail where they get handled a lot and records get put in and taken out repeatedly. The edges or seams the record stand on at the bottom and the one which customers would touch at the top when flipping through the racks would break or rip as far as I remember. Maybe there are different materials and some are sturdier or maybe it’s the extreme conditions in retail with lots of greasy fingers accelerating the deterioration.

 

[ketan]

with lots of greasy fingers accelerating the deterioration
maybe if collectros would take a damn bath once in a while, knowatimsayin?

 

[Jimster]

ketan said:

with lots of greasy fingers accelerating the deterioration
maybe if collectros would take a damn bath once in a while, knowatimsayin?



Ugh... I remember flicking through a rack and encountering a bloody bogey (Dunno what 'Meriman slang is, booger? - i.e. someone had picked their nose and wiped it) on a sleeve. Even in the best places, common to notice dirty finger tips after 30 mins of rapid flicking, no? Thank God for digital.
Those opaque sleeves were also the ones our local library used for their vinyl. Yeah, they frequently cracked along the hardened seams but I guess public copies were seeing a lot more use than some collectro archive copy. I've noticed some of my PVC sleeves have gone a bit "Sweaty" where they have been stored for years so I think the Frank ones are better for this.

 

[billbradley]

I'm leery of the PVC sleeves because of the off-gassing that Frank mentioned. It's possible that the sleeves he posted were manufactured in a a different way but having seen so many records over the years damaged/discolored by the PVC I won't ever use them.

 

[klezmer electro-thug beats]

I have definitely seen splits on the fat-seamed sleeves but it's always in a context where damn near any material would be thrashed - 10000-in-three-hours-violently-flipping-for-melba-moore-peach-melba-and-shit bins. If you use them at home (and they're chemically sound) they do seem pretty durable. Bill's right though I won't touch them unless I've got somebody vouching that they haven't got any adulterants in 'em.

 

[asstro]

I'm very wary of PVC sleeves, I have a few records that were ruined by them. I get all my sleeves from Sleeve City, quality is great and they have sales all the time.

 

[stratasphere]

What Asstro said, if you want something archive quality I would suggest the Sleeve City Ultimate Outer 5.0. They have good clarity and strong seams and aren't as bulky as those gassy pvc archive sleeves. I use them on my raers/medium raers.