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Good record storage ideas?
QUESTION:Good record storage ideas?
Storing records has always been a headache for me. I am still using
shelves made of milk crates and 8-foot pine boards. Anybody got a good
idea for storing records that won't break my checkbook and still looks good?
ANSWER: -IKEA has several shelf and cube options worth checking. Newly popular
are the modular metal grid shelf systems-most hardware/home centers
have them, as do office/computer catalogs like Global. They typically
have open grid shelves, but MDF inserts are available. They come
chrome/black/white, and can be adjusted/extended as needed.
-Q: Anybody got a good
idea for storing records that won't break my checkbook and still looks good?
A: This will take some searching, and perhaps one of the Stereophile crew
reading this can help, but:
A few years ago, Corey Greenberg, in possibly the only useful article he
ever presented in Stereophile, had a recommendation for a particular
manufacturer's knock-down shelf. It wasn't sold as a record storage
cabinet, but Mr. Greenberg found that it worked for him quite well.
I called the company in the Los Angeles area - possibly Santa Fe Springs
or CIty of Industry - and was pleased to find that this wasn't an
exotic decorator's item, and that it was sold by several major home
improvement chains. I found it three blocks away at a Builders Emporium
(now defunct) for something like $40. It was a rather ordinary looking
unfinished MDF unit about 6 feet by 2 feet, with five shelves (including
the bottom), and - unusually - a thin back surface for stability. It
was dadoed and machined correctly, again an unexpected pleasure, and
seemed unusually solid when I got it together. Like Mr. Greenberg, I
bought a few aerosol cans of textured (pebble surface) paint for the
exterior, and I painted the shelves and inside flat black. It must hold
about 800 LPs, and hasn't sagged in six or seven years, as far as I can
tell from typing this 20 feet away. It is just perfect for LPs, with
the jackets extending maybe 3/4" from the front, just enough to pull out
a record without hassle. And it looks good enough to occupy my living
room.
Now I wish I could tell you what it was called, or the name of the
company, but I can't, and I don't intend to search through all my back
issues of Stereophile. My vague recollection was that this was
mentioned in the rather dense Industry Update pages at the front of the
magazine. And it didn't have a fancy name- just some silly
manufacturer's model designation such as (totally fabricated) RC 80 L
rather than a marketing name such as Bluebird Record Storage Cabinet.
So if you have any possible way of obtaining this information, I assert
that this is a first-class record storage cabinet at a bargain price.
The paint cost more than the shelving. I can't imagine anything from
Ikea or the like being more solid and sag-resistant than this guy.
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