At 11:51 AM 2/16/04 -0500, Andrew Stiller wrote: >I, on the other hand, have comb-bound material from 1966 that is >still in perfectly good shape. Not one of the comb-bound scores of my >own publications (1991-present) that I keep as hard backup has ever >shown the cracking and stiffening behavior described above.
This may be how carefully you store them. I have almost no surviving binders older than 10 years. These items were all in below-freezing storage for almost a year, but more importantly, their bindings have been constantly exposed to sunlight (we have many windows, and I like a bright house). Almost all soft plastics break down; the white binders seem to break down easily, getting cream-colored before they get brittle. The black binders seem to last the longest. I've seen the same results with the white plastic (not nylon) parts in older VCRs and other electronic equipment. 1990-vintage VCRs come in (to the shop where I've worked once a week for 15 years repairing vintage audio and video equipment) with deteriorated and cracked plastic parts, and there's a big after-market business in replacements. All anecdotal, of course, but I don't know what environment my scores are going to be stored in once they leave my care. Dennis _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
