How To: Make Your Own Record Collection Storage Unit… …All for Under $100

Unplggd reader dmstudio posed this request in yesterday's A Record Lover's Storage Solution: The Atocha Record Cabinet comments: "I would love it if Unplggd could find some stylish record album storage solutions that don't involve buying new furniture. I've looked and keep coming up empty except for some boring and not too stylish storage boxes from the Container Store."

dmstudio's request* was the very same question we asked ourselves a few years back when we were looking for a decor-friendly storage solution for Emily and my modest sized vinyl collection. Our prayers were answered when we discovered a curbside throwaway vintage stereo cabinet in less than stellar condition, but in salvageable condition, and spurred on by this find, we set away on a multi-week project converting a broken cabinet stereo into a refinished and illuminated storage unit that we documented for our sister city site, Apartment Therapy Los Angeles, all for under $100 (more like $75, thanks to some borrowed tools).

We've seen similar 1950's-1970's long cabinet designs at vintage stores, thrift shops, Goodwill locations and yard sales, and these beauties often provide available storage as-is or with a few modifications as was the case with our Westinghouse unit. Another place to hunt down similar style pieces locally are Craigslist and occasionally eBay (the nicest pieces seem to hail from Canada for some reason, but shipping costs are prohibitive).

We thought we'd repost this series of how-to instructions we shared a few years back for those of you looking for a low-cost (though admittedly DIY involved) way to stylishly store and display your vinyl:

The DIY Stereo Cabinet recap:

*since preparing this post, dmstudio further clarified he's actually looking for non-furniture storage for his collection, since his current space lacks any additional room for any furniture. We'll be sure to follow up on this request also.

Be safe when removing the guts from these old consoles!

Tube amps run at high amperage. Many of the amp chassis are “hot”, meaning that the metal box(es) the amps components are mounted on(in) has electricity flowing through it. DO NOT touch the amp chassis if you have it plugged in (in case you want to try it before gutting it).

The capacitors in these amps hold a charge for quite a while. Think of them as a super powerful, short term battery. Even though the unit is unplugged, you may still be in for a shock if snipping wires and/or sticking your fingers in the wrong place. Give the capacitors a few days to fully discharge on their own (even though you didn’t plug it in, I am sure the thrift store/previous owner did before selling it).

Some of these old console guts (amps, speakers, and record players) are valuable. All of these parts can be restored (although some aren’t worth it) and can be returned to making beautiful music.

You haven’t heard jazz until you listen to it through high-efficiency speakers being powered by vacuum tubes!

posted by sciteach on November 11th 2009 at 9:36pm
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sciteach: don't worry, this was stored for several months unplugged (pardon the pun) before being gutted. The amps, vacuum tubes and whatever various other parts that looked like they could be reused were donated to our resident audio tinkerer, Peter Treadway, for whatever glorious or nefarious purposes he can imagine for them.

The real danger was finding a small community of spiders within, since this was a curbside find that was left out for several days before and after it was whisked away by yours truly.

posted by gregory on November 11th 2009 at 11:36pm
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I love this idea, but have WAY too much vinyl to fit in a unit like this. I currently have this nice little record cabinet made out of an old console television, but it only holds 100.

http://matthewhambrick.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-record-cabinet-that-used-to-be.html

posted by matthewhambrick on November 12th 2009 at 12:51am
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same here--great idea but my collection takes up two Expedits

posted by abc123 on November 12th 2009 at 9:17pm
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I have a feeling crate diggers are always going to have too much vinyl for the size of their home and storage, just as any impassioned collector :D Think of this as inspiration for those who don't have hundreds, if not thousands of records to store. Thank goodness the bug that bit me a few years back has chilled out...we wouldn't have enough room for both love of vinyl AND books.

posted by gregory on November 12th 2009 at 9:55pm
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I totally want to get two Expedits, but the wife has said no. Thus my record collection is mostly banished to the closet. *Sad face*

posted by matthewhambrick on November 12th 2009 at 11:13pm
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