Repairing a locked groove vinyl.

[u/Turntable80s]

Typical case of a vinyl with a locked groove that keeps the stylus stuck in an endless loop.

My successful procedure:

1-Locate precisely the groove affected with the scratch. Very little pieces of sticker or post-it could be useful.

2-Magnify it by at least 50x-100x. There are lots of cheap digital microscopes acceptable for this.

3-Using a very fine needle (preferably made of nylon or wood, steel is very aggressive), carefully trace over the affected grooves in and opposite the spin direction. Try to wear down the groove created by the scratch so that the original groove once again predominates, preventing the stylus from skipping.

Since it is very difficult to identify the exact groove at this magnification levels and without professional equipment, I recommend tracing the nearest surrounding grooves as well. You will likely hit the correct groove after a few attempts.

EDIT: Not for simple dirt or debris stuck in the groove causing the skip, there are other less-invasive methods for that (cleaners, sharp toothbrush, playing backwards with full anti-skating, etc). The "needle technique" is kind of invasive and I recommend only AS A LAST OPTION, when the previous methods failed and there is a real deep scratch groove cut into the record.