LP cleaning advice required..HELP!!

[ProAc_Fan]

I'm a newbie when it comes to LP's and turntables. I know my LP's need to be cleaned as they were all purchased at a local thrift shop. What is the best way to give them a thorough cleaning? I've been using a felt cloth and a 50/50 mixture of 99% pure alchohol and distilled water. Some records sound great( no crackles, pop or static) but on a few the static is very evident and it frankly sounds horrible. I was going to purchase the Discwasher D4+ system with the brush and cleaning fluid but I'm holding off until I get some learned opinions. I won't spend hundreds on a record cleaning machine so please keep any suggestions affordable.

Mike

[Wardsweb]

Try building your own record cleaner:

http://www.teresaudio.com/haven/cleaner/cleaner1.jpg

http://www.teresaudio.com/haven/cleaner/cleaner.html

If you would like a Disk Wash brush, I have three.

[grumpy]

Mike

For what you want I would just stay with the D4 system. Its cheap and it works ok. For the most part I keep my stuff pretty clean and juts hit them quickly befoer each playin. One of these days I will pick a VPI or SOTA machine. But till then its a good Philips brush and away I go.

Dave



There are expensive machines for this purpose which work very well. One popular model goes by the name Nitty Gritty. These machines spray cleaner onto the record, work it into the grooves, and then vacuum the cleaner and dirt out. If you are serious about records and have lots of them, it may be a good investment for you.

If you have a more reasonable collection, you might be happy with a good hand washing every now and then. To give your records a good hand washing, start by preparing this wash: 1 gallon distilled water 1 gram Alconox (a laboratory detergent) Also, get a natural bristle brush and trim it to the correct stiffness/bristle length so that the bristles can get into the grooves but aren't stiff enough to scratch the record. Some record-cleaning recipies recommend alcohol. However, alcohol will leach plasticizer from vinyl, and eventually degrade LPs. Alcohol will also disolve the shellac of 78s, so should never touch a 78.

Lay the LP flat and pour a thin coat of the above fluid on it. Brush the wash into the grooves with the bristle brush. Brush in the direction of the grooves, going through all grooves. Flush the wash and dirt off with cool, running tap water. Rinse the record with distilled water and pat it dry with a soft, clean cotton cloth.

Also consider using a carbon fiber brush every time you play the LP. It picks up some surface dirt and removes static.

[WildWest]

If it were me, I would avoid such a high alcohol content for cleaning purposes.

Making a record vacume machine can be like as Wardsweb posted or even as simple as bolting a old vacume motor under a shelf and coming off of that with a modified crevice cleaning tool. Scrub with proper brush, vacume. Rinse with distilled water, vacume.

Vacuming will really provide you with amazing results though. I sure am sold on it.

http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/fluids.html

http://www.teresaudio.com/haven/cleaner/cleaner.html#const

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/recordcleaner.htm

http://www.kabusa.com/rcleaner.htm

[car67]

For a manual non-vac option, I've read a lot of good things about the Disc Doctor system. More expensive ($60) than the D4, I believe, but much less than the cheapest nitty gritty.

DIY is worth considering. my contraption cost less $100, I think, and it gives very good results. Carbon fibre brush is also a good idea.

Jack

[Pat S.]

I highly recommend Gruv Glide record spray. It costs about $20 a can but it lasts a long time and it really works (in my experience, at least). The spray cleans the record and also discharges static electricity. Once you clean a record, you don't need to clean it again until the 3rd or 4th listen. Gruv Glide comes with 2 soft cleaning pads too. I also use an Audioquest carbon fiber brush ($15) to sweep up the fine dust particles that tend to collect on the record's surface.

I believe that keeping the stylus clean is equally important. I use a small stylus brush to keep the stylus free of lint and dust. Now and then I'll apply some Discwasher stylus cleaner too. Some people use stylus cleaner after almost every play. However, I've heard that over time, the cleaner can corrode the tip. This also seems excessive to me. A brush won't hurt anything as long as your'e careful.

In my experience, surface noise is often unavoidable no matter how well the record has been cleaned. I have purchased a number of records over the years that looked mint or were, in fact, brand new that have sounded terrible. This is due to the fact that not all vinyl was/is created equally. It can be due to inferior materials, bad pressings, temperature variations etc. I bought a new 180 gram "audiophile pressing" of Exile On Main St. recently and it sounded so bad that I returned it. I'm not super picky, but the surface noise and overall sound was unbearable!

Have fun!

[Thatch_Ear]

Audiofool friend of my Dad's back in the early 60s washed his with an old wash rag in the sink with just a touch of dish soap. Then you rince and do the wave type thing that flexes the disk. I used this method till the mid 90s when TT and collection was lost. Preening in between washings kept the grooves pristine. Cheap but effective cleaning method. Going back to TT and plan on resuming dishwater cleaning method.
Thatch

[WildWest]

Dish soap and tap water eh? Well if it works for you and such, great! I have been doing some reading on the subject and it seems the concensous is that dish soap will leave behind residue unwanted. (typical soap scum) The soap gets into the grooves and it is hard to rinse out. Straight tap water has a high garbage content. Let alone having a high surface tension that flexing just can't help open up the very tiny grooves to get the deep rooted soap out. Yes we are talking verrrrrrryyy small particles of course but it all builds up and will cause heavier deposits on your stylus causing improper tracking and other unwanted noise. If it were me Dave, I would avoid any soap or tap water. But that's just me...
:D

[jay]

ProAc Mike,

All of the suggestions ahead of mine sound real good. Except to me. You see, I'm probably the biggest cheapskate in here. No way I'd ever get a record cleaning machine unless it was a garage sale 'score'. Even then, the thing has to be stored somewhere.

Heres what I do to clean my LP's: I just wash them with a strong surfactant like SprayN' Wash. Yep, the same stuff that gets the pizza sauce off of your T-shirts. The idea is to break down the surface tension of the water. Spray a little of the stuff on the record, add a bit of room temperature (not hot...it'll warp the record) water and rub it around. If it's the first time washing, just use your fingers. You'd be amazed how much junk you can feel come up out of the grooves. Some of it feels like sand! For subsequent washings, use a black piece of fabric store velvet to get down deeper in the grooves. I wrap my velvet around a block for more even contact with the record. Then I rinse off under a slow running, lukewarm tap. Avoid wetting the label. I probably get 90% of the dirt that machines get this way. Sometimes I'll play the record before it completely air dries. The needle tends to dig even more stuff out.

Best part of this system is, it doesn't cost anything but a scrap of velvet and there's no machine to get in the way when not in use.;)

[Moogfan]

I use my own cleaning solution with a high alcohol content (isopropyl is not very harmful to vinyl, according to conventional wisdom it's grain alcohol that will do harm). Contains about 50% alcohol, 50% water with some dishwashing detergent. I use a DIY brush that I made from a discarded thermal blanket (very velvet-like but longer fibers). I do rinse with tapwater but immediately dry the record afterward with a soft lint-free cloth.

Admittedly, this is not the best system, just cheap (it works, but I wouldn't use it more than once or twice on a record). One of these days I'll invest in the whole Disc Doctor system, but at this point I don't have enough records to feel like the investment is justified.

[Punker X]

I use the alcohol/ water in a spray bottle. I spray on a cloth, clean the LP then dry it with another cloth. I scored a groovy collection of LP's that was badly mildewed and used a the water/alcolhol and a couple drops of dish soap and it worked great. All but the most badly mildewed spots came up. First I ran the LP under tap water and scrubed lightly with a cloth to get the majority of the mildew off. Then had my alcohol/water/soap compound in one bowl, washed with a cloth. Then took another cloth with clean water and rinced. Then dried with another towl. A couple of the LP's still have a stain from the mildew which make it sound like static. I just use pure US cotton towels to clean with, if they don't scratch the black paint on my truck then it won't hurt the vinyl.

If this wasn't so much work I would probably give each LP the once over like this. It worked extremely well.

I bought a D4 system and I hate it. I end up having to clean several times and then it seems like there is a grey residue on the lp afterward. I am a smoker so maybe that doesn't help.

I just wish I could have saved the covers on most of the LP's. I was almost crying over it. Having to throw away, Doors, Traffic, Airplane, Amboy Dukes, and a host of other covers just killed me. I was able to save one Bob Seager System, an Iron Butterfly and a Janis Joplin cover, the rest were toast.

[loonytunes]

I've got a question fellas'
can I use the alcohol/distilled water solution on 78's ?
Or should I use something different?

Derek

[steamshooter]

ALCOHOL DESTROYS 78'S! If they are made from shellac. Some of the later 78's were actually vinyl, but I treat 'em all like they weren't. Better safe than sorry. There are some commercial solutions available for cleaning 78's. The only thing I have ever used is a very mild (nuetral) soap and water. And very little of that. If there are any separations in the laminations of the disc, water will get in and swell it up like particleboard left in the rain. 78's are extremely fragile, so err on the side of caution! I won't even use the same brushes or sucker tube that have been used with alcohol. I may be overboard, but these things are getting close to 100 years old. Brad

PS- I may not be spot on with my comments, if not, someone else jump in and straighten me out. I want to baby my 78's. Thanks, Brad

[loonytunes]

Thanx alot steamshooter!
I'm glad I asked before attempting to clean any of them!
I did'nt know alcohol would ruin them:stupid:

Derek