White dust/threads after paint pad cleaning?

BySumsStache

New Member
I clean my records with soap, water, alcohol, and a paint pad. Recently, my first time playing records after a wash results in a white thread-like build up. This only started happening after I switched to a HE stylus

Is this because my paint pad is shedding hairs? Or is my stylus digging up previously accessed dirt? Does this hurt the stylus? I have to wipe off the white fibers using a Scotch-brite.


Any suggestions? The white fibers disappear after one play through and the sound quality improves dramatically.
 
Sounds like your cutting up the record grooves with that stylus.

I hope your not using a scotch brite on your records, or the stylus or anything else with vinyl playback.

Are your records good and dry before playing?
 
I am running a P mount, so 1.5 grams.

The scotch-brite is not used to clean the records, only the needle.

My records are dry, I let them dry for several hours before playing.

The fibers are like lint in consistency.

The white fibers only come with records that have been recently cleaned. Any other record does not produce this effect. After one play, no more fibers are produced.

I'm not so sure that I'm cutting up my records. The fibers don't appear if the records have been wood glue treated. If the needle was cutting up my records, the fibers would appear, regardless of glue treatment.

EDIT: I think I might have found my lead. The new cleaning cloth I started using turns out to shed fibers like crazy.
 
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Use microfiber and hand wash them by themselves in a basin.

Hang them up to dry, do not use the dryer.

This way you won't pickup fiber from other items. :music:
 
Don't use a Scotch-Brite pad on your stylus. Buy a Magic Eraser, and use it as directed in numerous threads here. Scotch-Brite is far too coarse.
 
Oh I'm sorry, I mixed up the two brands. I was actually using a Magic eraser all this time. I thought that Scotch brite and Magic eraser were interchangeable.

But yes, thank you for the warning. A scotch brite would certainly be fatal to a record or a stylus.
 
I clean my records with soap, water, alcohol, and a paint pad. Recently, my first time playing records after a wash results in a white thread-like build up. This only started happening after I switched to a HE stylus

Is this because my paint pad is shedding hairs? Or is my stylus digging up previously accessed dirt? Does this hurt the stylus? I have to wipe off the white fibers using a Scotch-brite.


Any suggestions? The white fibers disappear after one play through and the sound quality improves dramatically.
I've occasionally seen this too, and looked at the debris under a microscope to find what it is. I concluded it's probably thin strands of vinyl, cut away by the stylus, shockingly. Some can be quite long. It happens only after careful cleaning, I concluded that cleaning might well have somehow altered/degraded vinyl surface - cleaning is known to increase friction in some cases. Happened more on an FG stylus I found.

I know most/many people seem to rave on about cleaning, but I find it to generally alter vinyl surface as did Pardee in his 1981 paper. So I really try not to clean records unless absolutely necessary.

Just join the 'records against bathtime' revolution !

:pawprint:
 
Good to hear you found the problem. I was having the same issue using a micro fiber towel to dry the records, tried a chamois with the same results. Now I just let them air dry and no more issues.
 
I still think long strans are vinyl shavings. Try letting the record drip dry and then you can rule out the rag.
 
Also the OPs cleaning mixture is somewhat vague, I'd be concerned about the mixture. Each to his own but I recommend sticking with commercial cleaning fluids and a RCM like the KAB EV-1 or the Record Doctor RCM to avoid problems like this.
 
Don't use a Scotch-Brite pad on your stylus. Buy a Magic Eraser, and use it as directed in numerous threads here. Scotch-Brite is far too coarse.

+ 0.5

Do not use scotch brite on anthing except your dirty pots and pans.

As for ME, some poeple have had problems it, maybe from using it wrong and maybe not. I stopped using ME when I found it pushed gunk up the cantilever of my SAS at times. Another friend, who is an experienced vinyl guru, swears that ME pulled the stylus tip off of his DL 301 MK II.

Best thing is a good stylus brush. Use a quality tool that was made for the specific job.

Bob
 
Or even a Spin Clean would be a good starting point for someone inexperienced with record cleaning, just follow the mfgs instructions and use the mfgs specified supplies. Same with cleaning the stylus on the cartridge, use a stylus brush and if needed a well known mfgs stylus cleaning fluid.
 
The nature of what's going on here could prove elusive.

First off, I assume that when you say soap is used in the cleaning mix, you actually mean detergent. Soap is "saponified fat or oil" whereas detergents are chemical compositions some of which have additives and some not.

Soaps and detergents actually don't clean, they simply lower water's surface tension. To use a slightly inaccurate analogy, they make water thinner so that it can more readily wrangle it's way into small spaces and liberate trapped matter. Alcohol behaves in a similar fashion but additionally can also dissolve certain other things.

Secondly, whatever has been loosened by the "modified water" must be liberated to a place away from the record grooves and nooks and crannies and made not to come back.The residue from what's left must be washed from the surface(s) with a rinse water (which has not been "modified"). The hoped for result would be that the resulting goop will be set free rather than forced deeper into the groves and nooks and crannies.

Lastly, there is is the possibility that the surface(s) of the grooves have been compromised (per loopstick) or perhaps have been compromised by the dreaded "soap scum" which is difficult to remove.
 
Mystery solved, it was the cleaning cloth.


Now, my record sound great! At this point I've got a '62 Living Stereo of Bramns Piano Concerto 2 played by Van Cliburn. I went thorough this process.

Cleaning with hand foaming soap and tap water, paint pad. Add a dash of alcohol at the end. Air/microfiber dry

Wood glue treatment if necessary

Repeat part one to rid of all glue bits.

Of course, you could argue my method is imperfect in that tap water and soap leave residue. In addition, I sometimes make mechanical errors, accidentally leaving a scratch or two.

However, for a total cost of free, I'm happy. I'm here for the music and the technology, not collecting. So, I'm really not going to invest $100's in a 1 dollar goodwill record.
 
I use distilled water in my mixture, along with a little Dawn and denatured alcohol. In place of the paint pad I use a nylon paint brush, then rinse with tap water followed with a final spritz of distilled water and air dry, works fantastic.
 
Mystery solved, it was the cleaning cloth.


Now, my record sound great! At this point I've got a '62 Living Stereo of Bramns Piano Concerto 2 played by Van Cliburn. I went thorough this process.

Cleaning with hand foaming soap and tap water, paint pad. Add a dash of alcohol at the end. Air/microfiber dry

Wood glue treatment if necessary

Repeat part one to rid of all glue bits.

Of course, you could argue my method is imperfect in that tap water and soap leave residue. In addition, I sometimes make mechanical errors, accidentally leaving a scratch or two.

However, for a total cost of free, I'm happy. I'm here for the music and the technology, not collecting. So, I'm really not going to invest $100's in a 1 dollar goodwill record.

Your home brew cleaning solution is not ideal. Filmy hand soap, dash of alcohal, ....

Try this simple solution.

Mix in a liquid cup 80% distilled water, 20% isopropyl, then add a drop or two of Dawn for dishes detergent. Store in a container of your choice and shake up before using.

Use this to clean your records. Apply the detergent and alcohol together with the distilled. Then rinse, then dry.

If you don't to want to spend $1 for a gallon of distilled then use your own water.

The best investment I made was a Record Doctor RCM. The vacuum process is best to clean and dry your records. Nothing is as good. I tried them all.

I am more of a listener than a collector too. Why listen to dirt and lint?
 
Hm, that sounds alright to me. I have no objection to it, I was just apprehensive of some of the more expensive methods suggested. I'll give it a go next time I pick up some records.
 
.....However, for a total cost of free, I'm happy. I'm here for the music and the technology, not collecting. So, I'm really not going to invest $100's in a 1 dollar goodwill record.

Up until this point, nobody knew we were talking about $1 records.

... I was just apprehensive of some of the more expensive methods suggested. I'll give it a go next time I pick up some records.

People are only trying to help.

Yes?

:thmbsp:
 
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