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Good cleaning tip

jgordon

jgordon

Super Member
Often times I run across some white crap (seems almost like splattered paint) on the playing surface of my "vinyls." Not sure why it's consistently white, except maybe I just don't see the darker stuff. Anyway.

I've tried a number of things to help get it off, including x-acto knives and fingernails. But the best thing I've found is the red plastic wand of a compressed air can (or a WD-40 can). It's a soft yet firm plastic, and the small diameter of the shape allows you to "ride" the grooves and gently push at whatever's stuck to the record. I've gotten a number of particles off the playing surface with no damage to the grooves themselves this way.

Below is a pic. Basically you can control the amount of force being exerted on the crap with the angle of the tube and with your finger pressure. Gently nudge at the crap - you can feel the tip of the wand catching it, and push forward. It'll typically break away from the disc with a little prodding. And then you can blow it off the record, rather than drag it with a brush or the vacuum wand.

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Hope this helps.
 

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I seemed to notice such on only one LP I bought about 1-1/2 years ago at the thrifts, a Chicago Umpteen. I forget which, it had the song "No Tell Lover" on it.

As you, I noticed a bunch of tiny white dots only about a groove width wide. I soaked and scrubbed my booty off on this one, it was getting better, and better, but still no cigar, it still had just a couple of spots left.

God knows what the hell this is/was? Very possible my record, and yours came from the very same collection!?:D

Maybe the guy was a painter from "This Old House"?

I was using AIVS Enzymatic Cleaner, and at the time didn't have the AIVS #15 pre-cleaner on hand. And yep, I heard that tick as it played through. Maybe I'll try again next time I whip out the VPI 16.5? Mark
 
I bet it is paint. I can picture the college student or 20-something in a new apartment, has a paint party with friends to get the place done quickly. They need some loud music to keep the energy level up... records are played under the spatter from the roller, even flipped on the 'table with some paint still on the fingers. I've got some jackets that clearly have paint spatter on them, and maybe a few discs too.
 
Wow, no thanks. I have found that devices specifically designed for record-cleaning work really well, as does a good soak in the sink.

The jagged lip of that hard plastic straw is doing far more damage than any junk on the record surface.
 
Tromatic said:
Wow, no thanks. I have found that devices specifically designed for record-cleaning work really well, as does a good soak in the sink.

The jagged lip of that hard plastic straw is doing far more damage than any junk on the record surface.
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Well, you don't know that. If the plastic the straw is made from is softer than the vinyl record, it cannot scratch the record.

However, I typically use a round, pointy, wooden toothpick for this sort of thing.

Doug
 
Then there is the fact that a fairly small, sharp DIAMOND is gliding along in the deepest recesses of the album when you play it...

I don't think that would bother the lp's that much. They're pretty tough.
 
onwardjames said:
Then there is the fact that a fairly small, sharp DIAMOND is gliding along in the deepest recesses of the album when you play it...

I don't think that would bother the lp's that much. They're pretty tough.
Click to expand...

Much interesting reading out there on the physics of LP playback, you could almost say it is understood. If you ever sell those records, though, make sure to disclose the 'cleaning' methods you used, such as WD-40 applicators, X-Acto knives, finger nails and tooth-picks. I'll pass on those, thanks.
 
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Tromatic, no worries. If I ever sell my collection I'll keep you off the list. In the meantime, I'll listen to my now quiet and clean records with a light heart.

Personally, I'd rather have a record cleaned this way than one with paint on it. My experience with this method has been that it will take a passage which will cause the needle to skip, and turn it into a completely trouble-free, silent (except for music) section.

If you actually try this, you can feel the bottom of the WD-40 wand riding the grooves. Given the diameter of the wand vs. the width of the groove, there is no danger of the round plastic getting deep enough into the groove to affect playback.

As far as other methods, I'm open to them.

Jon, It certainly seems like paint, but I've run into this on enough records that it would be surprising. I was thinking it might be mold release agent that's hardened over time? I just have trouble rationalizing that many people painting over spinning records.

Mark, let me know what you think when you try it.
 
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Tromatic said:
Who, me? Nope. Your vinyl is suspect.
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Suspect of what? Being an oft-overlooked medium that I play for pleasure, not idolize like the staff of Ra? Jeez, man, lighten up.

I'm with Jgordon on this, I just wouldn't think that would damage anything. Other than that, i don't have a dog in this hunt. I read somewhere about the temperature of the needle tip being much warmer than one would think, due to friction. A flimsy plastic tube shouldn't do any damage. If you have reason to believe it would, please enlighten us.
 
I agree this could be very useful occasionally, and I don't see how it could hurt. It simply cannot ride down in a groove, but merely catches the upper part of whatever is in the grove. That certainly would be better than having the stylus hit it.
I have even found albums I really wanted, but found to have a short but deep scratch. I take a single edge razor, dull one corner so it wont dig into the vinyl, and GENTLY run it through each affected groove. The result is a very quick, quiet "pht" instead of a loud "POP". Sometimes the "damage " I do is barely audible, and beats the crap out of the popping and clicking. Ideal? No. Acceptable? To me, yeah, in many cases. Depends on the album.
 
I've had the same bits of white "crap" show up on my records before too, don't know what it is, and I've been using the same method (compressed air can straw) to knock it off also.

I don't particularly worry about damaging my records, because at most a tenth of them cost me more than three dollars, and many of them already look like hell, but they do play well enough for me.
 
Wasn't that one of the taunts shouted at King Arthur by the French at the end of Monty Python and the Holy Grail?
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Have had no luck insulting records as a technique to remove debris. They stubbornly resist the most daunting taunting. Sarcasm, backbiting, innuendo, crass goading, subtle irony--nothing. Still without success...

Perhaps I shall blurt to them, in a pinched nasal tone: Nee! Nee!


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jgordon said:
..., there is no danger of the round plastic getting deep enough into the groove to affect playback. ...
Click to expand...

+1

But you could always use a Line Contact stylus to ride deeper. :D

.
 
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Wonder if the record with the white spots was mfg from recycled vinyl with label and all that's mixed togeather.
 
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