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View Full Version : How to properly clean 45's?

Chris C
03-14-2003, 06:31 AM
Dear Hoffmanites:

I recently bought a bunch of 45's from various dealers in England on GEMM and many of them have sadly been "cleaned" by the seller's! You know what I mean by "cleaned"...They took a rag that they've used 500 times prior to my records with some damn solution on it to make the records look near mint! They honestly look mint, but when you play them, they sound like Edison cylinders!!!

Since I've always treated my records well I've never had to put ANYTHING on them to keep them clean, so I come to you and ask that without spending a lot of money...What do you suggest I use to TRY and get these sounding NORMAL again?

THANK YOU for any help that you can give!

Chris C
mcow1
03-14-2003, 07:00 AM
Disc Doctor, they sell 45 brushes too. The stuff works wonders unless the records are damaged.:)
Everest Dave
03-14-2003, 07:09 AM
Purchase a good record cleaning machine with the cleaning solution recommended by the company. My wife buys records at garage sales and we clean them on a VPI machine. We can salvage about 50% of them so that they sound rather good and the odd one is even exceptional. The rest, well they end up in record heaven. I will work on LPs as well as 45s.
lsupro
03-14-2003, 10:33 AM
Welcome Everest Dave!

Glad you're here. Thanks for the post!
Chris C
03-14-2003, 12:01 PM
Originally posted by lsupro
Welcome Everest Dave!

Glad you're here. Thanks for the post!

I second the welcome to you here Everest Dave and my THANKS to all for your suggestions!

Chris C
Stax Fan
03-14-2003, 12:08 PM
Gotta echo Mike's Disc Doctor recommendation. Nothin' works better. If they're excessively noisy, it's hard to say if the noise is the pressing quality, groove wear, or whatever it was that was used to "clean" them. If it's the latter, a good hit or two of DD fluid oughta do the trick. Unfortunately, if it's either of the first two, you're SOL.

As you no doubt know, surface noise is pretty common with even the cleanest of vintage 45s. You'll get better luck with UK 45s, but those too can be ticky. I just accept 'em for what they are...lots of fun.


__________
AC
Joe Koz
03-14-2003, 04:28 PM
My Nitty Gritty Record Master has a 45 adapter. It's an excellent way to do 45's.