The art of cleaning a record. What do you use, special techniques, etc.?

I have washed them at the sink and hand dried them for years
after reading the effectiveness of a wet cleaning. Naturally,
this led to a couple accidents as I could not 100% dry the records
in this matter (even witht he best towels, etc.), I really DID need
a vacuum system. So, after 20 years of procrastination I bought
the KAB machine this year. It hooks up to your existing
vacuum cleaner (that has a hose). They send you a small bottle of
the Nitty Gritty fluid, which smells slightly of alcohol. It's been a
98% success since then. Clicky, unplayable records now saved.
I buy a lot of used yard sale or thrift store vinyl, and I look for
major scratches or too many scuffs around the spindle hole as
indicators of how much it has been played.

Totally filthy - but not played much - is what I go for.

Imagine buying a NM 50 y.o. RCA Shaded Dog' for 50¢!

 

This goes against all the "rules" of record maintenance, but any "dirty" or "noisy" record gets a short bath. I hold it under lukewarm running tap water (both sides), turning the record a few revolutions. I shake off whatever water I can then wipe gently in a circular motion with a soft towel. Sometimes I wipe problem areas with a wet J cloth while running under the water. Usually I get a big improvement if I was hearing noise due to surface crud and fingerprints. I just think life's too short to get too anal and picky about it. I'd prefer to seek out a clean copy of the record. I love the hunt.

 

I like the Disc Doctor / VPI record cleaning machine combo. It's a two step process, one wash, the other rinse, which you may prefer to avoid. In that case, Disc Doctor does have a one step fluid. You just scrub with the supplied brushes and vacuum off. The Disc Doctor wash/rinse two step method is what Tom Port recommends. If you get info from Mikey, don't tell Tom. If you get info from Tom, don't tell Mikey.

 

From a previous post:

I use a VPI 16.5 vacuum cleaning machine, Disc Doctor Brushes, and RRL fluid, with seperate brushes and vacuum tubes for the vinyl wash and rinse.

1 - Dry brush with an audioquest anti static brush

2 - Clean with RRL Super vinyl wash and DD brush - 5 revolutions

3 - vacuum, change tubes and DD brush

4 - Clean with RRL vinyl rinse - 8 to 10 revolutions

5 - vacuum, change tubes, flip record, repeat.

You will have to pry this machine from my COLD DEAD FINGERS, I consider it that vital to my vinyl enjoyment. Look at a used record under a very bright light, it's DIRTY. Look at a brand new record under a very bright light, it's probably DIRTY also!

Sure, it's a financial hit at about $450, it's time consuming, it's noisy, but for me it's ESSENTIAL. Anyone who has doubts, send me a dirty record with no scratches. I'll clean one side and send it back. It's a great feeling taking a dusty dirty discarded lp and turning it into a dead quiet collection worthy piece of vinyl.

If someone would offer you a piece of stereo gear for $450 that would make your lps sound a lot better, you'd probably save up and buy it. Well that's what a record cleaner does, only it is before you even put it on the table.

 

Never cleaned a single record. I say work with the dirt

 

Used vinyl gets a four step process with vacuuming between each fluid/scrub application. New vinyl gets just the last two steps (MOFI Super Deep and a MOFI brush and then Mofi Super Record wash with the VPI brush) Also make sure you use a pick-up tube reserved for new vinyl only to avoid contaminant transfer.

Works for me and my lowly MMF-5SE.

Eric

 

I've used the Discwasher system since 1975 (I know, lots here don't like it, but it works great for me). I clean every new/used record I buy before I play it the first time, and treat the disc with LAST preservative (My MOFI discs from the early eighties sound like the day I bought them.) Before each playing I simply use a carbon fiber brush to remove surface dust. If I buy a really filthy record, I use LAST Power Cleaner, or I take the record to the sink and give it a bath with an old (but clean) LAST brush and a very small amount of detergent added to the water, and then rinse and dry thoroughly.

 

You can make an expensive time consuming ritual out of it, but I've found that "cheap" and "quick" works very, very well for me. "Cheap" meaning the Nitty Gritty machine, and my home-made fluid. For 16 ounces of fluid, 75% distilled water, 25% pure (not rubbing) alcohol, and two drops of Jet-Dri. After a thoroughly-soaking application, rotate the record S-L-O-W-L-Y on the Nitty Gritty, taking at least 30 seconds to go around once, and I go around twice. Absolutely dead-quiet grooves.

The only records that need cleaned are newly-purchased records. After the initial cleaning, they will only need dusting, and I do that with a dry Discwasher.

YMMV, of course. But that works for me.

 

I use a Nitty Gritty record machine. I also (most of the time), use Nitty Gritty's Pure II record cleaning fluid. I rarely clean a record more than once.

As for LAST. I used it a lot back in the 80's. Never hear it make any of my records nosier. As a matter of fact, I used LAST on a lot of my MoFi's. They all play like the day I bought them.

 

I'm just going to modify Geoman's post for me:

 

My sytnadars is....

I vacuum clean all records with a Nitty Gritty 2.5. First I clean it with a alchol based solution, currently LAST for machines. After vacuuming a side, I use a spray bottle with distilled water as a rinse and vacuum again. If it is a record I even think I will play many times, I then apply LAST Preservative and store the record in a new sleeve. In the pat I used VRP and MoFi sleeves, I currently have been using Sleeve City's 2.0 sleeves. When ever I play a record, I use a dry brush with carbon fiber bristles to do a quick clean before a play.



Tim

 

I use the Disc Doctor/VPI 16.5 combo. I'll usually clean a record before I play it the first time and not again unless I get something on it. I brush it before and after each side plays using either a carbon fiber brush or a Discwasher brush depending on which I think would brush it off best.

 

I recently bought a Loricraft. Haven't had time to really get into it yet though. It shure looks nice though. In due time...

 

im with fremer. i use a nitty gritty for all records, new or otherwise. both sides get a wash and vacum dry with rrl(now msfl) deep cleaner, applied with disc doctor brushes, then another wash/dry with rrl/msfl super cleaner, applied with a different set of brushes. every record then gets a new rice paper sleeve. after that, i would basically never vacum clean again, and only apply a quick carbon fiber dry brush to every record before playing.

the whole process takes about 2-3 minutes per record. i've played uncleaned records, and believe me, this makes a huge difference, even on new records.

 

I pretty much follow Michael F's rule and clean a record on first play and that's about it unless it gets marked up somehow. I use a VPI 16.5 and a home brew of about 8 parts distilled H20, 1 part isopropyl alcohol and a drop of dawn detergent. If I could afford it I'd be using something better, but I clean a lot of records and money is tight (God every time I say that I seem to drop thousands on something I thought I didn't need. Famous last words I suppose.).If it's a really valuable record it goes into a high quality sleeve and I use a LAST brush only. If it's beat up a bit it goes in a cheaper sleeve. Filthy records get his with the brush that came with the VPI. This method has been serving me well for a while now and as I said in a thread yesterday I don't know how I ever lived without a record cleaning machine. Ignorance is bliss I suppose. Sometimes I wish I could just enjoy the cheap old Sony table radio I picked up for $5 last year at the Salvation Army. It does sound great for what it is. I was playing with it there and the lady working there was like "Damn, that sounds good! Better than our boom box over here." But I digress...

 

Ditto that (but I use my own method).

 

I use a Nitty Gritty with homemade Tergitol-based fluid for the first cleaning of new and used vinyl. If it is new, I add a LAST treatment. If it is used, I listen to it to see if it's a keeper. If so, it gets LAST-ed. All clean records go into a Nagaoka style sleeve, unless the record company was thoughtful enough to provide a real sleeve.
Carbon fiber and Discwasher brushes are used for dusting before and after play. Discwasher is a nice brush if one doesn't overdo the fluid. I *do* think that the old brushes made in Columbia MO were better quality.

If I could afford a Loricraft, I would get one in a second. They are much quieter than the other vacuum cleaners.

I also use LAST stylus treatment. I have used LAST products for about twenty years.


Cody

 

I pour tuna juice on the grooves (but never on the label) and let the cats lick it off.

Seriously, though, I clean the record on the VPI 16.5 when I first get it, but, since I don't switch to rice paper sleeves, it depends on how much dust has accumulated as to whether I clean it again. Sometimes it's good to go, sometimes a zero stat and dry brush are sufficient, and sometimes, especially if it's particularly static-y, then I wash it again.

 

I clean them by hand but pretty much following what a VPI record cleaner does. I considered getting an RCM for a while, but I've become convinced that the benefit of the RCM is mostly in the vacuuming of the liquid.

I use Audio Intelligent record cleaning fluids (although the batch I have is from before Paul Frumkin sold his business). I use the enzymatic fluid on first and after brushing with DD brushes (actually the Music Direct clones) I let is sit for a couple of minutes, and then brush each part of the record 7 times. Then I wipe it off with a soft lint free cloth (in this particular case an old 100% somewhat expensive undershirt that is used only for this purpose). For really dirty records I do this step again. I don't worry that it's completely dry as there is a second step.

Then I apply the record cleaner fluid and let it sit for at most a minute. I brush seven times on each part of the record with the DD brushes and then wipe it off with the cloth. This time I make sure that it's really dry. I brush with a carbon fiber brush and I'm done.

 

I've got the manual Nitty Gritty, so I just use the Pure 2 detergent that thay make for it. Rotate the record both directions clock/counterclockwise, slowly. Almost never do it again, unless the record is really grimy.

 

Disc Doctor protocol, no vacuum.

 

I have a VPI 16.5 back home in the US, but for the past two years or so I've been using this Disco Antistat here in Japan. This a one fantastic little device--in fact, I believe I'm getting results that compete with the VPI for a lot less money.

Here's the text from the February, 2007 issue of Record Collector (page 106) where it was reviewed.

"Vinyl Care: Part 7

Looking for a record cleaner but can't afford the GBP 300-400 for a VPI cleaning machine? Enter the GBP44.95-priced Disco Antistat. It's simple: two discs clamp and cover each side of the record's label, for protection during cleaning. This then rests in a groove at the top of the rectangular cleaning bath. The bath is topped up with a supplied cleaning fluid, and the record is then rotated around its central axis. As the record passes through the bath, two sets of brushes clean each side of the album. Once you're happy with the results, simply remove the record and centre clamps and place your record on the rack to dry. Forget the name, the looks and even the packaging. This product really works.
Contact: www.audiophilecandy.com"

Dale

 

I use my Nitty Gritty 2.5 and NG solution for all records new and old. One time for all, unless they get greasy fingerprints. I wet the brushes on the machine, let it spin for about 30 seconds, and then vacuum for 4 revolutions.

On real dirty records, I'll apply the fluid liberally on the disc, and use an old disc washer brush to scrub and clean it manually. Then, vacuum off with the 2.5, re-apply the fluid via the machine, and let it run as usual.

One accessory that I use a lot is the 45 rpm adaptor for the NG. I own lots of 45s, and I'm in the process of making needle drops of lots of them, and cleaning them on the NG really helps cut down on the noise.

 

I don't clean as often as I should, and use a bit of soap to wash, and to rinse. I need a record cleaner machine.

I used Sound Design preservative in the early 80s, and today those records play as good as when I bought them. No noise. They are also dust-free! I really need to start using Last!