cleaning vinyl
lessthanthree
34 Posts
what works for you?
any recommendations on cleaning solutions, cloths, brushes, kits, etc?
links and brands are greatly appreciated!
any recommendations on cleaning solutions, cloths, brushes, kits, etc?
links and brands are greatly appreciated!
Comments
thanks in advance
"quick search" on here....
gotcha....
watch a few youtube videos on the VPI 16.5 and you'll want one as well....its on my list "of things to buy in 2011" although my girl isnt liking the list thus far...lol, there are literally shit loads of concoctions of mixes for making your own cleaner, but nuthin is quite going to do it like the VPI and the cleaner that it uses and the way it uses it as well.
we should both take my advice and buy a damn record cleaner already....lol
here is a quick solution i found on teh googles:
3 parts distilled water
1 part Isopropyl alcohol
and a drop of Dawn dishwashing detergent.
^^ never tried it, so i cant tell you if it works or not, some people on here have recormmended using WD40 and shit like that...DONT! unless you have a VPI to clean it with afterwards...saying..
great info....much appreciated!!
African Records: Upholstery spray cleaner wipe-down + thorough cold-water rinse + thorough dry + double-pass on a VPI. This is only necessary for the grimiest of African records!
South American Records: Double-pass on a VPI.
BOOM
Again, dude, I would stress that this be used as a last ditch effort or for thoroughly soiled records. A friend of mine and Brendan's has been getting shipments of African LPs regularly and they are ultra grimy. The combo of upholstery cleaner + a couple VPI passes works wonders on these things.
I'm guessing for your purposes it will be largely unnecessary, though.
I have one Colombian album that looks NM but plays VG- that could use something stronger. I've already given it at least 3-4 VPI passes and it hasn't notably improved the sound. I figured it's helpful to have something a bit more powerful on hand.
I seem to remember that Good Records uses some kind of foaming oven or vinyl cleaner? I've seen it in action: hardcore!
Tuff Stuff is what we use at the lab:
As Musica said, it's not necessary for most purposes, but for really dirty or moldy records it's worked wonders. You do need a VPI or similar to truly remove the residue, though.
try this cheapest way to get your records clean.....
go to 33t,45t,vinyls section and then find lgl gel de nettoyage ,it's a kind of gel in bottle, you apply it on records let it dry
then you take it off, and the dirt goes off wit the dry gel
I have a defunct VPI with a working motor. I spray the Tuff Stuff into a cup and brush the foam on with a paint brush, give it a few moments to work, then scrub with a VPI brush, rinse, and then clean it on the 'nice' VPI a couple of times. That's pretty elaborate, I know, but when you sell records for a living you can justify all the hardware.
I've revived plenty of records from unplayable to anywhere up to NM, including unplayable records that I ended up selling for $400 or so.
Well, I don't have a second, defunct VPI but I suppose I could just buy a second brush if I'm being really paranoid about chemical contamination.
O, if it's visually clean, there's probably not much upholstery cleaner can do for it. A lot of times records from Colombia were damaged in a number of ways: 1) they were played with inferior stylii. 2) were cleaned with water and played while wet, thus damaging the grooves. 3) cleaned with inappropriate cleaning agents by sellers/owners.
Oh word? I posted about this in the past and it was suggested to me that if it looks visually clean (no obvious scratches) but sounds like it has dust in the grooves (which it does), I need to up the solvent strength. On this record, I can "scratch out" the particles by rubbing the stylus back and forth over a specific "pop" suggesting that whatever is in there is simply ground too deep for a normal cleaning solution to get out. However, a more powerful solvent might better dissolve said particles.
If there are visually still particles in the grooves after a few passes on your vpi, then yes, try the foam. I thought you said is was nm and visually clean.
It is visually NM in terms of - you look at it under good light and shit looks clean! But then you play it...and not so clean sounding. But I was able to "rub" out pops which tells me there's still particles in the grooves themselves, regardless if they're easily perceptible to the eye.
In my opinion, the VPI runs too slow for effective Tuff Stuff scrubbing.
I eventually ended up building my own (top secret) cleaning machine but before that, I was using an old MK2 that still had a rotating platter but otherwise was useless. It's important to let the Tuff Stuff soak in for at least 20 seconds or so and then softly scrub with a paper tissue. You will be surprised how dirty the tissue can get even with some records that have already been treated with a VPI.
To remove deeply embeded particles I recommend a Tuff Stuff scrub using the Stanton stylus brush which consists of very dense and fine carbon fibers and looks a bit like a hash pipe.
Never try to remove stuck particles with the stylus like O-Dub mentioned!
First, you are likely to cause groove damage but more severely, you might damage the stylus and subsequently every record you play with it after the fact.
Also: the stylus touches the sides of the groove about halfway between the bottom and the top of the groove. To get something out of the groove that is stuck at the very bottom of it and clicks at the tip of the stylus (which never reaches the very bottom of the groove) you need to use something that is fine/thin enough to reach all the way down there but which also is as non-abrasive as possible. The best solution for this that I was able to find is the above mentioned Stanton stylus brush
Not this one:
But this one:
The biggest challenge with the Tuff Stuff method is to completely remove all of the cleaner: Scrub thoroughly with the usual destilled water/alcohol mix at first and then give it a final scrub with lighter fluid.
I know that most people would never consider getting lighter fluid onto a record but believe me, it will not hurt your record in any way and it'll take out the last bit of Tuff Stuff resudue. Ligher fluid evaporates without leaving any trace so no need to rub it completely dry. Let it sit and evaporate.
There's a bunch of stuff that only lighter fluid can remove: water based wall paint, candle wax, water based paper glue, price sticker residue etc.
Records that have been in flooding will have calcium residue that can be removoed with batroom cleaners that contain lactic acid or with simple lemon or lime juice (rinse throroughly afterwards).
Note, all of the above only applies to seriously grimy records and not to your usual second hand store purchase that needs nothing more but a dust-off!
I use ammonia instead of 409/Windex/Pine Sol. The active ingredient in those commercial cleaners is ammonia, I think. The other ingredients are fragrances and dyes and other stuff your record does not need. I only use ammonia in tiny amounts as part of my cleaning fluid.
I do use lighter fluid when confronted with "wall paint, candle wax, water based paper glue, price sticker residue etc." Other wise I avoid it. Can't say I have seen it harm a record, but it makes me nervous.
Also, out here, there are 2 leading brands of lighter fluid. Ronsonol and the other. Only Ronsonol is naphtha, which is what I like to use.
"I eventually ended up building my own (top secret) cleaning machine" Vacuum cleaner and old turntable?
No. It employs a technique that is much more effective than working with Vacuum. I built it because there's nothing like it on the market and not to save money... ended up spending well over a grand on it. Comments of the very few who saw it in action included "holy f***ing shit!", "I simply can't believe it, it defies all logic", "this is like performing magic", "...this is the craziest record related thing I've seen in all my life" etc.
A record with a few pops is not a problem. A record with constant hissing and crackling is unlistenable. In my experience, a record that looks scuffed and scratched plays poorly, not because of the scuffs and scrathces, but because there is dust and crap in the groove. The scrathces and the scuffs are just the visible manifestations of an uncared for record. But, if you can clean the dust and crap out of the groove, you will have a record that, although it may not look great, will play sufficiently well, and in many cases exceptionally well. This is particularly true with the older high fidelity and "deepgroove" records. Ocassionally, a scrach will be deep enough to cause a tic or a skip (different thread topic), but in most cases the mind can compensate for that. The important thing is that the constant hissing and washouts on the highs will be gone.
my apologies i figured dudes would be not interested in putting lighter fluid on their precious records or spray cleaners...i guess i was wrong, that second stanton cleaner looks the bomb Frank, nice and short bristles for getting right in that groove..see if i can snag one of those, i have one thats the same shape and size but the bristles are too long, works better as a duster then anything..
Saba - I agree, but as a seller I hate presenting scuffed records.
Oliver - No. I've got stacks of my own records that need to be cleaned.
Cityboy - Some of these things, like spray cleaners, are for records that refuse to come clean with normal methods. My opinion is, if you are using strong cleaning fluids you need to vacuum that stuff off right away. Do not dry with a brush or rag!
Last thing, I dislike paper towels and tissues because they are wood products. Cotton cloth.
http://www.gmanalog.com/gem.aspx
The Gem Dandy record cleaner by George Merrill uses hydraulic pressure to clean and works very well with lps and 45s.There is no adapter for 45 records but it works well with them if you line them up and then clamp them.
You can basically make it yourself for much cheaper.All you need is hose with connections to your sink faucet and an end for pressure spray plus clamps.The frame is just plastic pipes ,connectors and end caps,two 3" end caps with rubber washers and some bolts with nuts to rotate the disc and hold the frame together.You can buy a filter to increase the water purity if your local water is bad and microfiber cloths to wipe.It works wonders with most records and can clean up ones that have mold,storage film or embeded dirt.The fluid works nice and is slow evaporating and is washed off by the water spray.There is some Groove Lube to also use after cleaning.
For those using ultrasonics you can easily copy the frame and clamps to use with them.Some people use a steam cleaner instead of a hose with high pressure water.You can also use different methods to dry.