Slightly OT: How do you clean your vinyl?

WhinyLittleRunt

WhinyLittleRunt

Member
I have been doing a lot of research on record cleaning machines and techniques, and have started to apply some of this to my record collection. I've recently begun collecting again, and I purchase many of my records from a small store a few towns over that specializes in LPs. I'm always impressed with the quality of his vinyl, and how clean it is. I asked him what kind of machine he uses, and to my surprise, he said he uses the oldest recommended method; a barely damp cloth! I was actually a bit surprised, as his records always look like they've been run through the magic cleaning machine. He did admit that the nasty ones will need some soap and water on a sponge, which I've done in the past to clean mine too. But I've also tried vacuuming the record after the cleaning to mimic what the machine does and try to extract as much from the grooves, though I have to do this carefully since I'm free-handing it (protective layer over the vacuum of course)...

So, knowing that you guys are all analog heads, and I'm sure some of you have a pretty wicked collection, what are your methods of cleaning up your records and/or keeping them pop-free condition?

I'm also planning on finding a nice Dual turntable at some point; I've always wanted to own one and it will surely blow my Sony out of the water in terms of quality and durability...
 
Wow, that VPI is sick....

I doubt very much I'd ever accumulate that many LPs to necessitate a machine of that caliber though. What about the DIY machines people are building?
 
I thought if anyone had an answer it would have been Lt. Bob When I was a kid I would drape a record cleaning cloth over the record when I was playing it. I'm sure that method wasn't the best but it did catch a lot of dirt.
 
Wow, 6000 records? Man, that's a lot... You probably have an entire room dedicated to storage!

I have like 75 records! And a small percentage of those of those are good, recent ones (within the last 5 years I've purchased) and the others are ether hand-me-downs from the friends or thrift store / flea market finds. Those are good too, since most people don't know what they have and they come cheap or even free.

I have been lucky to find records at the thrift shops in very good condition(not the Salvation Army or Goodwill; those are usually trashed) and I'm sure that they aren't going over each record meticulously and pricing them by grade, and I've been fortunate enough to find that they have been taken care of for the most part, which is more than i can say for my 45's back when I was a kid! So cleaning and caring for what I own has become my priority.
 
I've been using an old Discwasher my dad had with their D4 solution. Seems to work decently, but doesn't quite cut it on the real dirty ones.
 
In the 70s my Dad used to water his records as they were playing. It cut out jumps and crackling. I've owned probably 1500 LPs in my time, many of them second hand. I always washed them with washing up liquid and a cloth or sponge. Numerous times, if one was scratched and jumping, I'd water it like my Dad used to do and that usually sufficed. In extreme cases I'd put an English penny on the cartridge arm head and that did the trick.
But yeah, a good wash with the basics always worked wonders.
 
Wow! At first I thought this guy was sniffing too much glue,but it seems to work!
Not very time effective though.
 
j.harv said:
Wow! At first I thought this guy was sniffing too much glue,but it seems to work!
Not very time effective though.
Click to expand...
yeah ...... I don't think I'd do that to any of my records.

You can take a record and clean it in the sink ....... you just have to be careful ...... the towels need to be clean with no lint and obviously no pieces of grit to scratch the record.
The big key is getting down into the grooves because just cleaning the top surface won't reach where the stylus rides. It rides down in the groove ...... more expensive carts have smaller stylus profiles and ride deeper.
So you take the cloth and wipe the record in a circular motion to match the grooves.
You'll actually feel the cloth 'lock into' the grooves. You don't want to rub across the grooves at all ..... only with them.
Use distilled water which you can get anywhere or Evian bottled water or some other reverse osmosis water so it won't leave a residue.
I like a bit of alcohol in there to help cut things like mold or release compounds that are on the record from the stamping plant.
Then let it air dry ....

Oh ..... don't get water on the label or it will stain it.

And DON'T water records when you play them ....... BAD for the cart. Some of that moisture can wick up the cantilever and muck up the cart bringing dust and crap with it.
WhinyLittleRunt said:
Wow, 6000 records? Man, that's a lot... You probably have an entire room dedicated to storage!
Click to expand...
Yeah .... it's a bunch.
When I moved I packed them in these standard u-haul moving boxes ... 12x12x18.
I had 51 boxes of records!
 
I just use denatured alcohol with a velour/microfiber eyeglasses cleaning cloth.

No need to get fancy!
 
j.harv said:
Wow! At first I thought this guy was sniffing too much glue,but it seems to work!
Not very time effective though.
Click to expand...

You are correct on both points. I've only tried it a couple of times, but I was impressed both times and will do it more in the future.
 
Richard King said:
Tightbond II. ;)

Click to expand...


That is great! I remember seeing this a while back, but it looks like someone capitalizing on an old homespun and ingenious solution. $0.25 per record seems a lot better than $3...I can't wait to try this out.

I myself use this little thing, which isn't that different from Discwasher. My dad had a similar device (different brand) that I grew up using; it has two holes that you add a drop of cleaning solution to, and supposedly it distributes it to the velvet evenly. It's not really getting all the way down into the bottom of the grooves, but it gets a lot of the surface dust off, and it makes the things *look* better... :D I have about 200 progressive rock, folk, indie, soundtrack, and classical lp's. Not a huge collection, but I'm buying primarily vinyl at this point. Although used is preference, I bought my first new about two weeks ago (the first in three or four years), whereas I bought my last new lp just a month and a half ago.
 
I use a vpi 16.5, it was a treat to myself a few years back, now it seems essential. The spin clean looks interesting and is probably worth exploring, I do remember they had some production issues that caused some problems with some machines awhile back so look into it if buying used. I had started by cleaning manually but one night I ruined the label on a original deep groove rvg ear jimmy smith blue note live at smalls paradise (got a little water on that old 50 year old paper and it hasn't stopped flaking).

The main thing is the ease of use, someone I know had pointed out that if it isn't easy to do you won't keep doing it, and I feel that is true, if you get much money invested in vinyl a machine is worth it (it won't necessarily work miracles but does keep nice records nice).
 
andy-p said:
I use a vpi 16.5, it was a treat to myself a few years back, now it seems essential.
Click to expand...

yep ...... that's how I feel 'bout mine.
But I have big money in my vinyl and so do you probably.
I have LOTS of new records and many at $30 a pop. So you want them clean.

Used records is the way to go ...... lots of stuff out there for a couple of dollars apiece and much of it is indeed, in quite good shape because the owners never played them.
And that's the very type of records a machine is good for. No .... they won't work miracles ...... a scratch is still a scratch ...... but they really do a good job.
But just like all things audiophile, they charge too much for it.

I haven't explored the DIY machines but it's a fairly basic concept ....... I'd think anyone that's a decent DIY'er could build one for less than $100 ...... you could get the vacuum arms from several sources so that'd be the most critical part taken care of for ya'.
 
but it just takes so much time. I'd think you could get it just as clean with a careful wash in the sink.
 
Lt. Bob said:
Used records is the way to go ...... lots of stuff out there for a couple of dollars apiece and much of it is indeed, in quite good shape because the owners never played them.
Click to expand...

Keep an eye out for garage sales also. I picked up 300 records of a variety of music at a garage sale for a grand total of $20.00. The back of one is shown below. It was signed by a bunch of long gone New Orleans jazz players.

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