Slightly OT: How do you clean your vinyl?

  • Thread starter Thread starter WhinyLittleRunt
  • Start date Start date
Yeah man, I need to go tag sale'n... :D I keep forgetting how cheap people are willing to part with their old records most of the time.

I remember finding a bunch of original print Beatles albums in my friend's basement when I was 14, but the basement was moldy and must have flooded at some point and destroyed pretty much all of them.... I salvaged Sgt. Peppers because the vinyl was ok but the sleeve was all rotted...
 
good vinyl, crap sleeve

Does anyone have suggestions for a situation like the one WLR came across when he was a kid with those beatles 1st pressings? I mean to keep the record if the sleeve is trashed, can you just buy blank sleeves from anywhere?

Also, has anyone ever tried using compressed air to clean records?

dan
 
I thought about the compressed air thing, but because I found no evidence of anyone saying it was a viable cleaning method I figured that it must not get the dust out of the grooves well; either that or it just spreads it around....

I will have to check out the Beatles record again; it's been years since i played it and it's actually in a box with some less-than-desirable albums at my mother's house, but from what I recall the record itself wasn't too bad... Yes, you can buy inner-sleeves at the very least.
 
Danalogue said:
Does anyone have suggestions for a situation like the one WLR came across when he was a kid with those beatles 1st pressings? I mean to keep the record if the sleeve is trashed, can you just buy blank sleeves from anywhere?

Also, has anyone ever tried using compressed air to clean records?

dan
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You can order sleeves. Or try a used record store. I have one down the street here that sells them. Vinyl sleeves and record covers.
 
I use a VPI 16.5 with DiscDoctor fluid and MoFi brush (also use the stock VPI brush for stubborn vinyls). They're not cheap and they're quite loud, but the VPIs do work very well and they're built like tanks.

My turntables are a A) JA Michell Gyrodec SE with an Origin Live Silver mkII arm and a Benz H2 cartridge and B) a "franken-table" that started out as an old AR XB but is now almost all Merrill parts, with an Audioquest PT6 arm and a Shure M97xe cartridge...they're good enough 'tables, and I have enough 180g and 200g fancy vinyls, that I could justify the VPI machine :)

I've bought replacement paper sleeves and poly bags from turntablebasics.
 
My "method" : gentle amount of windex spray and wipe with flannel to dry. repeat until it's all clean and shiny :)

Also I don't treat records as "collectable items", just keep them clean, so +1 from me to:
..No need to get fancy!
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:D
 
Kieth Monks Record Cleaning Machine

Keith Monks Record Cleaning machine is a sight to behold but is quite expensive (I think the entry level model is around $3500), I understand that it is used by the smithsonian. The machine looks like a turntable, there is a tonearm with a thread instead of the stylus that guides the tonearm through the groove path, a high power vacuum cleans the groove as it goes along (there is an arm that also dispenses the cleaning fluid and I believe spreads it on the surface).

http://www.keithmonks-rcm.co.uk/

The clearaudio matrix is similar in price and from what I can remember is similar in design? I saw one of these demoed, I can't remember how long it took but I think it was faster than just playing the record at normal speed.
 
Yeah ...... I'd love one of those Keith Monks but the price is just stupid. For a machine I think the best bang for buck is the VPI 16.5 which I have. But even that's stupid high priced ........ still, it's worth it to me.
I really think for the casual listener, that Spin Clean would be the dealio. I may get one even though I have the VPI for a pre-machine cleaning of really dirty records.
 
How do you usually clean off the build up on the needle? I usually lightly touch it with a sham that catches it and pulls it off. But it's seems sort of a delicate thing. I always wind up with a lot of build up even when the records clean.
 
SteveM said:
How do you usually clean off the build up on the needle? I usually lightly touch it with a sham that catches it and pulls it off. But it's seems sort of a delicate thing. .
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ooh .... yeah that's scary ..... there's lots of stylus brushes. I have some that used to come with Discwasher stylus cleaner. They're short and thick and you drag them back to front .... they clean it really well without worrying about snagging the tip and taking it off!

www.needledoctor.com would have some. Maybe not discwasher but something.
 
Yeah, little stylus brushes and a bit of cleaner. Some stylus' are alot more robust than others. A good blow starts the process off well. You'd be surprized how much comes off with a few initial puffs.
 
SteveM said:
How do you usually clean off the build up on the needle? I usually lightly touch it with a sham that catches it and pulls it off. But it's seems sort of a delicate thing. I always wind up with a lot of build up even when the records clean.
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Dust happens. Get a stylus brush and use as directed--usually you want to go back-to-front and be very careful.

Otherwise, my favorite product for keeping the stylus clean is an Onzow Zerodust. Can't remember where, but I got mine really cheap. It's a little box with a sticky silicone-ish blob that you lower the stylus onto, then cue the stylus back up and all the dust and dirt stays behind. Once the Zerodust gets pretty gunky, you just rub if off under some water and let airdry.

That's what I use for every-day listening sessions. Every once in a while if I find some gunky buildup in my styli, I'll take a little Disc Doctor stylus cleaning fluid and a Disc Doctor camelhair brush as directed, but that's only because I'm pretty anal about my styli.
 
Would it be safe to assume one could use a soft toothbrush from back to front lightly? i have done that in the past...

Also on the topic - I just got my Dual 1009 table setup and it has a Pickering cartridge installed, probably the original but I really couldn't tell... Anyway, I had cleaned my records using my normal method of a damp cloth in a circular motion. On my old turntable (Sony PXLH250) they sounded decent, with very little noise. On the Dual, these same records sound pretty dirty! It made me wonder two things: Is the Dual cartridge (Pickering) crummy, or is this just such a better turntable/cartridge combination that it's actually reading the record better and picking up the crap I wasn't able to get out? :confused:
 
WhinyLittleRunt said:
Also on the topic - I just got my Dual 1009 table setup and it has a Pickering cartridge installed, probably the original but I really couldn't tell... Anyway, I had cleaned my records using my normal method of a damp cloth in a circular motion. On my old turntable (Sony PXLH250) they sounded decent, with very little noise. On the Dual, these same records sound pretty dirty! It made me wonder two things: Is the Dual cartridge (Pickering) crummy, or is this just such a better turntable/cartridge combination that it's actually reading the record better and picking up the crap I wasn't able to get out? :confused:
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If you feel you can rule out the cleaning method and you don't see any major damage to the stylus (check the tip with a magnifying glass), I'd check the cartridge alignment if you haven't already. Being off by mere millimeters will give you some real distortion and crackle problems. If you don't have an alignment tool, turntablebasics.com sells an affordable one--just make sure you get one in the right spindle size. That's what I use on my 'tables, anyway (in conjunction with a laser line because, again, I'm anal about it). They're not the last word in cartridge alignment, but they do a good job for the buck.
 
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briank said:
If you feel you can rule out the cleaning method and you don't see any major damage to the stylus (check the tip with a magnifying glass), I'd check the cartridge alignment if you haven't already. Being off by mere millimeters will give you some real distortion and crackle problems. If you don't have an alignment tool, turntablebasics.com sells an affordable one--just make sure you get one in the right spindle size. That's what I use on my 'tables, anyway (in conjunction with a laser line because, again, I'm anal about it). They're not the last word in cartridge alignment, but they do a good job for the buck.
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I'd like to add that some pro-audio shops might even be willing to do this for you for free, provided that you are a costumer.
 
briank said:
Dust happens. Get a stylus brush and use as directed--usually you want to go back-to-front and be very careful.

Otherwise, my favorite product for keeping the stylus clean is an Onzow Zerodust. Can't remember where, but I got mine really cheap. It's a little box with a sticky silicone-ish blob that you lower the stylus onto, then cue the stylus back up and all the dust and dirt stays behind. Once the Zerodust gets pretty gunky, you just rub if off under some water and let airdry.

That's what I use for every-day listening sessions. Every once in a while if I find some gunky buildup in my styli, I'll take a little Disc Doctor stylus cleaning fluid and a Disc Doctor camelhair brush as directed, but that's only because I'm pretty anal about my styli.
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OOH, you have one. I've been wondering about those.
Do they clean the stylus as well as a good stylus brush?
 
WhinyLittleRunt said:
Would it be safe to assume one could use a soft toothbrush from back to front lightly? i have done that in the past...

Also on the topic - I just got my Dual 1009 table setup and it has a Pickering cartridge installed, probably the original but I really couldn't tell... Anyway, I had cleaned my records using my normal method of a damp cloth in a circular motion. On my old turntable (Sony PXLH250) they sounded decent, with very little noise. On the Dual, these same records sound pretty dirty! It made me wonder two things: Is the Dual cartridge (Pickering) crummy, or is this just such a better turntable/cartridge combination that it's actually reading the record better and picking up the crap I wasn't able to get out? :confused:
Click to expand...

Well ..... different tonearms and turntables can have different resolution so yes, it is possible that one table can be noisier than another.
Are they the same Pickering cart?
Because styluses vary in size. Smaller ones ride deeper in the groove where there hasn't been as much play and the surface noise and scratches on the surface might not reach as far down so a small stylus like a line contact will be quieter.

And briank is right ..... you could have a misaligned cart.
 
Lt. Bob said:
OOH, you have one. I've been wondering about those.
Do they clean the stylus as well as a good stylus brush?
Click to expand...

The Zerodust? In my opinion yes, as well or better (I've got two different types of stylus brush in addition to the Zerodust, so I've played around). I also like that I don't have to klutz around with a brush--especially around my Benz-Micro (NOT a cheap re-tip!) and especially since both my 'tables have spring suspensions (wobble wobble!). Better to leave it up to the controlled, damped action of my tonearms' cueing levers, though of course you still have to be careful!
 
Not to keep on reviving this, but as I keep grabbing the cheap Goodwill and flea market finds (my obsession is coming back), I have really found the most effective way to clean them for me is the sink, dish soap, clean sponge and a vacuum. It's a bit of a pain to do it this way but once you get into a system it becomes easy and it pretty much gets rid of all the noise.

What I do is rinse the record under the tap avoiding the label, then run the sponge around the record following the grooves lightly so it spreads the suds, rinse it off again, then immediately grab my vacuum which I hold a lint-free microfiber cloth over the end of the hose with a hole sliced into it, and it pretty much grabs the record and i just hold it against myself and rotate it while the vacuum sucks everything up. I swear it may be the most unconventional way of doing it but it is getting dirt, pops and crackles out of records I never thought I could fix, so I'll stick to this method unless I come upon a collection of a thousand records or something.. And with the cloth over the vacuum hose (which is plastic) it really doesn't scratch or leave any kind of marks.
 
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