Cleaning records

I've recently begun an LP collection. I've been picking up old records from thrift shops and roadside flea-markets. I've been amazed at how many of them look like they've never been played before, but some are downright filthy. I've read that you should use purified water and/or denatured alcohol to clean them while some others recommend glass cleaner. Many sites recommend using a $25 brush for dusting off the smutz... Does anyone on here have experience cleaning records? I wondered if a burma-shave brush would work for getting into the grooves without being too harsh. It's not like I'm a preservationist or anything, I just want to listen to them without wrecking my needle.

I use a cheap shaving brush to dust mine. I go in the direction of the grooves. The really filthy ones, I washed in dish detergent and warm water, rinsed them thoroughly and let them dry in the air. No bad effects that I can tell.

micah1_8 said:

I've recently begun an LP collection. I've been picking up old records from thrift shops and roadside flea-markets. I've been amazed at how many of them look like they've never been played before, but some are downright filthy. I've read that you should use purified water and/or denatured alcohol to clean them while some others recommend glass cleaner. Many sites recommend using a $25 brush for dusting off the smutz... Does anyone on here have experience cleaning records? I wondered if a burma-shave brush would work for getting into the grooves without being too harsh. It's not like I'm a preservationist or anything, I just want to listen to them without wrecking my needle.

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There is another forum called audiokarma which has a bunch of vintage gear fans. I am sure that they would have some good tips over there.

Back in the day, I used to use a Discwasher static gun, and then a Discwasher cleaner. I don't thing there was much better out there, but I don't know that they still exist.

If you want to get an actual "cleaning system," you've got a lot of options, from fairly simple:

http://www.discdoc.com/p1.html

to elaborately expensive:

http://www.nittygrittyinc.com/index.html

For your purposes, you can probably get by just fine with a home-made solution and some very judicious scrubbing. Most folks recommend a mixture of alcohol, distilled water, and detergent, in varying proportions.

Here is a quite comprehensive overview of the process, and your many options:

http://www.musicangle.com/feat.php?id=54

Dishwashing soap and warm water work great.

Thirty years ago, I used a Discwasher with the accompanying D3 fluid. Ran out a long time ago, and never got around to buying any D4 (they upgraded in the interim). A couple of years ago, I came across the whole Discwasher kit and kaboodle at a thrift shop: Discwasher brush, D3 fluid, stylus brush, and Zerostat antistatic gun, all in a walnut base with a smoked plastic dust cover. It cost me all of $5.50. I felt like I hit the lottery.

Another good source for phono supplies is Needle Doctor. You can pay really, really stupid money for cleaning systems.

When I was on my college radio station, one of the other DJs, who was a chem major, used to clean the particularly dirty LPs with vinyl alcohol. I never watched him do it, but I'm told he poured it on, and when it dried he'd peel it off, and it would pull all the gobbledygook out of the grooves.

There have been a lot of heartbreak albums for me at yard sales--really desireable (to me, anyway) LPs but that look as though they've been used as a dinner plate. Then there are the tolerably good ones. I recently found a Shocking Blue record, and the first Love w/Arthur Lee album around the corner from me.

I always used to use a Decca brush, a cheap, wonderful invention.

Cool. They still sell the DISCWASHER/, and its inexpensive. Funny. Thirty years ago they seemed much more expensive.

Now the styluses-- that's sick.

ScottS said:

Now the styluses-- that's sick.

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Uhm... not to be a grammar nazi, but for clarification, wouldn't that be styli?

On another note, I just want to say thanks for all the great tips you guys are giving me. That audiokarma.org is a neat place... it's like badgerandblade for audio nuts! I think the neatest idea I've seen yet for cleaning a record is using wood glue.

Yeah, you guys have turned me toward so many different areas to investigate and research, I might never see the light of day again. I can see alot of parallels between wet-shaving and record collecting. So many variables and very much of a YMMV factor. It's encouraging to know that I'm not the only one around here who's interest in maintaining "dead" technology has spilled outside of shaving.

TWGW has posted pictures of part of the collection!

micah1_8 said:

Uhm... not to be a grammar nazi, but for clarification, wouldn't that be styli?

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Either is fine, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stylus, but I think styluses is the more common usage. If you go to the Latin all the time, you'd know that the plural of "octopus" is "octopodi", but you'd sure sound funny saying it.

micah1_8 said:

It's encouraging to know that I'm not the only one around here who's interest in maintaining "dead" technology has spilled outside of shaving.

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Back in the day when the audiophiles would scoff at you if your turntable weighed less than 50 pounds, there were those who would adamantly refuse to listen to that nasty digital music. Yesterday, I met an acoustician by training who likes to walk around with his whole library on his ipod, even if he has to carry only mp3's.

There were some real reasons why LPs died. They were hard to store, harder to transport (those suckers got heavy), hard to maintain, and had a limited lifetime of plays before degradation started to get noticeable, not to mention hiss and pop. The only good part was having the album covers available for cleaning out weed (If I recall, Rastaman Vibration specifically said "This album cover be good for cleaning out weed"! on the inside). Album cover art is a thing of the past.

If you were a die hard and wanted to move to a dead technology, I seem to remember having all the Partridge Family Albums on 8-track at one time. There's a technology! Some of the order of songs on Beatles albums got shifted around on the 8-track version just to make them fit in between the giant KACHUNKS of the changing tracks.

ScottS said:

If you were a die hard and wanted to move to a dead technology, I seem to remember having all the Partridge Family Albums on 8-track at one time. There's a technology! Some of the order of songs on Beatles albums got shifted around on the 8-track version just to make them fit in between the giant KACHUNKS of the changing tracks.

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Funnily enough, I acquired an old console 8-track about 5 years ago and started a collection until the track switch button gave out on it. I'm still trying to find a replacement switch for it so that I can get that bad boy back up and running. I love the Kachunks almost as much as I love the hiss and pop of vinyl.

micah1_8 said:

Funnily enough, I acquired an old console 8-track about 5 years ago and started a collection until the track switch button gave out on it. I'm still trying to find a replacement switch for it so that I can get that bad boy back up and running. I love the Kachunks almost as much as I love the hiss and pop of vinyl.

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even more funnilier, I was about to ramble about 8-tracks....

micah1_8 said:

TWGW has posted pictures of part of the collection!

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I collect a lot of the same type of records pictured in your link. In fact, I recognize many as the same ones in my collection. A fun, cheap hobby!

Jim said:

Dishwashing soap and warm water work great.

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Or you could spend big bucks for a cleaning system to clean your $1 records.

ScottS said:

Back in the day when the audiophiles would scoff at you if your turntable weighed less than 50 pounds, there were those who would adamantly refuse to listen to that nasty digital music. Yesterday, I met an acoustician by training who likes to walk around with his whole library on his ipod, even if he has to carry only mp3's.

There were some real reasons why LPs died. They were hard to store, harder to transport (those suckers got heavy), hard to maintain, and had a limited lifetime of plays before degradation started to get noticeable, not to mention hiss and pop. The only good part was having the album covers available for cleaning out weed (If I recall, Rastaman Vibration specifically said "This album cover be good for cleaning out weed"! on the inside). Album cover art is a thing of the past.

If you were a die hard and wanted to move to a dead technology, I seem to remember having all the Partridge Family Albums on 8-track at one time. There's a technology! Some of the order of songs on Beatles albums got shifted around on the 8-track version just to make them fit in between the giant KACHUNKS of the changing tracks.

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Digital is making progress, thanks mostly to audiophiles who pointed out that early CDs sucked, but LPs are still superior, usually, and they are still being made. Don't be afraid of good sound. LPs never died.

jazzman said:

Digital is making progress, thanks mostly to audiophiles who pointed out that early CDs sucked, but LPs are still superior, usually, and they are still being made. Don't be afraid of good sound. LPs never died.

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There are some companies that still put out good audiophile pressings, but there were an awful lot of cheap albums out in the '80s.

Tom Petty just put out a new LP-- Mudcrutch. I've got the CD and I've got to say, it's quite good. Although, I'm a little biased as I am already a big Tom Petty fan. They also put it out as a "full dynamic range" cd... I'm curious to hear the difference... though on my crappy equipment, it probably wouldn't show.