Author Topic: Cleaning Vinyl Records  (Read 37226 times)

Offline mdconnelly

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Re: Cleaning Vinyl Records
« Reply #15 on: May 13, 2011, 09:41:25 AM »
Rich,  Actually, those are just Disc Doctor bottles.  The fluid is actual L'art du Son which is my favorite cleaner because it does such a nice job of lp coverage and cleaning.   

Offline etcarroll

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Re: Cleaning Vinyl Records
« Reply #16 on: May 13, 2011, 09:46:15 AM »
Lysol huh, kinda scared of that.

I simply use 1 part 91% Iso Alch to 3 parts distilled water, and a teaspoon of Dawn as wetting agent, mix, coat a side of record, let it sit for a few minutes, then begin brushing/vacumning with the VPI.

Since Alch. is a disenfectant, as is Lysol, seems kinda redundant to use both.

But let us know how you make out.
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Offline tmazz

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Re: Cleaning Vinyl Records
« Reply #17 on: May 13, 2011, 10:35:04 AM »
I visited Mike today, to pick up the 16.5 and get a lesson on how to clean. We cleaned my Delightfulee LP while there. The side that Mike did sounds better. My side stil has trace of super high pitched ticks. His side is near perfect, my son thought it was a CD. I'm looking forward to getting down to business with my records.

Mike gave me some Disc Doctor to use, but I also want to try this recipe:
http://www.soundstage.com/synergize/synergize041998.htm
It uses alcohol, Lysol, wetting agent and water. Lysol's active ingredient is a chemical that dissolves the cell walls of germs very quickly. Bacteria and mold are not just gently euthanized - they are melted in boiling acid.  :twisted:

Thanks Mike!

Rich I hope those germs don't get scared at the last second and cr@p on your record.  :lol:
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Offline Rob S.

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Re: Cleaning Vinyl Records
« Reply #18 on: May 13, 2011, 12:55:16 PM »
Rich,
    glad to see you're doing some cleaning.  You'll love the VPI 16.5....  Two ?'s:

1)  Are you using the VPI brush with the clear nylon type bristles and black handle to scrub the records?  or the disc doctor all black curved brushes?

2) Does Mike have another wand ( on VPI rcm ) to use to rinse?  What are you using to rinse?  distilled water? and another brush only for scrubbing the rinse water?

I"ve found that another wand being used for vacumming the rinse water along with a rinse scrubber have worked well.   At least I think the contamination on the wand is kept to a minimum.

Let us know your procedure.  maybe I'll learn something new.

Happy cleaning.

Rob S.
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Offline richidoo

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Re: Cleaning Vinyl Records
« Reply #19 on: May 13, 2011, 01:40:15 PM »
Rich,     glad to see you're doing some cleaning. 
TWSS

Lysol is the tamer of my planned experiments.  :shock:  Yes, I want to scare the crap out of that mold! Vinyl is very chemically resistant as long as you stay away from solvents, heat and abrasion.

Rob, Mike lent me his 2 brushes (wands, sorry  :oops: ) of the disc doctor style. One for soap, one for water. Mixing them up is punishable by death, I know, I know..  :roll:

I don't see the velour bristles of available commercial wet brushes as being able to scrub out the bottom of the grooves. There are too sparsely placed and too flimsy when wet. (twss) I think the velour is very good for spreading out the liquid, which does the work. It reminds me of those painting pads that spread paint very easily and evenly.

Mike's got me using distilled water for rinsing. He taught me to use a water wand while vacuuming off the rinse water. I have 5 gallons of distilled water here for various esoteric purposes.

Offline mdconnelly

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Re: Cleaning Vinyl Records
« Reply #20 on: May 13, 2011, 02:22:02 PM »
Rob,  I use two brushes as Rich described but only 1 wand (the thing that sucks up the fluid off the disc).

I try to make sure that my first spin with the cleaning fluid ends with enough distilled water before completing to effectively cleanse the wand.  I then I do a second spin with just distilled water.   But I can see where having a 2nd wand would be just as beneficial as two brushes.  Just hadn't considered that -- good idea!  (damn, now I need to reclean my entire collection  :duh :rofl:

Offline tmazz

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Re: Cleaning Vinyl Records
« Reply #21 on: May 13, 2011, 03:16:24 PM »
.........damn, now I need to reclean my entire collection  :duh :rofl:

As my old Grandma Rosana Dana used to say "It's always something........."

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Offline richidoo

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Re: Cleaning Vinyl Records
« Reply #22 on: May 15, 2011, 11:29:05 AM »
I've cleaned a couple records and the difference is amazing. One in particular that I have a half million miles on, "Coltrane's Sound" really came back to life. There are still some ticks and pops, from ground in dirt that did not get cleaned, and some from damage from being played by an impatient child 25 years ago. This is with using Mike's fluid. I'm still rounding up ingredients to try the lysol based fluid.

I have to say it's a positive result so far. I am spending extra time on the scrubbing, and double rinsing with separate brush, so I think I am getting all I can out of it.

The improved sound quality after cleaning is making me start think about better cart, preamp, etc. The noise was good excuse for not caring about vinyl SQ. I'm hoping some of the sound issues I am hearing are fixed with the new speakers. It's still not clean enough to warrant spending money on better rig or more records, but hopefully I can improve it some more, then we'll let nature take its course: vinyl rabbit hole... 

I am hopeful that the records can be made even more quiet, but at what cost?

thechairguy

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Re: Cleaning Vinyl Records
« Reply #23 on: May 15, 2011, 01:03:55 PM »
Just cleaning with some fluid and sucking the goo out with a vacuum is 80% of the benefit I've found.

Some are better than others and i have a ritual that works well for me, but its mostly nuanced after the dramatic benefit of just cleaning with an RCM  :thumb:

I use LAST power cleaner to remove the most stubborn stuff first, LAT International KLEER Disc as general cleaner and finish off each record with LAST Record Preservative (which stabilizes the vinyl so no further destruction can occur with the needle passing thru the grooves and creating friction)

I also use LAST Stylast to increase the life of my styli - the stuff really works and is a good value at $40 given the cost of replacement styli these days.

Glad you heard the benefit of cleaning - when you make peace wih all the crazy rituals of vinyl that turn out to help it so much...you start to realize how second rate digital technologies really are.  The digital stuff is ow universally good - but never reaches superb status.  Meanwhile, vinyl sound often horrible without the rituals...but can be improved to such a degree with finesse that the end product is a WORLD better than the original.

I would love for digital to sound better - i have a lot of things i could do with the time spent fuasing with vinyl - but time is well served as the result is superior playback (ie, more realistic rendition of the original music event)

John

Offline richidoo

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Re: Cleaning Vinyl Records
« Reply #24 on: May 15, 2011, 04:34:55 PM »
Thanks for the fluid recommendations John, and the advice and encouragement, as always!

Has anyone ever tried the GEM Dandy pressure washer record cleaner from George Merrill, or similar water blaster cleaning? I have read that it works very well. The mess and keeping labels dry are some of the drawbacks to his gadget, but I could fix those.

I'm building a hopped up Buffalo DAC this summer. I need to have a good digital player anyways since most of my music and new classical releases are digital. But if it doesn't sound like I hope then I'll probably upgrade my TT and see where it leads. At this point I can't picture buying new records for $30-50, but I really do enjoy listening to vinyl, it is fun and it feels good.  It is kind of reinvigorating my interest in the hobby overall. Uh-ooooh......

thechairguy

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Re: Cleaning Vinyl Records
« Reply #25 on: May 16, 2011, 08:47:52 PM »
Rich,

All the digi players are pretty good today - and, to me, $39 doesn't sound too terribly different than $2000.

Get any digital player that sounds good to you (if the one you have is made in teh past 5 years, you're already in business for a player), add a isolation transformer to feed it (under $100) - it acts as a wastegate for digital hash entering back into the rest of your system - and, viola, you have a very decent sounding digital rig for cheap.

Spend whatever is left in your budget on vinyl...a quality support under your deck (I love maple, myself, found no equal to it) and an RCM and fluids.  A change of table or pricey upgrade to any new cartridge can wait. 

Good support under your deck and an RCM goes a long way to satisfying a real hunger for great sound  :thumb:

It's money much better spent than on digital.

Offline richidoo

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Re: Cleaning Vinyl Records
« Reply #26 on: May 17, 2011, 07:25:04 AM »
Thanks for the tip on transformer, and the maple. I think the Technics table will need to go at some point, but I will stuff it with clay first. ;)

thechairguy

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Re: Cleaning Vinyl Records
« Reply #27 on: May 17, 2011, 07:56:44 PM »
Thanks for the tip on transformer, and the maple. I think the Technics table will need to go at some point, but I will stuff it with clay first. ;)

Man Rich...if you have a hollow bodied, plastic Technics there....you are in for the surprise of your life for 5-7lbs of clay that typically fills these (the 5lbs for the thinner models and approx. 7lbs for the normal thickness models...give or take). I had no idea you had a hollow body - wow, wait to you hear your deck transformed.   

For less than $25 to do it (not counting your time) stuffing the hollow bodied plastic (or mdf) decks with non-hardening clay is the BEST bang-for-buck upgrade out there.

Seriously - the clay and some maple under your deck will have it singing in a way you never thought possible.

The digi playback improves with the iso tranny...but it will never get better than 'satisfying'

Meanwhile, vinyl can get to achingly soulful and fulfilling.  The difference may be a nuanced to most folks...but to committed audiophools like us it's all the difference in the world, ya' know?  :thumb:

Ciao, John

Offline richidoo

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Re: Cleaning Vinyl Records
« Reply #28 on: May 17, 2011, 09:53:16 PM »
Yes I have a SL-Q2, plastic plinth Technics. I'll have to look up your clay mod thread on AC.

Offline rollo

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Re: Cleaning Vinyl Records
« Reply #29 on: May 19, 2011, 08:44:15 AM »
  Steam cleaning so far has been the most affective method I have used to date. After the steam cleaning, a final spin on the VPI does the trick in spades. Hold the nozzle about 12" away, avoiding the label. No worry if the label gets a little spritz on it no damage.
  So go to Best Buy or similar and buy a "Scunci Steamer" about $35. Especially affective for those garage sale finds.



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