Record cleaning?

milltown

I've one of those carbon bristle brushes for clearing the dust, and supposedly static, from a record before I play it but that's as far as I've ever gone with cleaning records. Some of my older records that would have been played a fair bit at the time but haven't been played in years are pretty manky now and sound pretty poor as a result.

Short of a proper record cleaning machine, has anyone any recommendations? Plenty of youtube vids with anything from soapy water to wood glue.

es-cee

milltown wrote: »

I've one of those carbon bristle brushes for clearing the dust, and supposedly static, from a record before I play it but that's as far as I've ever gone with cleaning records. Some of my older records that would have been played a fair bit at the time but haven't been played in years are pretty manky now and sound pretty poor as a result.

Short of a proper record cleaning machine, has anyone any recommendations? Plenty of youtube vids with anything from soapy water to wood glue.

Disco Antistat cleaner. Pick it up for about 30-40 quid on ebay or amazon, works a treat.

Executive Steve

You can get a bottle of isopropyl alcohol and an antistatic cloth in Tower for about 7 quid, one bottle will last you a year - I live in a very dusty apartment with an open plan badly ventilated kitchen and living room so I get all manner of grease from the kitchen on my records and clean them regularly. Five or six squirts of the stuff and all the dirt just lifts off it, and you wipe it clean, simple as.

milltown

We have IPA by the gallon in work so I'll give that a go first.
I see Thomann do something like the one es-cee mentioned, called Knosti antistat. I like the mechanics of it, and the idea of the drying rack, but reviews seem to suggest that the fluid gets contaminated pretty quickly. I'll look into maybe using my plentiful IPA with their bath.

endacl

White wood glue if they're severely manky. Seriously! Google it. I'd link to a vid, but I'm on the phone. Works amazingly well.

es-cee

endacl wrote: »

White wood glue if they're severely manky. Seriously! Google it. I'd link to a vid, but I'm on the phone. Works amazingly well.

I've done this loads of times too. The results are great, just takes a while for the glue to dry.

es-cee

milltown wrote: »

We have IPA by the gallon in work so I'll give that a go first.
I see Thomann do something like the one es-cee mentioned, called Knosti antistat. I like the mechanics of it, and the idea of the drying rack, but reviews seem to suggest that the fluid gets contaminated pretty quickly. I'll look into maybe using my plentiful IPA with their bath.

Same thing mate, if this is what you're on about.

http://www.thomann.de/ie/knosti_schallplattenwaschgeraet.htm

Might get it cheaper on Amazon or Ebay though.

leakyboots

I'm in the same boat OP, seems to be loads of ways but hard to pick one. A seller at a record fair recently recommended some Super Valu spray in a blue bottle, couldn't remember the name of it. Always afraid to chance something in case it ruins a record!

was.deevey

Lighter Fluid ... I know it sounds bizarre, but it works like a charm and how I used to clean all my vinyl.

Just don't smoke when you are doing it.

leakyboots

Yeah that's what I was going to get but then other people say don't use it

http://www.discomusic.com/101-more/6193_0_7_0_C/#not-to-use

was.deevey

Well I wouldn't go soaking the entire record it in lighter fluid, just a bit on a tissue and wipe around the grooves ... never caused me any issues with SQ or Skipping and any "club gunk" was removed easily.

Isopropyl works great for day to day cleaning but not as good for heavy soil (muchos partied) records

The wood glue looks interesting but pretty darn extreme just for regular dirt and grime and if you need to do a bundle.

Executive Steve

^ using a paper tissue is an awful idea, especially with solvents.

Just how "heavily partied" are your records? I had a leak here in the house a few years ago while I was away traveling and a load of records got all mouldy, rotten sleeves and all - isopropyl alcohol dealt with that **** in minutes. It's managed to clean sticky spilled drinks off any record I've treated it with, and as I mentioned above I have to clean regularly because my music room is next to a very poorly ventilated kitchen...

BaZmO*

I've used the wood glue method and it works brilliantly. It lifts every piece of dirt and dust from every groove. Obviously it's not something you'd do all the time as part of general cleaning but it is very effective.

Down through the years I've found that a lot of cleaning methods involving a cloth tend to just push dust particles into the grooves.

leakyboots

What about the below - a spray and velvet-based brush?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0015C0YYY/ref=s9_simh_co_p229_d0_i3?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=left-2&pf_rd_r=1YNB5H6GPSBDA7NWTB1Q&pf_rd_t=3201&pf_rd_p=466496393&pf_rd_i=typ01

milltown

Just as a follow up. I had an order coming from Thomann and a bit of spare credit so I bunged one of the Knosti Antistat cleaners onto an order. It's been sitting here in the box for a couple of weeks but I finally took it out for a spin tonight.
Results were superb I have to say. Some of my mankiest records were given a clean and I was very, very impressed at how they sounded afterwards. Not just the clarity, but the pops and crackles that I had presumed were down to minor scratches were mostly gone too.
It took half the bottle of included fluid to fill the bath to the required level and it had gone a little cloudy when I was pouring it back in (with the supplied funnel) after cleaning around a dozen of my dirtiest records. The next cleaning session might be more telling. At €16 a litre, plus shipping, I reckon I'll be experimenting a bit with my own formulae. I figure IPA, or a similar solvent, with a small amount of non-ionic detergent to hold the dirt in suspension is all that's needed. A bit of dicking about with the ratios and I'll be laughing.

leakyboots

milltown wrote: »

Just as a follow up. I had an order coming from Thomann and a bit of spare credit so I bunged one of the Knosti Antistat cleaners onto an order. It's been sitting here in the box for a couple of weeks but I finally took it out for a spin tonight.
Results were superb I have to say. Some of my mankiest records were given a clean and I was very, very impressed at how they sounded afterwards. Not just the clarity, but the pops and crackles that I had presumed were down to minor scratches were mostly gone too.
It took half the bottle of included fluid to fill the bath to the required level and it had gone a little cloudy when I was pouring it back in (with the supplied funnel) after cleaning around a dozen of my dirtiest records. The next cleaning session might be more telling. At €16 a litre, plus shipping, I reckon I'll be experimenting a bit with my own formulae. I figure IPA, or a similar solvent, with a small amount of non-ionic detergent to hold the dirt in suspension is all that's needed. A bit of dicking about with the ratios and I'll be laughing.

Interesting stuff, I was just about to order the Disco-Antistat Record cleaner and give it a try. (seeming the Knosti and the Disco-Antistat are the exact same but the Antistat is nearly twenty quid cheaper??)

Just on the fluid, I was at a record fair over the weekend and a seller recommended L'Art du Son to clean records. It's hefty enough to buy, about 40 quid but lasts for ages seemingly. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vinyl-Record-Cleaning-Fluid-Concentrate/dp/B007B1BLBI/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1384770476&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=L%27ART+DU+SON

A poster on the Disco Antistat item on Amazon recommended the following, and a couple of other posters backed him up on its effectiveness, so I'd give that a try: "Make up your own fluid using 700ml lukewarm water, two drops of washing-up liquid and a cap of distilled malt vinegar. I've used this and it works great. Pour the fluid away and make up a new jug for every batch of 15 records."

end of the road

sorry to dig this up, but i'm interested to know has anyone used a record cleaning machine? are they any good? i know prices for these go from reasonable to expensive though so will be doing research but just wondering peoples opinions