mrl@drutx.UUCP (LongoMR) (09/12/84)
<> I got a lot of requests to summarize responses, but not many responses. As a matter of fact I received exactly one. I am posting it since I promised many that I would summarize results. Maybe it will spark some discussion... -------------------------------------------------------------------------- >From uucp Mon Sep 10 05:57 EDT 1984 >From watmath!watdcsu!herbie Mon Sep 10 04:52:01 1984 remote from ihnp4 Date: Sun, 9 Sep 84 21:27:47 edt From: ihnp4!watmath!watdcsu!herbie (Herb Chong, Computing Services) To: houxe!drutx!mrl Subject: Re: Cleaning 78 records If your records are really as old a you say they are, they are probably made of shellac. This means that water is not a viable alternative. Solvents like alcohol are probably out too. A Freon-type cleaner may work, although with anything like this, I would experiment on a record that is not important. Other organic solvents that do not dissolve shellac may be useful, although you would probalby have too talk to a chemist to find out if there are any common ones that are not dangerous to use. You do not say if the records are mildewed or not. If they have, you are probably out of luck no matter what you do. As for improving the sound, you have very little choice. You must record them onto tape and then equalize them. If you can, get a pop and tick eliminator hooked up to remove the crackles. Be very careful about playing the records. If they are shellac, they probably have sand mixed in with them to wear down the steel styli commonly used then so that they would stay in the goove better. You must use a special 78 stylus so that it fits in the groove properly, and yet you don't want an expensive one because it will wear out very quickly. Do not, under any circumstances, use a regular LP cartridge or you will end up throwing the stylus away after as few as one side of a record. Herb...