[net.audio] Record cleaning

rzdz@fluke.UUCP (Richard Chinn) (10/10/83)

re: record cleaning

I haven't had much luck with liquid cleaning systems. They seem to leave my
records much worse than before. I haven't tried D4, as D1 and D2 worked so
poorly. My current solution, which seems to work well:

    Fanatically guard your record collection. Offer immediate execution as
    an alternative to life without fingers to those who even dare to put
    their filthy, greasy, oily, contaminated fingertips on *your* records.

    Use no liquid cleaners as none of them *really* work.

    Remove the record from its jacket for playing and immediately return it
    to its jacket afterwards.

    Use the dust cover of your turntable, it does work.

    Use a zerostat to neutralize the static charge, if present.

    Use a Decca brush to remove surface debris before playing.

    Keep yer filthy mitts off of the surface of the record.

    Don't let the kids muck with your records. Make em buy their own.

    Return records to the store if they have fingerprints on them.

I've bought at least one of the various record cleaning gadgets that have
come onto the market in the last 20 years. I gave up at least 5 years ago
after buying a diskwasher and being dissappointed in it. 

If I bouught a liquid job at all, I would buy a monks machine. Several
stores in the Seattle area have monks machines to *rent* so I would come up
with a suitably grubby patient on which to do a test run.

Bottom line: Keep your records clean, then they don't need cleaning. Keep
	     your mitts off of the surfaces. Don't eat breakfast on them.
	     Keep your records in their jackets. Liquid cleaners don't work.

Rick Chinn @ Fluke
tpvax:rzdz
206 356 5232

emrath@uiuccsb.UUCP (10/13/83)

#R:tpvax:-3800:uiuccsb:5700013:000:1402
uiuccsb!emrath    Oct 12 17:48:00 1983

I have practically the same opinion about record cleaning systems -
an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I guess I didn't
post it because I figured I'd be hassled with flames. One time,
an old roommate of mine brought home a discwasher. We carefully
followed the directions in an attempt to clean a slightly dirty
record that he didn't care much about. The result was a disaster, much
worse than before (I don't know which fluid (D?) it was, or what we did wrong,
but it seemed that it was too easy to screw things up). In an attempt
to resurrect the record to playability, we washed the thing in warm
soap (dish variety) water, and then dried it with warm air from the
outlet of a tank vacuum (ought to be relatively clean air, right?).
Well, it did play better after that, but not as good as before we
started mucking with it. He ended up throwing the record away and
using the discwasher DRY ever since. I would like to add that I have
never used a ZERO-STAT or whatever. It seems that the cartridge/tonearm/
turntable may have a lot to do with whether or not static is a problem.
In my experience, in the set of {shure v15/2, stanton, micro acoustics,
and ortofon lm15} on {thorens, dual, sony} turntables, only the stanton
had serious static problems.  Anybody else notice this re static?

		Perry Emrath, Univ. of IL
		...{decvax|inuxc}!pur-ee!uiucdcs!emrath
		emrath.uiuc@rand-relay

fish@ihu1g.UUCP (Bob Fishell) (04/26/84)

The best solution I've found to this problem is to tape record
all the records I listen to with any regularity.  Using dbx
and open reel tape, the copies sound just as good as the originals,
and you don't have to worry about dirt or scratches.

As for cleaning records, I use a discwasher, but with distilled
water as a cleaning fluid; this doesn't leave any residue and
it doesn't damage the vinyl.
-- 

                               Bob Fishell
                               ihnp4!ihu1g!fish