swanson@sun8e.tellabs.com (Ken Swanson) (12/26/90)
My girlfriend's father has a large collection of 78's dating back to the turn of the century. Most of them have deteriorated over time (due to a lack of proper storage) and some have become unplayable due to severe radial cracking. I would like to save as many of the remaining ones as possible. Is there any way to preserve the current state of the 78's that are still playable, or better yet, even recover some of the original sound through cleaning or other restoration techniques? I've read recently in the newsgroup that prolonged soaking in fluids which may be absorbed into the substrate may cause more problems long term than it solves. What are the best cleaning fluids to use (i.e., water with very dilute ivory soap)? What's the maximum exposure time to these cleaning fluids you would recommend? Would applying a protective substance such as Armorall be advisable? Thanks for any advice or help you can give. Ken swanson@tellabs.com