Hello there There are many ways to clean the dust and dirt out of the grooves, one way is to use a soft cotton cloth and achold 90% rubbing achol another way is to use windex with achol. This may help these play better How ever you also may be pushing the dirt in to the groves. I am Currently Looking in to a Vac and clean you can Bild it yourself if you have the know how just look online How ever there's an Alternitive you can go spends Hundereds on one already made but for a fixed income you have to build it your self.

Anyone have any other Ideas On Cleaning Vinal or 78's AKLL are welcomed .

The best way to clean them in my opinion is to play them , on my Phonos i have a Brush on it and that sweeps away any dust that the needle throws out .

Keep in mind also that while alcohol is perfectly safe for vinyl LPs, it must never be used on 78s, as alcohol disolves the shellac from which these records are made.

I have a V.P.I. 16.5 works great i have over 4K'S of L.P.'S and 1K of 78's and 2K'S 45'S i love music have all of my life i spend 2 to 3 hr's a day with it SMITHY

There is a book called "The LP is Back" which is a collection of 35 magazine articles about turntable and LP care.

It might be worth investing in...

Bookmark the following, all kinds of info on records,phonos,etc. including cleaning records www.proaxis.com/~settlet/record/links.html

Wayne

There's always this:

http://images.lowes.com/product/036339/036339309088.jpg

Wayne, that's a GREAT link! The amount of information there is staggering.


Tim

Hello,

Is there any difference in grooves between a 1922 record and a 1946 record when it comes to cleaning procedures. How does one get lead marks off a 1945 record ?

Thanks,

Tom

I clean my 45s with dishwashing detergent, right at the kitchen sink. I don't submerge the records; I work the detergent around the grooves in a circular motion and then rinse.

Tim KA3JRT

I use (1) part distilled water, (1) part iso alcohol. Can put in a few drops of diswasher soap, that doesn't have any additives. Use with a soft tooth brush, does a pretty good job, cheap. If you want a commercial cleaner, Put record cleaning in google, and a site for a record cleaner comes up, haven't tried it, seems awful pricey, but sounds good. Frank

I found those cheap paint pads with the short, relatively stiff bristles are thin enough to get down into the grooves. As for soap, I use mild hand/dish soap and a distilled water rinse. Lay them on a paper towel to soak up most of the water, then blow dry with compressed air (no hair dryers here)

capmarv

I found a cheap paint pad that has short, stiff bristles, and use mild dish/hand soap. The bristles seem to be small enough to follow the grooves, even on LP's. Nothing alcohol based for the old 78's. It'll dissolve the shellac based platter.

capmarv

While we're discussing it...

How would anyone recomend cleaning cylinder records? Both the wax ones and the Blue Amberol. I'm sure that they both require extreme care.

I find it interesting that alcohol was mentioned as a cleaning agent for vinyl records. I remember trying that once, about 1977, to clean a Doobie Brothers LP. The result was an ungodly, abhorrent amount of noise.

That was 30 years ago, and it's possible I didn't get the alcohol-to-water ratio right. It's also possible that I make the same mistakes in my modern-day beverages.

remove

I clean records with a Nitty Gritty vacuum unit. You apply the fluid yourself, scrub with the supplied brush, then flip the record over and throw the switch to start the vacuum. Then manually rotate the record a few times to remove fluid. Picked it up in the eighties and still works fine. Keep looking on epay for a used one. Nothing better than a clean LP playing on the Nakamichi Dragon CT.

r,

David

Hello Radioman56
I have like 500 records not counting the 45 , and that vac system that you want to build sounds great. I need start building my record collection I get records all the time for free that people just toss .and yes David your right about that Nakamichi Dragon I used have one I would like pick up another one again they are sure great machines I used service them in the days I have Roberts/Akai reel to reel that I need get some new idlers made for I also have box of tapes and I have thorens turntable now and few antique portables too.
sincerely Radio Rich

I've had a "Nitty Gritty" record cleaning machine for several years and recommend this process as the "best" way to ensure all the crud is gone. It arrives with an alcohol solution for vinyl and a water based solution for 78's. I've tried the brushes and "preeners" but they simply cannot pull the dust and dirt from the bottom of the grooves. The vacuum is annoyingly loud but the resulting suction leaves the grooves like new. Of course it can't improve scratches but records are significantly quieter after cleaning.

When I was young (a long time ago) we used to buy a special record cleaning glue: you would brush the record with the glue, wait for a few minutes to dry, and skin it like a rabbit, the dust now being attached to the solid film of dried glue. The records would come out really deep black and shiny, and we agreed this "expensive" method to give by far the best results. I guess, that one will find a similar glue in the glue department, although it's not named that way anymore. The guys telling us to play the records wet, lost big time. All you do is washing the dust deeper and deeper into the grooves and compact it there.