Record cleaning advice

[Cricketbat70]

When my dad died I inherited his small record collection, all from the 50's 60's. I know my dad took great care of his records but I think he or a friend might have tried to wash at least one and it's dried and left white stains all over the playing surface and it sounds awful. I couldn't hear Dusty Springfield singing for all the cracks and pops. I lifted the tone arm after less than 10 seconds it sounded that bad.
Is it recoverable with a good clean and what would you recommend? My local hifi shop do offer a record cleaning service for a few £ a time. I've not taken the record in for fear it my be a pointless exercise and the record is ruined anyway.
Any suggestions appreciated.

 

[Symples]

Depends.
Some record cleaning kits start around £50 up to hundreds.

How valuable are the records to you?

I have never used one of the cheaper ones, but my record cleaner was nearly £400 and I love it. I'm not sure if the cheaper liquid ones are any good (others here could advise)

Weigh up the costs of buying your own machine against taking them in to a shop.

 

[DougK1]

When my dad died I inherited his small record collection, all from the 50's 60's. I know my dad took great care of his records but I think he or a friend might have tried to wash at least one and it's dried and left white stains all over the playing surface and it sounds awful. I couldn't hear Dusty Springfield singing for all the cracks and pops. I lifted the tone arm after less than 10 seconds it sounded that bad.
Is it recoverable with a good clean and what would you recommend? My local hifi shop do offer a record cleaning service for a few £ a time. I've not taken the record in for fear it my be a pointless exercise and the record is ruined anyway.
Any suggestions appreciated.

Only one way to find out, give them the Dusty LP and see what the outcome is.

There's plenty of cleaners on the market, bath, vacuum, ultrasonic... take your pick.

 

[Revolutions]

Nothing wrong with picking up some cleaner & giving it a little rinse and wipe with a microfibre cloth. The only tricky bit is setting up a drying rack- although not that tricky.

 

[Al ears]

Personally I would take the record to your local store and see what they can do with it as it's unplayable as it stands so you're only going to lose a couple of quid. Cheaper than spending out on a cleaning machine only to get the same result..

 

[Rui]

I have around 50 records that are filled with a dried white mould ,

i had just bought a 30´s house that, where i live the temperatures are very high and the air was very dry,

till some years ago, i was going to buy a record cleaner device but i tried to clean one in a friends house and he owns a Pro-Ject disc washer and a electrostatic cleaner also ,only after using both machines that were expensive ,a record stayed cleaned (but not perfect)

So i´ve been waiting for a better system to appear , one that doesn´t leave bit of dirt on the record,
one of them i tried to clean it with fiberless piece of cloth and the record with one liquid that came with a dust cleaner from Hama. that is a known brand for amateur photografers , it had lot´s of components to use in reflex photograf machines,

but the record stayed filled with a paist and even more dirtier this with a cloth that wasn´t supposed to leave fibers on the record.

I´m waiting , the funnything is that a younger friend of mine went to my home and i put one record of those that become dirty ,to what he replied that the record was in great condition , he thinks that records have noise ,all of them .

Mine is dirty but the sound itself is perfect having lot´s of noises ,this talking about the first solo peter gabriel album that is my less favorite of all his solo albums ,
that as salsbury hill(or close) that was a hit when "plays live" came out ,

this to say that non of the existing cleaning machines are perfect ,cleaning records

 

[Oxfordian]

When my dad died I inherited his small record collection, all from the 50's 60's. I know my dad took great care of his records but I think he or a friend might have tried to wash at least one and it's dried and left white stains all over the playing surface and it sounds awful. I couldn't hear Dusty Springfield singing for all the cracks and pops. I lifted the tone arm after less than 10 seconds it sounded that bad.
Is it recoverable with a good clean and what would you recommend? My local hifi shop do offer a record cleaning service for a few £ a time. I've not taken the record in for fear it my be a pointless exercise and the record is ruined anyway.
Any suggestions appreciated.

Take Dusty into the store for a clean, what is there to lose? You can't/won't play the LP due to its condition so why not have a go at getting it cleaned.

On a personal note I have a Knosti (basic cleaner at £50), I use this to soak pre-loved vinyl and help ease the muck away from the grooves it seems to do this fairly well. I also use a Project VC-S3 cleaner which is great when it is working (awaiting a part from Switzerland).

 

[Stuart83]

Nothing wrong with picking up some cleaner & giving it a little rinse and wipe with a microfibre cloth. The only tricky bit is setting up a drying rack- although not that tricky.

Spot on.
I still have DJ decks making it a part time job at one point and the piles of records I used to carry about would get completely hammered despite using flight cases.

It was a regular thing to irreplaceably damage them but if it was just stains, some of unknown nature, I'd just wash them with warm lightly soaped water.
Testament to the method I've still got those records and they are fine from some 20yrs ago.

Saying that so are the turntables that were bashed around and bumped into regularly.

"I dont buy into kid glove approach with all things vinyl"

Tbh records are more hardy than CDs as far as scratches go and the decks as hardy as cd players.

 

[camcroft]

I have a friend who bought and sold records. He has a Project machine and an Ultrasonic machine. He said they both had their good points but some records can never be restored to their former glory. He then gives them to a charity shop.

 

[nopiano]

Spot on.
I still have DJ decks making it a part time job at one point and the piles of records I used to carry about would get completely hammered despite using flight cases.

It was a regular thing to irreplaceably damage them but if it was just stains, some of unknown nature, I'd just wash them with warm lightly soaped water.
Testament to the method I've still got those records and they are fine from some 20yrs ago.

Saying that so are the turntables that were bashed around and bumped into regularly.

"I dont buy into kid glove approach with all things vinyl"

Tbh records are more hardy than CDs as far as scratches go and the decks as hardy as cd players.

There’s something in this, I agree. In my ‘Saturday boy’ part-time Hifi shop days the LPs were played endlessly. We would sometimes request a record from another part of the shop during a demonstration, as there wasn’t an unlimited supply. But they just kept on giving.

Eventually they might get dropped or scraped but they were amazingly resilient and very rarely got cleaned.

 

[twinkletoes]

I Just wash them with some warm slightly soapy water. I use a fine soft painters brush and or those painting sponges . Then rinse thoroughly, if I’m feeling spicy I’ll use some purified water to rinse. Rightly or or wrong it seems to work for me and they sound great most of the time. Finding lint free cloths that live up to the name i find to be the biggest problem.

There is no way I’m spend 400 quid to spin a disc or 3-4k on one of those degritters

 

[Jasonovich]

This is why, I gave up on my vinyl.
Wouldn't it be great they put a special vinyl setting on your dishwasher, problem solved!
Kudo's to you guys for your dedication to and love of vinyl.

 

[Revolutions]

For a long time I was dedicated to hearing distorted vocals & then removing fluff from the stylus.

Amazing what a quick dust with the carbon brush (or felt brush if things are a bit more stubborn) does for keeping things in good order.

 

[Oxfordian]

For a long time I was dedicated to hearing distorted vocals & then removing fluff from the stylus.

Amazing what a quick dust with the carbon brush (or felt brush if things are a bit more stubborn) does for keeping things in good order.

+1 on this.

Vinyl from decades ago if cared for plays superbly today, it's all about having a good cleaning routine.

 

[Din5]

I Just wash them with some warm slightly soapy water. I use a fine soft painters brush and or those painting sponges . Then rinse thoroughly, if I’m feeling spicy I’ll use some purified water to rinse. Rightly or or wrong it seems to work for me and they sound great most of the time. Finding lint free cloths that live up to the name i find to be the biggest problem.

There is no way I’m spend 400 quid to spin a disc or 3-4k on one of those degritters

I use the same process, soapy water/soft brush, rinse/dry. I then use a painters flat painting pad with Vinyl Shelter cleaning fluid, rinse/dry. Storage LP's in anti-static record sleeves. I have revived old LP's by this method, seems to work very well, little or no crackle & pops.

 

[SloRick]

I just bought a Humminguru, and I love it.

 

[ZaxZaxx]

Nothing wrong with picking up some cleaner & giving it a little rinse and wipe with a microfibre cloth. The only tricky bit is setting up a drying rack- although not that tricky.

One good way of drying records is by stacking them vertically with small tumblers supporting them in the centre on the labels - so tumbler, record, tumbler, record and so on. Just don't get over-ambitious with the height and it's best done in a safe corner of the kitchen - and not when there's cooking going on!

 

[Jasonovich]

One good way of drying records is by stacking them vertically with small tumblers supporting them in the centre on the labels - so tumbler, record, tumbler, record and so on. Just don't get over-ambitious with the height and it's best done in a safe corner of the kitchen - and not when there's cooking going on!

Excuse my indulgence.
Don't know why Shaun of the Dead came into my head, where Peggy and Frost are in the garden trying to repel a couple of zombies. Armed with a stack of vinyls, they engaged in a frenzy of Frisbee shots, these mighty black disks embedding into the Zombie skulls with devastating effect.

And if by magic Freddy is sing from the heavens Don't Stop Me Now......we're having such a good time, we're having a ball.....Oh man classic.

Vinyls keep the Zombies away!

 

[ZaxZaxx]

Excuse my indulgence.
Don't know why Shaun of the Dead came into my head, where Peggy and Frost are in the garden trying to repel a couple of zombies. Armed with a stack of vinyls, they engaged in a frenzy of Frisbee shots, these mighty black disks embedding into the Zombie skulls with devastating effect.

And if by magic Freddy is sing from the heavens Don't Stop Me Now......we're having such a good time, we're having a ball.....Oh man classic.

Vinyls keep the Zombies away!

Only up to a point...

 

[Jasonovich]

Only up to a point...View attachment 6402

Touche
Love that song!

View: https://youtu.be/RBxK3CcOQD8?si=_BXdVXx7OHVZK0sL

 

[Al ears]

Excuse my indulgence.
Don't know why Shaun of the Dead came into my head, where Peggy and Frost are in the garden trying to repel a couple of zombies. Armed with a stack of vinyls, they engaged in a frenzy of Frisbee shots, these mighty black disks embedding into the Zombie skulls with devastating effect.

And if by magic Freddy is sing from the heavens Don't Stop Me Now......we're having such a good time, we're having a ball.....Oh man classic.

Vinyls keep the Zombies away!

That's vinyl not vinyls....

 

[Al ears]

That's vinyl not vinyls....

Apologies to OP for derailing thread even further ....

 

[Jasonovich]

That's vinyl not vinyls....

I know AI ears, that's second time you corrected me - I keep saying it. It kind of stuck in my brain

 

[Al ears]

I know AI ears, that's second time you corrected me - I keep saying it. It kind of stuck in my brain

Oh dear, another sad case of vinylsitus...

 

[DougK1]

I know AI ears, that's second time you corrected me - I keep saying it. It kind of stuck in my brain

You're like a cracked record Jason