Record cleaning question

stereoman

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Hello. Ok, I think I made sth not so right. Decided to give it a go and made a solution of tap water with a bit of soap for one of my records. Quick cleaning, dried with hairdryer a bit. And, pops are gone but overall sound seems muddy now. Kinda regret it. Is there a way of returning this to previous state ?
 
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stereoman said:
Hello. Ok, I think I made sth not so right. Decided to give it a go and made a solution of tap water with a bit of soap for one of my records. Quick cleaning, dried with hairdryer a bit. And, pops are gone but overall sound seems muddy now. Kinda regret it. Is there a way of returning this to previous state ?

Cheapest way would be to buy a Knosti record cleaner and clean the record again with the supplied fluid, maybe give all your records a clean whilst you are at it. Never use tap water and household soap on records! Distilled water, wetting agent and isopropyl alcohol only.
 

stereoman

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DougK said:
stereoman said:
Hello. Ok, I think I made sth not so right. Decided to give it a go and made a solution of tap water with a bit of soap for one of my records. Quick cleaning, dried with hairdryer a bit. And, pops are gone but overall sound seems muddy now. Kinda regret it. Is there a way of returning this to previous state ?

Cheapest way would be to buy a Knosti record cleaner and clean the record again with the supplied fluid, maybe give all your records a clean whilst you are at it. Never use tap water and household soap on records! Distilled water, wetting agent and isopropyl alcohol only.

Ok thanks. I used this method now. Distilled water + paint pad ( instead of fibercloth ) + dish soap and plenty of rinse. Helped. It did not work with rubbing alcohol solution and fibercloth as the stylus picked up a lot of gunk. Now it is not. Thank you I'll try your method next time.
 

MajorFubar

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Did you search online or read ANY of the dozens and dozens of online guides / tutorials / videos on how-to clean your records, before deciding that household tapwater with soap was a great idea?

I'm going with a big fat 'No.'
 

stereoman

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MajorFubar said:
Did you search online or read ANY of the dozens and dozens of online guides / tutorials / videos on how-to clean your records, before deciding that household tapwater with soap was a great idea?

I'm going with a big fat 'No.'

Hi Major, actually I did. And came across many clips saying that "I have been using soap and tap water for ages with no detrimental impact" so I gave it a go :/

To be honest second wash was much better with a paint pad and light soap. But in my opinion never ever Vinyl records should be wet cleaned. Simply never - it does not matter how. Each wash is kinda detrimental.
 
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Wet cleaning does work if performed correctly with specified liquids. Soap and tap-water is a definite no-no! Distilled water, Ilfotol and isopropyl alcohol does work and can achieve excellent results.

Never listen to the tap-water and soap merchants... doesn't take much brain activity to realise that this approach is a recipe for disaster.
 
DougK said:
Wet cleaning does work if performed correctly with specified liquids. Soap and tap-water is a definite no-no! Distilled water, Ilfotol and isopropyl alcohol does work and can achieve excellent results.

Never listen to the tap-water and soap merchants... doesn't take much brain activity to realise that this approach is a recipe for disaster.

I thought this was a wind-up considering the number of posts on this forum regarding vinyl cleaning.

Hope it wasn't an expensive LP.
 
Al ears said:
DougK said:
Wet cleaning does work if performed correctly with specified liquids. Soap and tap-water is a definite no-no! Distilled water, Ilfotol and isopropyl alcohol does work and can achieve excellent results.

Never listen to the tap-water and soap merchants... doesn't take much brain activity to realise that this approach is a recipe for disaster.

I thought this was a wind-up considering the number of posts on this forum regarding vinyl cleaning.

Hope it wasn't an expensive LP.
I thought it was a tease too. Obviously missing out the stage with wet and dry sandpaper was the problem. Too bad it was a first edition Rolling Stones record. ;-)
 

MajorFubar

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stereoman said:
But in my opinion never ever Vinyl records should be wet cleaned. Simply never - it does not matter how. Each wash is kinda detrimental.
It is if you do it wrongly. It's a great idea if you do it right, such as using a dedicated wet cleaner like a Keith Monks, Pro-Ject VC-S, Okki Nokki or even just a Knosi. Tap water contains a whole boatload of chemicals you don't want ground into your records. And as for soap...just no! Like a number of other posters I thought this thread was a wind-up until I figured you were actually serious.

All is not lost though: find, beg, borrow or rent a proper wet record cleaner like any of the above I mentioned, and I'm pretty sure the records can be at least mostly restored. There also used to be a thread about home made approved DIY wet-cleaning 'recipes' with which various posters had achieved good results. Search Google and find a link to it, but IIRC it was a mixture of distilled water, isopropyl alcohol and a few drops of wetting agent (like Ilford Infotol) to help the water globulate.
 

stereoman

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Al ears said:
Hope it wasn't an expensive LP.

Cocked up a bit great first LP with excellent Cups song from "Beacoup fish" by Underworld. Excellent album. No disaster but never again wet cleaning , does not matter whether alcohol or any other crap.

https://open.spotify.com/track/2jX3LIqfrXmJSznCL5x5aW?si=m82NnF2US3SQFq_l7o1Rhg
 
stereoman said:
Al ears said:
Hope it wasn't an expensive LP.

Cocked up a bit great first LP with excellent Cups song from "Beacoup fish" by Underworld. Excellent album. No disaster but never again wet cleaning , does not matter whether alcohol or any other crap.

https://open.spotify.com/track/2jX3LIqfrXmJSznCL5x5aW?si=m82NnF2US3SQFq_l7o1Rhg

Whilst I can sympathise with you wet cleaning does have its benefits, but only if done correctly.
 

MajorFubar

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stereoman said:
No disaster but never again wet cleaning , does not matter whether alcohol or any other crap.

Just cos you messed it up, wet cleaning isn't necessarily a bad method. I've wet-cleaned various records over the years and the outcome is nearly always a vast improvement. I don't have a machine cleaner, so the results aren't as perfect as they could be, but they still speak for themselves.

Had you come on here and asked first, I'm sure you would have got some great advice and tips to help make your first attempt a successful experience. Instead you did something which should really have been obvious to you was a stupid idea. Even if you were under the illusion your tap water is sourced from a stream of purified unicorn tears, obviously the dish soap / face soap / whatever you used is full of chemicals, no matter which wacky crackpot on YouTube tells you otherwise.

As is often the case, don't blame the tools, blame the workman using them.
 

stereoman

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MajorFubar said:
stereoman said:
No disaster but never again wet cleaning , does not matter whether alcohol or any other crap.

Just cos you messed it up, wet cleaning isn't necessarily a bad method. I've wet-cleaned various records over the years and the outcome is nearly always a vast improvement. I don't have a machine cleaner, so the results aren't as perfect as they could be, but they still speak for themselves.

Had you come on here and asked first, I'm sure you would have got some great advice and tips to help make your first attempt a successful experience. Instead you did something which should really have been obvious to you was a stupid idea. Even if you were under the illusion your tap water is sourced from a stream of purified unicorn tears, obviously the dish soap / face soap / whatever you used is full of chemicals, no matter which wacky crackpot on YouTube tells you otherwise.

As is often the case, don't blame the tools, blame the workman using them.

That's also true. But every video says sth different.
 
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stereoman said:
Al ears said:
Hope it wasn't an expensive LP.

Cocked up a bit great first LP with excellent Cups song from "Beacoup fish" by Underworld. Excellent album. No disaster but never again wet cleaning , does not matter whether alcohol or any other crap.

You could easily rescue your first attempt with a decent 'wet clean'. Are you aware that the main content of the correct cleaning solution is distilled water? As follows:

Distilled water 80% (800ml) [universal solvent]

Isopropyl Alcohol 19.5% (195ml) [de-greaser and assists with drying]

Ilfotol 0.5% (5ml) [wetting agent/surfactant]

Just because it failed the first time doesn't mean that it will fail again if you used the correct products.
 

MajorFubar

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DougK said:
You could easily rescue your first attempt with a decent 'wet clean'.

Yeah I told him that several posts up, but he's convinced now that all wet cleaning is the work of the devil. Hopefully he'll see sense and have a go again, this time the correct way.
 

MajorFubar

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stereoman said:
But every video says sth different.

They do, unfortunately, but I'm not sure why you couldn't plainly see that anyone suggesting tap water and soap is one sandwich short of a picnic. You washed your record with a solution laced with undesirable chemicals such as fluoriide, chlorine (to discourage bacteria growth), salts, and perfumes (in the soap). I'm sure the comments on the video you watched must have been full of posts telling viewers to absolutely and completely ignore the advice.
 

stereoman

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MajorFubar said:
stereoman said:
But every video says sth different.

They do, unfortunately, but I'm not sure why you couldn't plainly see that anyone suggesting tap water and soap is one sandwich short of a picnic. You washed your record with a solution laced with undesirable chemicals such as fluoriide, chlorine (to discourage bacteria growth), salts, and perfumes (in the soap). I'm sure the comments on the video you watched must have been full of posts telling viewers to absolutely and completely ignore the advice.

All good. I appreciate your advice of course. Will try your methods.
 

MajorFubar

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stereoman said:
All good. I appreciate your advice of course. Will try your methods.

Excellent. Check out Doug K's post on the previous page, his suggestion in post #14 is pretty much spot on. I'm sure you'll get much better results than with tap water and soap.
 

momo72

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You could easily rescue your first attempt with a decent 'wet clean'. Are you aware that the main content of the correct cleaning solution is distilled water? As follows:

Distilled water 80% (800ml) [universal solvent]

Isopropyl Alcohol 19.5% (195ml) [de-greaser and assists with drying]

Ilfotol 0.5% (5ml) [wetting agent/surfactant]

Just because it failed the first time doesn't mean that it will fail again if you used the correct products.

Is it safe to replace the distilled water with the deionised type?
 

joe23

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De-ionised is OK, but the best and cheapest source I've found is Spotless Water. If you Google Spotless Water locations you may have a station near you. It's basically a shipping container with a reverse osmosis water purifier in it and it's generally what window cleaners use and is as good as distilled water. I keep a few 5L mineral water bottles and every few months I'll go to the local Spotless Water filling station and get 25Litres of the stuff. It hasn't actually cost me anything yet other than the petrol there and back because they had an offer on where you could get a free key fob that entitled you to £20 worth of free water. I've cleaned about 450 records so far in my ultrasonic tank (which is the best record cleaner I've ever used of any type) and I still have over £10 credit left.. Even when it does run out you're talking pennies to refill a 5L bottle rather than paying about £3 for a 5L bottle of de-ionised water from Tesco.
 

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