Shops that can clean LPs

[Greenwich_Man]

Hi

I've seen mentioned in these forums that some shops have record cleaning machines

Can you tell me please in which shops in central London I can find these machines - what it costs - and what effect it will have on my disks.

 

[the record spot]

Sister Ray - Berwick Street off Oxford Street. £1 per disc. I cleaned up a couple of secondhand albums and it meant I was happy to play it on my P3. Wouldn't have gone near it otherwise.

It won't make ruined LPs work, but ones which are a bit dusty, yep go for it.

Also, London Sound http://www.londonsound.org/ who are up by Harrow. They are a bit more expensive I think but it sounds pretty comprehensive and they throw in a new inner sleeve for your newly cleaned disc, so you get more for your money. The details are here http://www.londonsound.org/kmal.htm and I hope one of these are okay for what you need.

 

[DistortedVision]

Have you considered buying your own? You can get a Cadence Okki Nokki for £325. Personally I think its better even if you have a modest collection because spending more time and care will give you better results than having it cleaning in a shop.

 

[Greenwich_Man]

Thanks Record Spot - I'm in cenral London on Friday to try to get a pressie for the wife's birthday, and then do the Babylon exibit at the British Museum - so I'll take a couple of LPs with me to see what difference it makes to them.

 

[Greenwich_Man]

DistortedVision:Have you considered buying your own? You can get a Cadence Okki Nokki for £325. Personally I think its better even if you have a modest collection because spending more time and care will give you better results than having it cleaning in a shop.

At the moment can't justify the cost - but if I find it makes a big difference I may put it on my future list.

 

[the record spot]

Greenwich_Man:Thanks Record Spot - I'm in cenral London on Friday to try to get a pressie for the wife's birthday, and then do the Babylon exibit at the British Museum - so I'll take a couple of LPs with me to see what difference it makes to them.

No probs; added benefit to Sister Ray is it's a good shop to boot; usually got some tasty deal or another on the go. Not necessarily the cheapest though, you might need to go to Fopp just off Shaftesbury Avenue for that - well, the Covent Garden end of Shaftesbury Avenue rather than Piccadilly or off on the side streets I mean.

 

[Anonymous]

Buy one of these:

http://www.hificables.co.uk/11035/Knosti-Disco-Antistat.html

Dont worry about the name..............it works really well

 

[Greenwich_Man]

the record spot: Sister Ray is it's a good shop to boot; usually got some tasty deal or another on the go. Not necessarily the cheapest though, you might need to go to Fopp just off Shaftesbury Avenue for that - well, the Covent Garden end of Shaftesbury Avenue rather than Piccadilly or off on the side streets I mean.

Thanks mate that was great - at Sister Ray I took 5 LPs - 3 of which belong to a pal - I didn't get charged for 2 of his 'cos of the fact that they are baddly damaged - and they didn't think it was fair to charge me for those. As yet not been able to put any of them on the turntable - as a very busy weekend - wife goes out Tuesday night - so expect I'll give them a go then. I recorded them to WAV before - I'll now do an after so I'll be able to see the difference graphicly as well as by listening.

Fopp is a great shop - the prices are so good - I got a real bargain - John Mayall "Hard Road" extended edition for less than a fiver!

Thanks so much for the tips

 

[Greenwich_Man]

tomekay:
Buy one of these:

http://www.hificables.co.uk/11035/Knosti-Disco-Antistat.html

Dont worry about the name..............it works really well

Thanks for that - been looking through the threads and I see others rate this one too - will certainly consider

 

[the record spot]

Greenwich_Man:
the record spot: Sister Ray is it's a good shop to boot; usually got some tasty deal or another on the go. Not necessarily the cheapest though, you might need to go to Fopp just off Shaftesbury Avenue for that - well, the Covent Garden end of Shaftesbury Avenue rather than Piccadilly or off on the side streets I mean.

Thanks mate that was great - at Sister Ray I took 5 LPs - 3 of which belong to a pal - I didn't get charged for 2 of his 'cos of the fact that they are baddly damaged - and they didn't think it was fair to charge me for those. As yet not been able to put any of them on the turntable - as a very busy weekend - wife goes out Tuesday night - so expect I'll give them a go then. I recorded them to WAV before - I'll now do an after so I'll be able to see the difference graphicly as well as by listening.

Fopp is a great shop - the prices are so good - I got a real bargain - John Mayall "Hard Road" extended edition for less than a fiver!

Thanks so much for the tips

That was good of the Sister Ray guys! Glad you found it worthwhile. Not sure what the sonic benefits will be, but a good clean won't do them any harm (or your stylus!).

Ah, Fopp and me, we go back years...! There's a regular stack of good titles at £3 these days, tons more at five and specials crop up all the time - I picked jup a Dylan 3 CD boxset for a fiver the other week. I think my wife just despairs when I mention going into town these days...there's two hifi shops and at least three record shops within easy reach!

 

[DistortedVision]

Really? The only dealings I've had with Sister Ray was buying a new Depeche Mode LP from them on eBay. They didn't respond to any of my emails and only delivered it two months later after I made a Paypal claim.

the record spot: No probs; added benefit to Sister Ray is it's a good shop to boot; usually got some tasty deal or another on the go. Not necessarily the cheapest though, you might need to go to Fopp just off Shaftesbury Avenue for that - well, the Covent Garden end of Shaftesbury Avenue rather than Piccadilly or off on the side streets I mean.

 

[the record spot]

I'm not claiming they're perfect, but instore they are prompt, polite and it's a good shop to browse round; books, CDs, vinyl and t-shirts. Put it this way, I've been to worse in 30-odd years of buying...!

 

[Anonymous]

Interesting info. I have recently got back into LPs - I still enjoy digital, but vinyl is fun, too.

Does anyone know of record cleaning services further West / South West in the UK? London is getting on for 200 miles from me!