Wet play

[MajorFubar]

What do you know about playing records wet?
Dowse an old crackly record in cleaning-fluid so that it's literally pooled with the stuff and it will play with much less surface noise and distortion (until the fluid starts to dry in the grooves, then it'll probably be 100x worse than before, until you wet it again).
The anti-skate control on my old Thorens TD160 even has a separate scale for playing records wet, so it's certainly not an unknown technique.
Yet, I don't think I've ever read any magazines or articles that have discussed the technique at all, and I can't imagine it's good for the longevity of the cartridge.
Anyone done it?

 

[The_Lhc]

? Sounds like asking for trouble! Never tried it, not sure I'd want to, not with a decent cartridge anyway...

Do let us know how you get on! >)

 

[kevinJ]

It was a big hype in the 80's I think.
Never tried it, but I do own a few records that have been played wet at some point in their life. I've been trying to get that stuff out of the grooves with my Okki Nokki since I bought them.

 

[relocated]

That brings some old memories alive. It was a 70's thing only I think. I don't remember hearing about it beyond the mid seventies and from memory people used to use distilled water. Certainly not cleaning fluid, :O from what I remember.

 

[MajorFubar]

Ah right, I see 🙂

Do let us know how you get on! >)

Not sure i'd have the nerve to try it, mainly for fear of rusting the inside of the cartridge through 'capillary creep'. Useful perhaps for making that one final digital-archive a treasured-but-crackly LP

 

[Sospri]

Rega's take on this is a definate no no.................

 

[Vizzage]

You get instantaneous boiling and fusing of the muck on the sides of the track. It sounds great first time but then you have to play it wet from then on for ever

 

[dansettemajor]

Many years ago, Goldring Lenco introduced the Lencoclean wet playing system which was well reviewed but with the caveat that once records were wet cleaned they always had to be played wet, otherwise all the dirt congealed in the grooves, causing lots of surface noise.