Ester based greases tend to be premium products since ester oil is a synthetic oil. An ester based grease would be akin to Mobile 1 grease in automotive applications; a high quality, low-evaporation grease.
The MOFI LP#9 stylus cleaner is $25 US ,$33 Canadian so its the same issue but a lot of TT manufactures note you have to use their product or there will be warranty issues so I stuck with their product as the master tracker stylus shape really digs the dirt out of the tracks no matter how much I clean the records. Even using this cleaner , the stylus appears a bit discoloured but clean . It may be my imagination as its hard to get a good look .
Time for a Humminguru.
I have looked at these types of systems but they can be costley . I presently have a vac system that is fine except for some used records so at this point I reclean them a couple of times and the needle catches what I miss so to speak .
Understand about the cost. I moved from a vacuum system to the Humminguru for the same reason.
How has your experience been . On line reviews appear mixed as they always will be .
I’ve had mine about a year now. It’s been clearly superior cleaning deep in the grooves and the automation makes cleaning more convenient.
Both you and Kvetcha appear to be happy . Is speed an issue given it appears to clean one record at a time . Do you use just distilled water or add something to help clean .
I use a drop of Groovewasher G-Sonic per tank, and will do 10-15 records per tank (depending on how dirty they are going in). It takes longer in absolute time than a Squeaky Clean, between 7.5 and 15.5 minutes depending on how long you're cleaning and how long you're drying, but the cleaning is absolutely deeper. And I used to let the cleaner soak for 3-5 minutes per side with the Squeaky Clean, so the Humminguru has saved me hours of sitting around. Just pop it in, press a button, and walk away for 15 minutes.
I’ve read the best way is a vacuum as a pre clean before ultrasonic, as the US can’t/won’t remove oils/fingerprints on used LPs. Thoughts?
I think this is correct (or at least accurate in some cases), but my normal process — unless a record is an obvious disaster — is to start with the ulatrasonic and then play it. For a used record, I do two separate runs on the longest wash cycle. If it seems really clean and plays like it, I don’t bother with anything else.
Actually, between the G-Sonic and a second wash cycle I’ve never had issues with fingerprints. I’ve run dollar bin finds through the thing and had them come out spotless. At worst, you could spot treat with a brush or microfiber cloth - no reason for a whole vacuum cycle.
I’ve found fingerprints to be harder to remove. I use a microfiber cloth and surfactant to remove fingerprints that don’t come off in the first pass. Pulling out the vacuum cleaner just to get fingerprints is still a high hurdle.
I use a very diluted homebrew cleaning solution consisting of Method spray detergent and Jet Dry surfactant. It’s the same cleaning solution I used with my vacuum record cleaner.
Just to be clear its the arm touching the record? I had noted other people comment on queue lever issues and leaking fluid from the lift , are you seeing any leaks ?
