Record cleaning - what's your method?

Melt Face Molly Drop said:
Cleaners of the world: are you cleaning your 40+ year old used records (that look clean) expecting them to play with zero pops? Or do you hold a certain truth that used records will never be fully restored to their once pristine selves.
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Depends completely on the used record. No reason a 40+ year-old record couldn't play well and quietly, so I think it really comes down to how that record has spent its life until the point it's in your hands. But if your point is that expectations should be realistic, then yeah, I agree that the likelihood of a perfectly quiet play should have some association with the age of the record.

But thinking about this makes me realize that cleaning records has become similar to other aspects of being a vinyl junkie in that there's always the question of whether the result might be better with a more effective system, whether that's referring to a cleaning process or a turntable/cartridge/phono pre-amp/speakers, etc. Crazy.
 
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Melt Face Molly Drop said:
Cleaners of the world: are you cleaning your 40+ year old used records (that look clean) expecting them to play with zero pops? Or do you hold a certain truth that used records will never be fully restored to their once pristine selves.
Click to expand...
a well-kept record played on well-kept equipment should sound pretty damn good even after 40 years. I’ve got a bunch of original pressings that sound borderline immaculate, and better than a lot of new-from-factory pressings I’ve bought of late.
 
Russ I said:
But thinking about this makes me realize that cleaning records has become similar to other aspects of being a vinyl junkie in that there's always the question of whether the result might be better with a more effective system, whether that's referring to a cleaning process or a turntable/cartridge/phono pre-amp/speakers, etc. Crazy.
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This is exactly where I'm at. To the point that I've sold records that didn't meet that particular standard instead of going down the rabbit hole of upgrading my equipment. I want to "settle" but the more I learn, the more I just can't. I believe it's called @Mather Syndrome.
 
Melt Face Molly Drop said:
This is exactly where I'm at. To the point that I've sold records that didn't meet that particular standard instead of going down the rabbit hole of upgrading my equipment. I want to "settle" but the more I learn, the more I just can't. I believe it's called @Mather Syndrome.
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Do you have a moment to talk about cables? Allow me to enlighten y-WHERE ARE YOU GOING GET BACK HERE
 
Melt Face Molly Drop said:
This is exactly where I'm at. To the point that I've sold records that didn't meet that particular standard instead of going down the rabbit hole of upgrading my equipment. I want to "settle" but the more I learn, the more I just can't. I believe it's called @Mather Syndrome.
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Doctor: Mr. Mather, my colleagues and I have never seen this condition before. We're calling it @Mather Syndrome.
@Mather: OH, WHY ME?
 
Many/most records of that period almost always had surface noise when they were new, how it was played, what it was played on, and how it was kept matter but ultimately it starts with the pressing quality. You can’t clean a poorly pressed record into sounding anything other than poor.
 
Dylanfan253 said:
Many/most records of that period almost always had surface noise when they were new, how it was played, what it was played on, and how it was kept matter but ultimately it starts with the pressing quality. You can’t clean a poorly pressed record into sounding anything other than poor.
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Just for the record (ha), I disagree with your many/most comment regarding surface noise on records from “that period”. That is all.
 
Sorry if this has been brought up, but curious how often everyone cleans previously cleaned records? Monthly, semi-annually, annually, before every spin?

I was cleaning before every spin but stopped when I wasn’t noticing much of a difference from the previous spin. Thinking maybe I’ll dial it back to annual cleaning (if I remember).
 
epyon415 said:
Sorry if this has been brought up, but curious how often everyone cleans previously cleaned records? Monthly, semi-annually, annually, before every spin?

I was cleaning before every spin but stopped when I wasn’t noticing much of a difference from the previous spin. Thinking maybe I’ll dial it back to annual cleaning (if I remember).
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Rarely. I figure most grime that's likely to gather on the record, between inner and outer sleeves, is dust, which I'm fine brushing off.
 
kvetcha said:
The downside of this solution is that it is a general-purpose bath with a specially-made attachment, so it's a bit jerry-rigged. Hope you got it figured out! Report back!
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I got it figured out. I like how it works so far. It's not terribly loud, more like a low buzzing.

The screw to lift and lower the records into the bath leaves much to be desired. The nut on the record side is tricky to hold while loosening the outer nut to tighten and loosen.

I do like that I can clean 8 records at a time. And I can set the temperature for water (or leave it off) and set the timer for clean time.

I'm impatient, so I don't want to just put the wet records into a rack for air-drying. I have been using microfiber cloths that I used with the Spin-Clean. I saw someone on youtube hooked up a computer fan to dry them while still on the spindle. I don't want to deal with one more electrical cord or item as part of the process.

I have not yet added the Spin-Clean as a rinse bath, but I may do that soon.

I can see why people might spend more for a unit with more conveniences, like the iSonic. My friend Mark got one and he loves it.
It cost him a bit over $600 on Amazon. I am okay spending 1/3 of that for mine and a little bit of inconvenience.
LInk: Amazon product ASIN B07FP9XZ9N
 
I use the Nitty Gitty Record Cleaner on my LP’s. It gets the job done but about this time of year my record’s get static real bad. Can’t figure this out to stop it!
 
isslewis said:
I use the Nitty Gitty Record Cleaner on my LP’s. It gets the job done but about this time of year my record’s get static real bad. Can’t figure this out to stop it!
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Side effect of dry air. The only fix is humidification or using a Zero-Stat to neutralize the charge.
 
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