Is this the product? [url]http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/2365478.pdf?_ga=2.251195343.832898279.1529509380-1287413366.152950...[/url]
That’s the material data sheet. I’m not a chemist but the ingredients are used as a surfactant (to break surface tension of water to penetrate grooves), detergent and anti-microbial agent (possibly, not just to kill what’s on the record, but to prevent the fluid from spoiling) as well as anti-static agent.
I don’t think there’s anything ’wrong’ with the stuff, though I haven’t used it.
The issue, to me, from a practical standpoint, is getting it off the record. It is probably gunking your stylus, based on your description of its effects.
I’ve usually found that "cleaning" a record that results in worse sound is due to residue of the cleaning agent, mixed with whatever contaminants were on the record originally, that remain and are not removed effectively. Thus, the preference for vacuum (or ultrasonic) cleaning and rinse. Some folks don’t rinse, but I recommend doing so using at a minimum distilled water. Since I assume you are applying this manually and using no vacuum I would use a clean microfibre cloth and distilled water as a rinse step and probably do a couple rinses without immersing the record or getting the label wet. You can find plenty of discussion on the web about how to hand wipe a record without scratching or adding more static.
Your best bet if these records are valuable (to you) may be to use one of the various commercial record cleaning services- you ship the record(s) to them, they use a variety of record cleaning devices including vacuum and ultrasonic, at a price per record plus shipping costs. Obviously, if you were going to commit to cleaning records regularly, you could investigate various cleaning machines, including low cost vacuum or DIY ultrasonic (or both), but I assume you don’t want to invest deeply in this.
That’s the material data sheet. I’m not a chemist but the ingredients are used as a surfactant (to break surface tension of water to penetrate grooves), detergent and anti-microbial agent (possibly, not just to kill what’s on the record, but to prevent the fluid from spoiling) as well as anti-static agent.
I don’t think there’s anything ’wrong’ with the stuff, though I haven’t used it.
The issue, to me, from a practical standpoint, is getting it off the record. It is probably gunking your stylus, based on your description of its effects.
I’ve usually found that "cleaning" a record that results in worse sound is due to residue of the cleaning agent, mixed with whatever contaminants were on the record originally, that remain and are not removed effectively. Thus, the preference for vacuum (or ultrasonic) cleaning and rinse. Some folks don’t rinse, but I recommend doing so using at a minimum distilled water. Since I assume you are applying this manually and using no vacuum I would use a clean microfibre cloth and distilled water as a rinse step and probably do a couple rinses without immersing the record or getting the label wet. You can find plenty of discussion on the web about how to hand wipe a record without scratching or adding more static.
Your best bet if these records are valuable (to you) may be to use one of the various commercial record cleaning services- you ship the record(s) to them, they use a variety of record cleaning devices including vacuum and ultrasonic, at a price per record plus shipping costs. Obviously, if you were going to commit to cleaning records regularly, you could investigate various cleaning machines, including low cost vacuum or DIY ultrasonic (or both), but I assume you don’t want to invest deeply in this.