Cleaning records. How often really?

Effischer, ideologically I share your view even though I called it 'insane approach'. But I think this would be too much work and very inconvenient arrangements for me. I will machine clean the records I play after 10-20 plays or every year. And of course I will use Last record preservative. Every serious audiophile I heard of does it. There are also records that I don't play, they are for archive, I will clean them every 10 years, maybe. I keep copies of a few albums for future generations or if there is an accident and I lose my playing copy.

Reasons to wet clean a record more than once include:
1. the initial cleaning was inadequate; or
2. the record was re-contaminated during playback or storage.
Compulsiveness aside, there are no others.

To avoid #1, clean each record thoroughly the first time (to whatever standard of cleanliness you prefer).

To avoid #2, play and store cleaned records to avoid re-contamination. This would include steps to:
a) remove dust;
b) reduce vinyl's propensity to attract dust (ie, static); and
c) shield the record from dust when not in use.

I have my methods, developed over many years and after many trials and comparisons. My standards are high but my tolerance for re-cleaning is low. Therefore, every record sees an extensive cleaning, playback and storage regimen.

It works, at least for me. I'd estimate that 90-95% of the records I clean do not benefit from a second cleaning. OTOH, a similar percentage of records "cleaned" by friends do benefit from a second cleaning using my regimen. YMMV, of course.

Inna - Why do you use LAST? And why do you think I should leave this thread?

Dougdeacon, 5-10% is a lot, especially if they are your favourite records.
It is hard for the records not to get contaminated to a degree while playing, the environment is not sterile.
And how do you know that the first cleaning was perfect unless you clean again?

Almost never.... I use a Hunt brush before playing. I have a Nitty Gritty, but only use it to get peanut butter off of the record if I find some.