Record Cleaning Again

Audiobugged: Thanks for the clarification. Sean
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I read through this, and it looks like a record cleaning machine will be my next purchase (got a new TT last week).

Fortunately for me, I find that quirky things like cleaning records makes listening more enjoyable. Maybe I can find some extra steps to add to make it even more quirky. ;)

Gee Sean,

three ring disc cleaning circus, where do you store it all?

I've got my eyes on a Loricraft cleaner - it removes it all in one pass and from the reviews here is that much more effective removing the residue than the pad variety record cleaners.

Hoping I have $1800 left over when I blow my tax refund.

Tom: I live in a three story house. As i've mentioned before, my girlfriend is extremely tolerant of the mounds of electronics scattered all over the house. Then again, one of the spare bedrooms that we have acts as her "walk in closet", so i guess we are on equal footing there. The fact that i pay for all of the electronics and she gets to use them probably doesn't bother her either : )

Once we end up moving, i get the feeling that she's going to want to "go to town" on the interior, etc... Once that happens, i have the feeling that there is going to be a small ( maybe NOT so "small" ) war taking place. I told her so long as the decorations that she wants to use don't detract from room acoustics and speaker placement in any of the rooms, she could do whatever she wants. You should have seen the look she gave me on that one : ) Sean
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What I do.

I assimilated the Fremer article quite a while ago and made some modifications that are IMHO realistic. First, instead of disposable cotton pads I bought a stack of white terrycloth wash cloths, and use them in place of the pads.

The environment that people clean records in is always overlooked, and while I do nothing special to mine the bottom line is that contaminants are in the air that are continuously dropping on the record in microscopic amounts. My procedure does nothing to deal with this, and follows through on the concept by not using needles, etc. to open bottles, or cotton gloves to handle records. I do wash my hands thoroughly prior to starting a cleaning session. I do not clean more than 4 records (about an hour of work) at a time.

Many people adhere to using only RRL fluids (and use the time they save to bash Disk Doctor cleaning fluids), which skips an important aspect of the article: Use more than one cleaning fluid. Each of my fluids is designed to clean up the one previously used. If I am out of RRL I substitute Nitty Gritty Pure 2.

Also, no substitute for time. I spend 1-2 minutes per scrub cycle. At the end of the process a total of around 15 minutes has elapsed.

Here is my complete regime for cleaning a record ---

1) on a clean washcloth put record side A face up

2) apply 1-2 tsp of DIY cleaning fluid (1 gallon distilled water + 1 pint 90% isopropyl + 10 drops Dawn dishwashing soap)

3) scrub around with Disk Doctor brush #1

4) wipe up DIY with new cotton cloth

5) apply 1-2 tsp of Disk Doctor cleaning fluid

6) scrub around with DD brush #2

7) wipe up DD with new cotton cloth

8) apply 1-2 tsp of drug store grade distilled water

9) scrub around with Disk Doctor brush #3

10) vac off 3-4 turns on NG

11) apply 1-2 tsp of RRL SVW fluid

12) scrub around with DD brush #4

13) vac off 3-4 turns on NG

14) apply 1-2 tsp of lab grade distilled water

15) scrub around with DD brush #5

16) vac off 3-4 turns on NG

17) replace washcloth from step #1

18) repeat side B

19) air dry in rack for 1 hour.

Following this I clean the RCM brush with distilled water and the supplied brush. Then I rinse the DD brushs with SVW and pat dry with yet another cloth.

Before playing the record it gets a few spins of the carbon fibre brush to dislodge any particulate matter that has fallen on it. As the record is substantially degreased, the contaminates are loose and should come up easily.

Following play I put it in a new sleeve, if it doesn't already have one.