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posted by Basil Brown at 6:33 AM
2 Comments:
Do you know how to clean vinyl records? I got some out the other night that I hadn't played in a while and they all had awful surface noise which I'm sure wasn't there before. When I looked at the playing surfaces, I saw they were looking quite dirty, with marks on them, but there don't seem to be any bad scratches.
I've heard you can pay to have them professionally cleaned. Do you how much this costs and how effective these services are?
Any help would be much appreciated.
Why yes! But I will say that this is one I reckon I should be charging for... it's taken much experimentation and several damaged LP's to master the technique. Still, you could always pay an extended visit to my sponsors...
The spotting will probably be caused by damp; this also causes the grooves to clag up and chronic surface noise is the result. It won't come off with a dry wipe and if you've ever tried washing a record with tap water, you won't do it again. The water leaves behind unmoveable [presumably mineral] deposits and a record that's seen tap water becomes irretrievably damaged.
And don't use alchohol, spirits, petrol, meths, turps etc. Irretrievable damage will follow.
Warning! The following method is not suitable for use with fancy moving-coil and/or any other unduly expensive cartridges, as the final stage of cleaning is achieved by playing the record in a damp state. That said, I do use an m/c cartridge, an Ortofon MC15, but this is a comparitively rugged thing [and I'm v. careful]. I'm assuming a reasonable level of dexterity, mechanical sympathy, electrical awareness and common-sense. I take no responsibility for any loss/damage to equipment, record collection or your own mortal-coil should things go bad. Nothing written here constitutes advice, it is merely a sharing of techniques that have worked for me.
Caveats away. What you need to clean vinyl LP's and singles is....
.... fanfare ....
1/ De-ionised Water, as sold for batteries and steam irons.
2/ Fairy Liquid [or equivalent]
3/ Small receptacle in which to mix solution.
4/ Tesco Value bog-roll [Or equivalent. Don't use coloured tissue. A lint-free cloth would probably be a better option, but I use aforementioned bog-roll without problems]
5/ A shiny new pin.
6/ Record-cleaning brush.
7/ Stylus-cleaning brush.
The method:
a/ Clean receptacle thoroughly, using only de-ionised water.
b/ Pour a tablespoon of de-ionised water into receptacle and add a TINY amount of Fairy Liquid. A blobette on the end of a pin kinda tiny. Stir well. If there's foam or significant bubbling, you've got too much detergent.
c/ Place record on turntable and rotate at 33RPM. Pour mixture onto the playing surface, taking care not to spill any on the label. Centrifugal force will make the fluid run towards the edge, so with [clean and dry] finger, guide the liquid suspension until the entire playing surface is wet. If your fluid has the correct concentration, it will just about cling to the surface as one big wet mass. Too weak and it will settle as individual blobs; too detergent-rich and you'll see foaming.
d/ Stop the turntable and with your clean finger, feel around the record's playing-surface for moveable clags. Don't take so long over this that the surface dries out.
e/ Prepare a cleaning pad from several sheets of bog-roll or whatever. Rotate record at 33 RPM. Gently press the pad against the record, so that it absorbs the fluid.
f/ There should now be no visible wetness on the playing surface. With a record-cleaning brush, carefully wipe the surface so that all loose matter is picked up.
g/ Play the record. If all has gone well, you should now hear clear black silence after the needle hits the lead-in groove. After playing about half the side some noise may return, both as the record dries out and as the needle picks up grooveclag. Clean stylus and repeat until entire side plays clean and clear.
Notes: Be very, very careful not to spill cleaning fluid. In a turntable, there's often only the motor to really worry about, but be sure you know what's under the platter and where. If in any doubt at all, improvise a method whereby the wet stage is carried out by hand on a stationary record well away from anything wired.
Don't start with your best LP. It will take trial and error to achieve perfection, so practise on something incipid and replaceable, like Bon Jovi.
If all the above seems too much like hard work, there's always help available from the growing number of people who've bought record-cleaning machines on e-bay. A proper specialist may charge a few quid more, but if you have something at all precious then it's worthwhile.
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