Cleaning vinyl

[josko]

I just got a large (500+) LP collection. Most of the records are dusty, some are warped, and some are scratched. What's the best way of cleaning and restoring all the LP's?

 

[jliedeka]

Obviously cleaning can't do anything about warped or scratched records. Cleaning the dust out of the grooves will make the records sound better and prevent further damage.

There's really no substitute for a vacuum driven record cleaner and a good cleaning solution. I use an entry level Nitty Gritty machine. It's a little more labor intensive than the more expensive machines but you'd have to spend a lot more to get better results.

Jim

 

[josko]

Thanks. I assume you're referring to the Nitty Gritty 1.0? Their line certainly looks like what I've been looking for.
Before i pul out the plastic, are there other alternatives I should consider for record care at the ~$1k price level.

 

[jostenmeat]

Hi josko, I know absolutely nothing about TTs, but was asking for advice on behalf of a friend. When getting to the topic of cleaning records, TLS offered me the following:

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showpost.php?p=577601&postcount=23

 

[Phil Taylor]

So ... just putting them in the dishwasher is not so good?

 

[jliedeka]

That would work if you don't care about keeping the labels on.

 

[DD66000]

You caan clean those LPs for a whole lot less than a grand.
You only need to buy a spray bottle, rubbing alcohol, distilled water. Make a 50/50 mixture. Spray the vinyl and work it into the grooves using a LP brush.
Then moisten a clean piece of cloth with distilled water, wipe over the LP and dry with another piece of cloth.
The final step I do is then use a cleaned brush attachment on a vacuum and suck any remaining dirt/ moisture.

 

[WmAx]

The best results are consistently obtained with a proper vacuum based cleaner machine or steam cleaning. You should determine your budget here based on how often you use vinyl and the size/worth of your collection and value of your turn table. For example, it would obviously not make much sense to buy a $500 VPI 16.5 to clean your vinyl if you use a $50 record player and listen to vinyl one time a week for 20 minutes.

-Chris

 

[josko]

I think I'm game to do this right. Among these records is a set of Bruno Walter autographed recordings of his Mahler symphonies, and other stuff that means quite a lot to me, as they were collected by my father. I'd like to do what I can to preserve and restore them. $1k is within my range, but I'd like to be sure I'm not falling for a PR stunt on a cleaning machine. BTW, the turntable is a Thorens 160MkII with a Shure V15 MkIV.

I'd like to listen to these often, but am worried about wearing them out. How often can one listen to a record without risking long-term wear?

 

[WmAx]

The VPI is no snake oil product - it's a high quality cleaning machine - one of the best 'values' for cleaning machines. If you don't care about the relative automation, you can comparable cleaning from Nitty Gritty manual machine. I would personally prefer to spend the little bit more for the increased automation of the VPI. Also, the VPI is built to do a large volume/number of cleaning in a a row, where many machines may not be suited to repeated high volume cleaning. It depends on the size of your collection and frequency of use, of course. The relative high cost ($500-$600) is due to very low volume or production. Certainly comparable machines could be sold in mass market for $150-$200 each if it was a highly demanded item and made in China.

If you have $1k budget, you may even want to buy a more expensive, further automated unit (making cleaning easier/quicker) such as the VPI 17F. This machine does ALL scrubbing and vacuuming via automation.

This type of machine should be used regularly to maintain clean records. However, if a record is especially dirty, it may benefit from an initial cleaning that is different. For example, you can use specific wood glue, pour it on the record and let it set. Later, the glue will peel off as a single sheet and ALL particles are virtually removed. Nothing else will clean this well short of ultrasonic batch cleaning - but it's best suited to very special cases as this is not a practical method of cleaning. It is a very slow process.

-Chris

 

[jliedeka]

Some of the higher end machines have a smaller vacuum nozzle which is maybe more thorough but takes longer. One problem I have with the more automated machines is that it is more of a challenge if you want to have more than one step in your cleaning routine. I use two passes, a wash and then a rinse. I've heard of 3 and 4 step cleaning processes but I'm not sure what the benefits really are.

A more automated machine generally has one reservoir and pump for fluid plus the vacuum mechanism. I guess you can use spray bottles for the other steps.

Jim