Alcohol doesn't damage vinyl by itself. However, sometimes plasticizors are included to the vinyl to make the vinyl composition more flexible and workable. Adding plasticizors make the stamping process easier, and made shipment damage (loss of profit) less of an issue, since the record was more flexible. Most plasticizors are composed of di-basic fatty acids, and are alcohol soluable. (they will disolve in Iso-Propyl Alcohol,(IPA)
I have tested many samples of LP records to find which labels did and which didn't use plasticizors in their vinyl, and found that non were consistant. I even went as far as to test vinyl from different plants, I.E; Mercury and RCA had various plants. There was also an inconsistency in the amount of plasicisor used. Maybe different compositions were used by different engineers, or maybe it wasn't an issue.
At what rate does the plasticizor disolve? Once again, different compositions equal different rates. Could we clean LP's for 50 years with straight IPA? Are we all too anal about the whole cleaning process? Maybe. While there is no concrete information as to whether or not IPA based solutions will damage your LP's or not, I'll continue using alcohol free.
I have tested many samples of LP records to find which labels did and which didn't use plasticizors in their vinyl, and found that non were consistant. I even went as far as to test vinyl from different plants, I.E; Mercury and RCA had various plants. There was also an inconsistency in the amount of plasicisor used. Maybe different compositions were used by different engineers, or maybe it wasn't an issue.
At what rate does the plasticizor disolve? Once again, different compositions equal different rates. Could we clean LP's for 50 years with straight IPA? Are we all too anal about the whole cleaning process? Maybe. While there is no concrete information as to whether or not IPA based solutions will damage your LP's or not, I'll continue using alcohol free.