I have been using the Mint strips for about a month now and cannot recommend them enough. Over the past six months i have aquired about 20 new old stock sealed direct to disc lps. I have not been able to get them perfectly clean. After playing one side of the lp i found that my stylus had a white powdery build up on it and the highs would suffer greatly after playing a couple tracks. I have tried AIVS single step, AIVS 3 step, VPI cleaning solutions and one other cleaning solution . These were all combined with steam cleaning and i was not able to get rid of the powdery residue. I talked with the very helpful people from AIVS and they suggested soaking the lp for a few hours , this did very little to help.
I now use steam ,vaccuum, MINT cleaning solution ,steam ,vaccuum, AIVS 2nd step,steam,vaccuum, then double rinse of AIVS ultra pure water, vaccuum.
The vaccuum is done with a VPI 16.5 with the Mint strips installed with the slot reduced to 50% of the normal width. Now my lp's are perfectly clean except for the
occasional piece of airborne debris that lands on the lp during playback. I view the stylus through a 30x power microscope after each play and the stylus is perfectly clean. The only change i have made in my procedure is the Mint Strips on the suction tube and my lp's are perfectly clean. One draw back is i now find that due to the higher suction rate if i vaccuum more than one revolution on the final rinse i get a considerable static charge build up on the lp and sometimes have to go back and re rinse and vaccuum to reduce the static build up. I will have to invest in a machine to reduce or eliminate the static build up next.
I am not sure what is causing my lp's to be so clean now, it might be the thinner and finer Mint strips or the narrower slot creating more suction at the lp grooves, but it works great and i replace the Mint strips every half bottle of cleaning solution and i am sure fresh clean strips help too.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Todd
I now use steam ,vaccuum, MINT cleaning solution ,steam ,vaccuum, AIVS 2nd step,steam,vaccuum, then double rinse of AIVS ultra pure water, vaccuum.
The vaccuum is done with a VPI 16.5 with the Mint strips installed with the slot reduced to 50% of the normal width. Now my lp's are perfectly clean except for the
occasional piece of airborne debris that lands on the lp during playback. I view the stylus through a 30x power microscope after each play and the stylus is perfectly clean. The only change i have made in my procedure is the Mint Strips on the suction tube and my lp's are perfectly clean. One draw back is i now find that due to the higher suction rate if i vaccuum more than one revolution on the final rinse i get a considerable static charge build up on the lp and sometimes have to go back and re rinse and vaccuum to reduce the static build up. I will have to invest in a machine to reduce or eliminate the static build up next.
I am not sure what is causing my lp's to be so clean now, it might be the thinner and finer Mint strips or the narrower slot creating more suction at the lp grooves, but it works great and i replace the Mint strips every half bottle of cleaning solution and i am sure fresh clean strips help too.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Todd