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Ultrasonic cleaning before and after

I used a track on side B of Helen Humes and the All Stars. (Muse MR5217). My Old Flame. $1.99 record store.

Before cleaning, the vinyl was fairly dirty with some fingerprints and a lot of dust. Vinyl was greyish from dirt.

I cleaned the single record in my China-made US tank and a motor driven rotator for 5 mins. 80/20 distilled water/isopropyl alcohol with a few drops of Triton X100 surfactant.

Before: A fair amount of surface noise with crackling in right channel from fingerprint marks. It sounded pretty decent as the recording is fine.

After SpinClean pre-rinse: Reduction in surface noise but fingerprint scratch was still as pronounced. Recording sounded better with somewhat blacker silences and improved dynamics.

After US and SC rinse: Much quieter. Surface noise practically gone. Fingerprints noise reduced by 70%. However what I was not expecting was much better music. The acoustic bass line appeared literally for the first time. Piano notes came together in a melody where before they seemed random and disjointed. Brass became three dimensional coming forward in the mix. Vocals centered and became more nuanced like she was singing to you with an increase in sibilance where called for.

Summary: I am genuinely surprised by the improvement wrought by the second cleaning. I can’t say for certain if it was due to the US or simply to playing it three times! I cleaned the stylus before each play.
noromance
morningstaraudio's avatar
morningstaraudio
154 posts
 
This is the record spinner that attaches to the Ultrasonic cleaner.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TVLY7HS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
slaw's avatar
slaw
26,497 posts
 
I'm sorry, but this spinner seems inferior to the Vinyl Stack for the money.
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
With dirty records Ultrasonic cleaning is the best. I would still add like 1% ethanol or 2% isopropyl  alcohol to the distilled water. You will get rid of the oil based deposits like finger prints better. 
Having said this there is no type of cleaning that will make a new record sound better and as long as you never let it collect static and get dirty you will never have to clean it. I have never bought a used record. I think it is a crap shoot. I would if I got the chance and the price was right buy a large collection, say over 2000 records from an estate sale then sell off the records I do not like. One owner can not listen enough to one record  to wear it out with a collection that size. Small collectors will buy a new hit record and play it over and over until they get bored with it or the next hit record comes along. With standard record hygiene they wind up building a collection of damaged records. These are the ones you have to avoid.
slaw's avatar
slaw
26,497 posts
 
@mijostyn,

"as long as you never let it collect static"

How many ways is this statement wrong?

The very act of playing a record, creates static.




barrysandy
196 posts
 
Noromance, glad you only paid $1.99 for the record. An 80/20 solution is WAY too much alcohol for records. Even 5% is pushing it. Agree on the value of ultrasonic cleaning, but really dirty records may still need a scrub. 

I have bought lots of used "Mint" records, many still sealed, from Discogs and had very few problems with sellers. I was willing to pay reasonable prices. Many older records from the early 50’s are tough to find in great condition.
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