Record Cleaner won't clean?? Or is it me?

My VPI record cleaner came with a fairly stiff brush to scrub the records. A carbon fiber brush is probably too soft to do the job of scrubbing the records 

What stereo5 said. I know people say this, but by what mechanism could vacuum cause static (by which I assume we’re talking about static charge on the LP surface)? More likely the charge is created when the vacuum cleaned LP is re-inserted into or removed subsequently from a paper inner sleeve.

Over-vacuuming with a wand machine can create static too, @lewm. 

I don't have an answer to the OP's question without breaking down the process, including the positioning of the wand-- I don't know the Music Hall, but know the original VPI 16/16.5 and its progeny. The position of the vacuum wand is critical.

Backing up, as others have noted, application of the fluid is important- a decent relatively cheap application brush is the Osage Audio. I use different applicators for different purposes- mild clean - Monks brush; deeper clean with agitation, the Walker Audio unidirectional pile applicators.

I do agree with a pure water rinse step. 

Once the machine is correctly set up (I used two wands pre-mounted on their pillars with the old VPI, enabling me to swap out the fluid step vacuum for the rinse step vacuum in a couple seconds, and the height of the wand relative to the record surface is correct (if I recall on the VPI, there was a nut, like one would use for VTA/SRA adjustments), the questions would seem to be in the method and technique since most of the "cleaning" is done manually. 

What stereo5 said and what lewm just repeated is a misunderstanding.  I just changed the brush in my HW-17, which I have owned since I bought it new in 1986.  It has cleaned literally tens of thousands of records.  It now has pride of place in our second home in NH.  It has replaced an HW-16.  I also have an MW-1 Cyclone at our home in FL, which has already been used to clean well over 1,000 records, with ~ 7,000 remaining from an estate.  But if you don't believe what I am about to compose here, I invite you to verify it by calling VPI directly.  First, the bristles of their brush, or any other brush on the market for that matter, are not fine enough to reach into the grooves of a record.  The VPI brush is stiff yes, and it is superior to any other I have found for cleaning very dirty records.  It is especially effective at removing stuff that nothing else seems to touch (peanut butter and jelly?) that seems to accumulate on rare old jazz records that I find at garage sales.  Anyway, I am not in anyway trying to diss the VPI brush, just stating the facts.  Second, if you over vacuum your just cleaned record a static charge accumulates in consequence.  This is the result of the friction between the velvet lips on the pickup tube and the surface of the record.  You can verify this for yourself by deliberately over drying a record.  Or you can call VPI for confirmation.  I do not like to be argumentative and hope you will accept this information in the friendly spirit in which it is provided.

“Velvet lips”, yes, might induce a static charge. That’s not caused by the vacuum. You can do the same by simply rubbing an LP with a velvet cloth. Also, believe it or not, there are vacuum based RCMs that do not use a wand with velvet lips to remove liquid (Loricraft, etc). Those machines don’t induce static charge. I love my VPI HW17, btw.

Also, I never said the VPI brush gets into grooves. I may have implied it’s superior to the Audioquest brush for the purpose of wet cleaning, and I stand by that.