Record cleaning

Hi,

Regarding "Reading Neil Antin's Precision Aqueous Cleaning of Vinyl Records-3rd Edition - The Vinyl Press is not an easy read but well worth the time!"

I disagree.  Having skimmed most of the document, I agree that a novice can, simultaneously, glean excellent ideas as well as get lost in the forest.  

For me - The bottom line is that the author does a great deal of scientific work, only to undermine this by relying on subjective and relative impressions of the most minor of variations in mythology - especially what water should be used.

That being said, this document can easily make 'believers' out of many...

Again, keep it simple until you find you need to go further - running water (tap) flushes of macro-items, followed by a wash (Spin Clean, Vac Machine, clean sponge etc.), followed by a second running water flush, and finally a 'pure' water rinse (DI or distilled are ~$1.00 to $2.00 per gal. at the grocery store). I found that a second Spin-Clean works well for the final rinse step.

Good luck, and exchange hours of reading for giving your LP collection a good cleaning.

For those who mention rinsing their vinyl with distilled water after an ultrasonic cleaning, how do you protect the center label?  I always feared any water getting on the label could damage it in the long run.  Thanks.

@allenf1963 Protecting the label is covered on page 32 of Neil Antin's book if you are cleaning records manually.  Machines tend to protect in other ways.

I have tried The Audiophile Man's technique. He explains how to do it with a Disco- Antistat. However, since that time he has fallen in love with the Degritter MKII. He uses the same technique using a Degritter MKII. Everthing applies the same. I have the Degritter MKII. And a Disco-Antistat. The surfactant that he uses is Tergiklean. Which consists of two seperate versions of tergitol. The one thing that you do not want to do is to leave terikleen residue on your records. The 7% alcohol solution is used to break down the glycol. I use his technique with my Degritter MKII. I see no reason that you could not use it with the Humming Guru. I tried all of the solutions. Degritter's solution, AI's solutions, etc. I had a '74 pressing of Sticky Fingers that I had purchased as a teenager. It was trashed. I only clung onto it out of nostalgia. When I got the Degritter. I was hoping that it would do the job. But it didn't. After trying various cleaning solutions. I had heard a quite a bit about Tergitol. It has been used to clean records for years. Their are a number of formulations of Tergitol. Tergikleen combined two of the tergitol formulations and marketed it as Tergikleen. So I tried Paul Rigby's approach. Being curious about TergiKleen. I used my trashed Sticky Fingers for the experiment. Because it couldn't make it any worse than it already was. I filled my Degritter with 7% IPA and brushed on the Tergikleen/glycol solution to the vinyl. Ran the Degritter cycle, and I  could not believe my eyes. But hearing is believing. I listened and I already was hearing more clarity. So I did the same cleaning a second time. I think that the second cleaning was more stunning than the first. After a couple of more cleanings, it had brought that vinyl up to VG standard. It can't perform miracles. Vinyl damage can't be fixed. But it cleaned the dirt that had built up in the grooves for years when nothing else did. I use the technique to clean all of my records. One thing that I do is to spin it in the Disco-Antistat with clean 7% IPA solution after the Degritter. IPA breaks down tergikleen very effectively. as does distilled water. And then I use the Record Doctor to suck it up. I am probably over doing it with the Disco-Antistat rinse. But I want to make sure that there is no leftover residue of Tergikleen. I could use just distilled water. But I don't buy into this anti-alcohol thing. Alcohol has been used to clean vinyl for decades. There is no hard evidence that I can find to support this phobia of alcohol. And I think that it has grown legs through marketing. There is no need to over do it. But a 7% IPA/distilled water solution is not drastic by any means. And I might say. After my records are cleaned. I seldom use a wet cleaning on them. I merely use a brush to collect the dirt. Only if they are getting a lot of use. I may occasionally spin them in the Disco-Antistat and vacuum them dry. The Degritter is busy with doing the hard Tergikleen cleaning. Once that is done. There is no need to repeatedly do such a deep cleaning. If you keep them clean. There is only an occasional need for a wet cleaning at all. I see no reason that this technique would not work with your Humming Guru. The only thing that I would worry about is trying to do the rinse by applying the fluid to the record. Invest the small amount for a Disco-Antistat or a Spin Clean. And give them a proper bath to rinse them with brushes or pads before using the Record Doctor to vacuum up the fluid. I have gotten great results with this method. Whatever you do you do not want to leave Tergikleen residue to dry on the vinyl. Good luck!

There is nothing better than playing a totally clean album! 

Try it, see what happens. My process is a physical clean with Dishwasher products, then it goes into the UC bath. Used records sometimes go through the process twice.

Try it, report back, not going to hurt anything. 

Currently have over 3000 records, all hand and UC cleaned, some new some old, some older than me. Never have I worried about the label, had any damage to the label, don't even cover it, or worry about in the cleaning process. My question is, what are you all doing to ruin labels? They are pretty tough.