Question about old used albums and cleaning

[405x5]

Mar 8, 2019 22:05:20 GMT -5 dsonyay said:

I've noticed when acquiring really old used albums they need serious cleaning.. beyond what is normally used.

I'll think it's clean but the needle digs up tons of dirt.. a couple of times the needle got so dirty the sound distorted bad enough to where I had to clean the stylus ..

So I now have a label protector, and the album goes into the sink in a mild mix of water with a touch of mild detergent. Then the vinyl is scrubbed softly with a nylon brush (in direction of grooves). This seems to do the job.

But even then, sometimes the needle will still dig up more gunk here and there. I had to do a massive cleaning like that over a two session scrubbing to get a copy of Brubeck's Time Further Out clean.

It's like that with all old vinyl. Incredible. Anyone notice this too?

What's your recipe for thoroughly cleaning into the grooves?

I was given an old Wes Montgomery album -it had crud so hard to remove I ended up using one of those white "magic erasers" .. I wet it down well, then rubbed the vinyl..not hard, and it lifted up debris extremely well.. this worked fantastic and seemed to lift every particle between the grooves. I was actually amazed at this. Rinsed off with distilled water.. then used an album cleaning solution as normal.

Wow... What an amazing difference with the sound.. especially the pops and clicks.

YouTube is full of videos on cleaning really dirty vinyl.

Just curious as to how any of you guys do your cleaning with old stuff.

Anyone try the Titebond II trick? I've done that as a test on a very cruddy album I found for a dollar. It works really well too. But it's kinda a long drawn out process and only one side can be done at a time.

Happy weekend everyone.

The task of keeping a NEW record playing like new for as long as possible is daunting enough......collecting old albums is all of that, plus a crap shoot for which ones will be playable and which ones will not. 
Actually, used CD'S are also a problem, and if one's got a scratch in the right place the whole show is over, not just one track.
Many of the methods mentioned on this thread go a long way towards making records better, but a scratch is a scratch, end of story. (or a warp).
When I was spinning, (decades ago) I did have a few that skipped, and by indigenous cleaning did manage to get a few of them to get thru the song without skipping any longer.

Bill

[SteveH]

Oct 27, 2019 11:45:51 GMT -5 405x5 said:

Mar 8, 2019 22:05:20 GMT -5 dsonyay said:

I've noticed when acquiring really old used albums they need serious cleaning.. beyond what is normally used.

I'll think it's clean but the needle digs up tons of dirt.. a couple of times the needle got so dirty the sound distorted bad enough to where I had to clean the stylus ..

So I now have a label protector, and the album goes into the sink in a mild mix of water with a touch of mild detergent. Then the vinyl is scrubbed softly with a nylon brush (in direction of grooves). This seems to do the job.

But even then, sometimes the needle will still dig up more gunk here and there. I had to do a massive cleaning like that over a two session scrubbing to get a copy of Brubeck's Time Further Out clean.

It's like that with all old vinyl. Incredible. Anyone notice this too?

What's your recipe for thoroughly cleaning into the grooves?

I was given an old Wes Montgomery album -it had crud so hard to remove I ended up using one of those white "magic erasers" .. I wet it down well, then rubbed the vinyl..not hard, and it lifted up debris extremely well.. this worked fantastic and seemed to lift every particle between the grooves. I was actually amazed at this. Rinsed off with distilled water.. then used an album cleaning solution as normal.

Wow... What an amazing difference with the sound.. especially the pops and clicks.

YouTube is full of videos on cleaning really dirty vinyl.

Just curious as to how any of you guys do your cleaning with old stuff.

Anyone try the Titebond II trick? I've done that as a test on a very cruddy album I found for a dollar. It works really well too. But it's kinda a long drawn out process and only one side can be done at a time.

Happy weekend everyone.

The task of keeping a NEW record playing like new for as long as possible is daunting enough......collecting old albums is all of that, plus a crap shoot for which ones will be playable and which ones will not. 
Actually, used CD'S are also a problem, and if one's got a scratch in the right place the whole show is over, not just one track.
Many of the methods mentioned on this thread go a long way towards making records better, but a scratch is a scratch, end of story. (or a warp).
When I was spinning, (decades ago) I did have a few that skipped, and by indigenous cleaning did manage to get a few of them to get thru the song without skipping any longer.

Bill

A 'crap shoot' for sure.  Whenever I purchase used albums from an internet seller I now always ask if it is warped!  Here is my latest ebay album purchase: