I just added a cool little goose neck clip on angle poise to the vinly setup so I can see the record properly when I play it….coloured vinly looks fab….anyway, it also makes very clear how much dust is on the record. I always give it a wipe with the Goldring carbon fibre brush but the bloody stuff pops back on (static, I guess) or some just won’t move. How do you wipe yours, so to speak?
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Twang says
Thus is the angle pointe thingy BTW – recommended….
SOONHUA USB Flexible LED Reading Light Clip-on Beside Bed Table Desk Study Lamp Adjustable Keyboard Lightings https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B017R1P6CQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_AQHdzbCF8XWEN
minibreakfast says
I have a little stick-on light on the wall behind my turntable – cheap and cheerful. As for wiping records, those carbon fibre brushes are supposed to “discharge” static, but I swear mine made it worse, so now I just use a soft spectacles cloth, removing dust from it from time to time with a sticky roller. I’d never use the roller directly on a record though!
My dad used to have one of those little felt roller things that you attached to the tonearm in front of the stylus. That was pretty cool.
Twang says
I had one back in the day. It had a little brush then a little velvet pad behind it. There used to be a gun thing I seem to remember.
minibreakfast says
Ah, I don’t think my dad’s had any kind of ballistics.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Completely forgotten about the wee roller thing, I loved cleaning it with my tweezers
Vulpes Vulpes says
The dust-bug; arguably of most use if you insist on playing vinyl with the deck lid open (or have no option not to). Also, sadly, a source of low level rumble if you crank things up a fair way through a monster system.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
I was told by one of those trendy Linn-type guys in a hi-fi emporium in Kings Lynn “a wee felt roller thingie is essential and will make your vinlys sound better as well as making you even better in bed” and who was I to argue?
minibreakfast says
Um… where do you attach it for the second thing?
Moose the Mooche says
So people with clean records are demon lovers?
Correlation does not imply causation.
fitterstoke says
Would that be a Zerostat gun, Twang?
Twang says
I believe it would Fits old boy. Never actually seen one. I remember they were ray gun-ish.
fitterstoke says
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=Milty+Zerostat&rh=n%3A560798%2Ck%3AMilty+Zerostat
Still available, apparently……
Mike_H says
Bloody hell, those are expensive now!
Used to have one many years ago. Disappeared during a house move.
Did you know you can give an unwary person a mild electric shock with one of those things?
What larks we had..
Vulpes Vulpes says
I still have mine, bought at a sensible price in the early Vinrassic period. Never seemed to do any bloody good at all, dust-wise, even though it was demonstrably emitting something or other by the bucket-full, as a couple of slow squeezes (Moose alert) in the direction of my little aeroplane mobile would induce a frenzy of dog-fighting manoeuvres and the odd aerial collision.
Mike_H says
Used to find my one fairly effective used in combination with a clean microfibre cloth. Zap and wipe on the turntable.
niallb says
Surely, none more Afterword?
Twang says
I was cleaning a Graham Nash album too!
Lando Cakes says
I use a microfibre cloth. Cheap as chips and does the job.
garyt says
Roy Gandy (Rega numero uno) reckons just let the stylus clear the dust out of the way.
fentonsteve says
This, unless the record is filthy and/or STF. You’re just as likely to push the surface dust into the grooves, where it will do some damage, as you are to clean it off. The stuff on the surface does not affect playback.
Many hi-fi or S/H vinyl shops have professional machines (they cost upwards of a couple of grand to buy) and will make a small charge to clean anything you take along.
minibreakfast says
Just remembered – as a kid I used to just use my forearm to wipe the dust off an LP. Seemed to do the trick.
Mike_H says
Not recommended for messy eaters who’ve just had a runny egg and bacon sandwich.
With HP sauce.
Moose the Mooche says
But your forearm is especially talented.
minibreakfast says
Oh dear…
Black Celebration says
Reading about “Spud” Baker washing vinyl records in the sink made me wonder how much this would actually harm a vinyl record? My disgraceful late-teenage bedroom floor was effectively a large bolus of records. clothes, magazines, fag ash and food. Most survived OK, and remained playable. I recall a China Crisis album with pawprints on it from the dog!
I sense a few of you may have fainted.
Mike_H says
The (probably should be) patented @minibreakfast Record Deep-Cleaning Method could probably do with another airing at this juncture..
minibreakfast says
A friend of mine swears by immersing them in the sink, labels and all, which apparently come to no harm. But here’s my preferred method: http://carbootvinyldiaries.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/cleaning-vinyl-records.html
Vulpes Vulpes says
Excellent advice, and a thoroughly sound life lesson – this should be printed off and learned, by rote, by all under 18s on pain of only being allowed to listen to music on second-hand D120 cassettes, ever, ever, ever, if not committed properly to memory.
Twang says
Looks well thought through if a little complicated. …I clean it with the brush then make a solution of a few drops of washing up liquid in warm water and wipe round the grooves til all the grot had gone then rinse under the tap which seems to work ok but I’m interested to see if there are better ways. Microfibre cloths and demineralised water seems a good upgrade.
minibreakfast says
It’s really quick to do; it took a lot longer to type it out than it does to clean a batch, and many of the records I buy are filthy. The distilled water spray is essential where I live due to very hard water.
I should add that I do not use the alcohol mixture on shellac 78s.
nickduvet says
I’ve perfected a method of cleaning records using nothing more than a smidgen of fairy liquid and a rinse with warm water. It works, and I would venture that it’s no more harmful than the alcohol and/or lighter fluid I’ve seen record shops use. Mini’s approach looks sensible too though.
Twang says
What’s your method then Nick?
nickduvet says
Not dissimilar to yours. I use linen tea cloths for laying out and for removing the excess water. Then stand the records for a few hours. Simples
Vulpes Vulpes says
Has anyone dared to go down the (shudders) Copydex route?
Twang says
Wood glue would do it too…
Bartleby says
I have an Okki Nokki RCM and it does a fantastic job. Might be worth checking out. Has brought decades old records, smeared in static, dust, hiss and so on right back to life (so much so that I curse the day I shelled out for a replacement Rubber Soul – the copy I played to death as a sticky fingered, careless toddler now sounds immaculate). I then fire the end result with a Zerostat 3 gun to remove any static. Records still somehow manage to pick up the odd spec of dust on the way to the turntable mind. Not enough for much to show up on the needle tho – I use an Onzow Zerodust to clean that and since getting the Okki Nokki, its barely noticed the needle.
minibreakfast says
Just did around a dozen 7″s and 12″s bought this morning. Took around 20 mins in total, first and second clean.
Moose the Mooche says
And waddabout da reckids?
minibreakfast says
Oh dear. Oh dearie me.
Twang says
Yes I can see if you have all the kit it’s very straightforward. I just got the bits for the deionised water /microfibre cloth upgrade from Mr. Waitrose and did a few – my Crosby and Nash Live is now gleaming!
minibreakfast says
There’s nothing I like better on a Sunday afternoon than a nice shiny….. no, I’ll stop.