I looked at a couple of previous posts but wondered what people are using currently. We don’t listen to records much but tonight decided to take a break from the telly. Unfortunately most of what we tried wasn’t great. Finally found a couple that were good.
Many thanks in advance
I use a cartridge with a nude* stylus and I buy a lot of second hand vinyl, so I clean them all as they enter the house.
I’ve been perfectly happy with my Knosti Disco Antistat cleaner, which squeezes the record between two goat-hair brushes in a wet bath (I use distilled water with a tiny amount of Pro-Ject Wash-It 2 liquid cleaner). It takes a few hours for the records to dry in the supplied rack. Currently £49 at Juno.
There’s a second-generation Knosti for £86 which adds, er, a flimsy plastic handle. Why? Um…
I also have a second-hand Pro-Ject vacuum wet cleaner but it is big, bulky, very noisy, doesn’t clean as well as the Knosti, and I barely use it. It’s going back on eBay soon.
(*) not anything pervy – it means the stylus sits closer to the record surface, which is better for sound quality but means it picks up even the smallest amount of fluff or grot in the grooves.
Another endorsement for the Disco anti stat. I actually have 2. the brushes weaken over time. I clean with the newer one then rinse in the second tub I can’t be bothered waiting for records to dry themselves. I use a micro fibre cloth. Yes not ideal but I am retro cleaning 3000 records.
I use the Pro-ject version of the Knosti, but replaced the fluid with L’Art du Son solution. Not that I use it much, never get the time to sit there and do batch cleaning.
I use a Flux Hifi brush for a quick once over before I play something.
Thanks guys. Ordered a Knosti set from Thomann.
The Knosti with the world’s worst model name is indeed the finest and simplest bit of vinyl care kit I’ve ever owned. I think you’ll be pleased with it.
Be sure to use top quality distilled water – I buy it in 5 litre plastic containers on eBay. And don’t be tempted to use too much of any of the commercial cleaning fluids – be mean with it and it’ll work much better.
Yes, I avoid the alcoholic cleaning liquids (including the one that came with the Knosti) as I’m slightly nervous of causing long-term damage to the vinyl. I mix 1 litre of Pro-Ject Wash-It 2 (which is already dilute) with 5 litres of distilled water to make 6 litres of fluid, which lasts me about a year.
Also worth considering anti-static inner sleeves, which can be picked up for 10 quid (or less) for 100. Saves having to wash anything twice (especially those 12″ singles which have no paper inner bag).
For records needing a deep clean try wood glue – I have used it and it works.
Too expensive for all but the dirtiest records that you think need salvaging. I have tried it and it works.
What this video doesn’t show is a tip I picked up elsewhere – get a Post-it note and rip off a couple of strips. Place them on opposite sides, on the run-in groove.
They get covered when you spread the glue. When it’s dry, it makes it easy to lift the dried glue off the record.
Presumably, when trying to play the glue disc on a (non-expensive) turntable, the music heard would be backwards and with the channels reversed?
*scratches head*
**realises that, as simply turning clean boxers inside out before putting them on – to get the label in the right place – is enough to blow my 3D mind, it is unlikely that I have this right*
I’m low tech. Dish of warm water with a drop of washing up liquid. Wipe carefully round the grooves in the direction of play with a micro fibre cloth. Spray lightly with distilled water. Wipe with another micro fibre cloth until dry. Turn over and do the other side. Works brilliantly. Whole system cost less than a tenner from Waitrose.
I use a small drop of dishwashing liquid instead of commercial cleaners.
In a rash moment I bought a humminguru ultrasonic cleaner and was set to send it straight back because I couldn’t justify spending £400 on a record cleaner. I decided to give it a try on a few old records and the results were amazing and decided to keep it. Clearly it won’t do anything for scratches etc but for general cleaning and removal of static I recommend it. It also means that I buy more second hand records so in the long term it will save me money……………….not an argument that cuts much ice with Mrs Hound
I’ve been thinking of flogging my rarely-used, bulky, noisy, Pro-Ject vacuum record cleaner and going ultrasonic. I’m an enginer by trade and could, Heath-Robinson-style, cobble something together for a couple of hundred quid, but I rather fancy a Humminguru.
I don’t think you can remove static can you? Surely it just comes back eventually.
I think you are right. Once I’ve cleaned the record I use a zerostat milty before a play it and also use anti static liners. Actually, now I am detailing all the cleaning and maintenance required in playing records I am wondering why I just didn’t stick with cd’s!
Well yes.
Vinyl and it’s cover art is all very nice to look at, but it sounds no better than a well-recorded/mixed/produced CD or digital file and is a LOT less faff. As well as being a bit of a pit to throw your money into.
If we could post pictures I’d post that classic cartoon with the two blokes admiring a large and complex stereo system with hundreds of albums taking up an entire wall and one of them is saying, “what I particularly like about vinyl is the expense and the inconvenience”.
There y’go @Twang
Let’s be honest – the faff is exactly what it’s all about for a lot of people; the careful removal from the sleeve, the cleaning before the lowering of the tone arm….getting up 20 minutes later to turn the damn thing over, and so on….
Oh absolutely. Ive gotten back to vinyl after decades of mp3s and CDs and despite the faff and expense, genuinely love having records to play again. CDs are absolutely fine, but I’ve taken some trouble to get my record player, amp, speakers etc all set up and playing records can sound just luscious.
One of these before every play
https://a.co/d/0cgxR2cZ
I had one of those. I could never tell if it worked.
The very best sort of nerdery.
I’ve always wondered how effective one of those Anti-Static Guns would be as a self-defence device.
Zap ’em with a quick blast to the nearest area of exposed skin and then biff-bang while they’re disorientated.
I have a Spin Clean which seems to be about the same as the aforementioned mentioned Knosti.
I also had a vacuum cleaner similar to this one, which cleaned much better
https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/record-doctor-vi
Very noisy though and a bit of a palaver and you really need a big house with it permanently setup somewhere. I used to have that, I no longer do
Truth be told, I rarely bother these days.
I have a little carbon fibre brush which you sweep across the record and remove the dust. Not this one but this kind of thing.
https://amzn.eu/d/00OQw503
Yes I have one of those somewhere
I have never cleaned a record in over 60 years of buying and playing them, other than a careful wipe with a cleaning cloth before lowering the tone arm. For many years I used a dust bug which was brilliant, but my current turntable (which is actually now really old) could never accommodate one – does anyone still use those?
My question is how do your records get that filthy that they need cleaning all the time? Seriously, if they are put back in the sleeves and stored properly then, other than maybe clean a second hand one once after purchase, they shouldn’t get dusty. I have also been burned a couple of times buying second hand LPs that looked pristine but sounded like frying eggs when I got them home to play – they had clearly been cleaned to look good. This has made me very sceptical about cleaning, as you have no doubt gathered!
It’s weird. I bought an original UK mono Please Please Me album from the ginormous Sonic Boom store in Toronto some years ago. It was marked down to $10 (about 6 quid) because of its poor condition, scratches everywhere but the cover was in great shape. I probably did clean it, played it and the scratches had virtually no impact at all. Sounded absolutely amazing, sometimes I think it’s the best sounding Beatles album
Maybe its the two track recording, or just how they miked it up, or just the sheer concentrated power of the 12 hour session, or the group”s youthful innocent excitement and energy or all of those things combined, but I’d totally agree with that. It’s the best sounding Beatles album.
Thumbs up
Cleaning with a Knosti or similar bath can actually make records sound better and quieter, as well as looking cleaner. The fine goat-hair brushes can squeeze all kinds of grot out of the grooves.
As an experiment, I took my 40+ year old copy of Queen’s Greatest Hits* (purchased new in 1981) down form the shelf, recorded it, cleaned it, and recorded it again. It sounded much better after cleaning. And I’ve always looked after my records.
(*) Hour-long 18-track version with Under Pressure at the end of side 1, sounds like a K-Tel LP.
Here’s another option:
I swear by this stuff. Similar principle to wood glue. My purchasing has slowed over the last 10 years as prices have gone stupid, but coming home after a vinyl haul and doing a ‘gloop’ (as my kids would say) is all part of the enjoyment. It won’t fix scratches, but makes a definite audible difference in lifting grime. Not sure if it has international distribution though.
https://recordrevirginizer.com.au/
So, I just did the first batch of records with the Knosti. Seems to do a really nice job. Thanks gain folks.