Obviously, to all but Moose, by ‘circular bits’ I am referring to your recently acquired second hand vinyl.
I’ve a few choice but grubby folk LPs to wash before I spin them for the first time, and my 5 litre stash of washing fluid for the trusty Discostat is almost gone. I can’t for the life of me recall what fluids I added to the de-ionised water when I made the mixture up.
What do you folks use?
Mini breakfast was the guru on this. But she include photographic fluid to get deep in the grooves.
These days I just use water a drop dishwashing liquid and importantly a second discostat with frequently changed water to rinse them.
I have a formula somewhere I’ll post it when I get home but I think it also includes photographic fluid.
It certainly enhances the process. Just a matter of effort
The standard mix formula includes Isopropyl Alcohol, de-ionised water, a bit of detergent and some photographic releasing agent.
I’m wary of using IPA (an industrial solvent) on vinyl unless it is to remove sticky deposits (I’m sure one my the recent charity shop purchase 7″ singles had jam residue on it).
I buy something called Pro-Ject Wash-It 2 (via the dodgers or a popular auction site). It comes in 1 litre, 500ml or 250ml bottles, pre-mixed but can be diluted further. I buy a litre and 5 litres of distilled water – 6 litres of diluted fluid keeps me going for a year or more, even at the rate I buy filthy records.
THANKS @fentonsteve, you have just nudged some tired memory neurons into releasing what I already knew but had forgotten – that’s the stuff I used before!
Indeed, you are right in saying that though it claims to be at the right concentration out of the bottle, it can easily be diluted several times over.
Surfacing from my foggy bonce come further memories – I recall that very like you I bought a 500ml bottle of Wash It 2 and a 5 litre bottle of distilled water, removed 500 ml of the water and poured in the 500ml of Wash It 2.
That’s the tank I’ve nearly reached the bottom of now.
I’ve used (almost) the last of it this very morning, cleaning a copy of an ancient (1972) Cyril Tawney LP which has now come up all shiny and lovely and quiet.
While that was drying I managed to buy a couple of litre bottles of the stuff over the phone from an outfit called Henley Audio, who were very helpful:
http://www.henleyaudio.co.uk/
T:+44(0)1235 511 166
Lukewarm distilled water with a drop off washing up liquid, then sprayed with distilled and dried off with cotton towel.
Yes, in the past I have downloaded the Safety Data Sheet* for Pro-Ject Wash-It and it is basically posh washing up liquid with added some citrus smell. The kind of thing Waitrose would sell.
(*) one of the many dull hats I wear is COSHH assessor.
I suppose the citrus smell would add some experiential value to Lemon Jelly albums.
They missed a trick. Although…
“All the little ducks
Swimming in the Knosti Disco Antistat cleaning fluid”
… doesn’t really scan.
I loved Lemon Jelly…. and Marmalade,
Marmalade…I like marmalade…
I like it on toast which I prefer to seeing a ghost which is a sight I fear most.
He’s a poet but didn’t know it.
For really impacted dust on old vinyl I sometimes spread a thin layer of wood glue on the record (avoiding the label obv) with a plastic card and then leave it for a couple of days (or until the glue is completely clear/transparent). Peel it off (quite satisfying that!) and in 99 per cent of cases the record will sound remarkably crackle free.
Glad that works for you, but I’m too scared to try it – see the tags on my OP.
Try it out on a record which you don’t particularly care about first. This is what I did before hearing the results and then taking the plunge on my mono first pressing of Pepper. I do it sparingly these days (wood glue is expensive!) but it’s hugely effective on old vinyl.
Oddly enough I have a mono first pressing of Peppers up in the attic – it’s my wife’s copy.
The sleeve is somewhat tired, and the Blake cut-outs are long gone, no doubt gleefully hacked out with blunt scissors during a herbally refreshed giggle-fest evening, and the grooves look like they were last exposed during a greasy-fingered crisps and biscuits eating rampage likely brought on by the appetite-stimulating effects of the same debauch.
That is why it is in the attic, as it is not going anywhere within reach of my turntable.
I might, just might, dig it out after I’ve grabbed a big bottle of wood-glue from Bodgit & Quit and give it the treatment.
This may not be helpful but I have found over the last fifty odd years that only buying new LPs and looking after them circumnavigates this problem.
I’ve got a spinclean It’s quite a faff but with some distilled water and a few drops of the cleaning fluid, does a decent job.