[78-L] Cleaning lacquers

[H D Goldman]

Hi David,

So I'll quietly remind you that while the ammonium hydroxide in Windex  
can be effective in solubilizing the palmitic acid residue found on  
lacquer surfaces, it does little to thoroughly remove other  
contaminants.  Without suitable agitation &/or multiple applications  
it's not as reliably thorough an approach as some would believe.  The  
use of a high quality record cleaning machine will not alter this  
observation.

Record cleaning solutions using only non-ionic surfactants & water can  
be effective but, in our efforts, never thorough. Addition of limited  
amounts of Reagent Grade 1-propanol to such solutions can improve  
cleaning but these modified formulations can only be used on vinyl or  
Edison diamond Discs.

In our hands, the most effective approach to phonograph record  
cleaning has been to use a carefully selected blend of ionic & non- 
ionic surfactants & adjuvants that are safe, highly rinsable &  
thorough, regardless of the matrix.  Unfortunately our materials were  
not evaluated during the effort, Georgia State?, reported in the ARSC  
journal MIke has mentioned.

Cheers,

Duane Goldman

On Sep 24, 2009, at 10:22 PM, David Lennick wrote:
> I'm going to say this very softly, knowing that Dr. Duane will  
> scream, but
> believe me, this works very well on the white stuff that appears on  
> lacquer
> discs (palmitic acid) as long as you give it another cleaning with  
> distilled
> water....
>
> Windex.
>
> The original blue formula, not the supermarket generic, not the  
> extra strength.
>
> Shhhh.
>
> dl
>
>
> Cary Ginell wrote:
>> How does one clean lacquers? I have a collection of them and some  
>> have what looks like mold on the grooves.
>>
>> These date from the late '40s to the early '60s.
>>
>> Cary Ginell

H D Goldman Lagniappe Chemicals Ltd.
PO Box 37066 St. Louis, MO 63141 USA
v/f 314 205 1388 thedoctor at discdoc.com