[78-L] Washing records - ARC

[Michael Biel]

From: <78records at cdbpdx.com>
>> One thing I just learned. I recently acquired an old blue shellac AMERICAN 
>> RECORD COMPANY disc with COAX ME on it. What I learned was DO NOT ATTEMPT 
>> TO CLEAN IT WITH ISOPROPYL ALCOHOL! Everywhere the alcohol touched left a 
>> dull rough surface. This lovely record now has about 1 square inch of 
>> damaged surface. Should have done a test patch on the blank backside 
>> first. Rats! CDB
>>
>>     
I had wondered if someone would comment on this as I had forgotten to 
early on and I thought all the other postings were on this subject.  
Only Steve Barr remembered.  We really wonder what possessed you to try 
alcohol -- except that it IS noted by Edison company material that 
Diamond Discs can be cleaned with alcohol.  Whenever cleaning materials 
are sold, including Discwasher, Nitty Gritty, Keith Monbks, etc., it is 
always noted that the fluids with even a tiny half or one percent 
alcohol are ONLY for VINYL, and that there are special alcohol-free 
formulas available for shellac 78s.  And alcohol can be found in other 
things you might use around records but must not.  I particular note 
that Lysol Spray is deadly to shellac records, and you might not even 
realize that the airborne vapor might spread over to where the records 
might be -- including the edges exposed at the top of sleeved records in 
shelves.  I had a broken junk 40s era Red Seal sitting on top of some 
stuff when I sprayed some Lysol in the opposite direction to clear out 
some mustiness.  A few minutes later I noted that there were white 
speckles all over the exposed part of the broken Red Seal -- one half 
was on top of the other half -- and the covered part was bright and shiny.

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com

Steven C. Barr wrote:
> DO NOT use alcohol of ANY variety to "clean" shellacd-based 78's! The shellac compound is soluble in ANY alcohol!
>
> Steven C. Barr