[78-L] Washing records - ARC

[Royal Pemberton]

What did the record companies (other than Edison) recommend for cleaning
their records back then?

On Sat, Feb 13, 2010 at 7:45 AM, Michael Biel <mbiel at mbiel.com> wrote:

> 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
>
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