[78-L] Washing records

[David Lennick]

A million years ago, I used to clean every record as I acquired it. But in 
those days it was just a moist J-cloth and tap water, and let the records air 
dry..good enough for 78s from the Goodwill stores which were usually filthy. In 
fact when I went on my record buying trips, I'd do the cleaning in the motel 
room. Now I clean every record that I'm going to transfer (no exceptions) or 
even audition, as well as every record that I buy that needs a new inner sleeve 
(we're talking LPs now) and jacket repair.

dl

Geoffrey Wheeler wrote:
> Steven Barr says: uffice it to say that shellac records can be SEVERLY 
> affected...in fact,
> destroyed... by long-ish-term exposure to water...?! So, cleaning 78's 
> with/involving water is NOT a realistic choice!
> 
> I’ve cleaned my records for decades with Dawn. After putting the disc 
> to be cleaned on a paper towel on a large bread board on my kitchen 
> counter, I apply a few drops of Dawn to an old dish sponge and lightly 
> wet it. Once the record surface is evenly soaped, I then use a soft 
> toothbrush to clean the grooves. Starting at the outer edge, I work my 
> way in and repeat this going counter clockwise, turning the record as I 
> go so I clean the entire playing surface. In doing so, I apply very 
> little pressure and control the amount of soap used so there is no 
> slick or film. I then dry my hands so as not to get any wet on the 
> label and rinse the record with luke-warm sink water. I then dry it 
> with two soft towels: one to get off the water; the second to make sure 
> the surfaces are absolutely dry. It’s simple and it works: By cleaning 
> each and every record I intend to collect, I improve the appearance and 
> upgrade the playability by at least a half-step (for example, from E to 
> E+).
> 
> Years ago, I used to use a product called something like Antique Toy 
> Cleaner. It was formulated for use on pre-War model trains and other 
> toys. I met the guy who formulated it at a trade show. I asked if the 
> solution worked on old 78s. He said he had never tried it. He gave me a 
> few bottles to use as tests. I did, and found it worked beautifully. 
> The ingredients were entirely organic: no alcohol, no oils, no nothing 
> harmful. Another big plus: A full bottle seemed to last forever, making 
> it quite economical for record cleaning. I told him in detail what I 
> had done and how it worked. He then began to market the same product as 
> a record cleaner. I would still be using it to this day if he hadn’t 
> gone out of business. I clean every record before playing it for the 
> first time, and make sure my hands are washed to minimize any oils 
> being transferred from my hands to the record surfaces. When I have 
> told some collectors I clean every record, they look at me 
> incredulously and ask “Why do you do that?” When I provided Jack Towers 
> with vintage 78s for dubbing, he usually commented that mine were 
> always the cleanest records he worked with, and the results were in the 
> playback.
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