[78-L] Best way to clean 78s

[Sean Miller]

Every time this subject comes up, I tend to hit the delete button, but this time I read each and every post and I'll finally offer my penny's worth of input.

For years I used soap and water and various clothes, pads and such to clean my 78s and LPs.  Not bad, but I was never totally happy with the results.

After joining 78-L in 1999, I read about the Disc Doctor's materials and thought "no way, I can't justify buying that stuff on my (then) modest income.  I settled for a VPI cleaning machine and the 78 cleaning fluid sold by Nitty Gritty.  The stuff worked reasonably well enough on most discs, until I came into a huge collection of absolutely mint 78s that all had little specks of mold on them from residing in a not so dry basement for decades.  The stuff just wouldn't come off.  Forget about acetates, lacquers and vinyl DJ pressings that had that smoky film on them as well.

I decided to spring for a small bottle of the Disc Doctor's solutions and brushes and see / hear for myself.  It was night and day and I haven't gone back, in fact, I just recently got my last order of the largest bottle of 78 cleaning fluid available.  The last time I ordered any was at least 5 years before that.  I clean 10 78s a night on average, so you do the math there.  I don't think the stuff costs much more than any other method and it really does do a better job than any of the others I've ever used.  It probably costs 5 cents to clean two sides of a 78 / LP / 45.  That's economical enough for me.

Discussions like these always remind me of visiting a rather prominent collector once years ago who was more than happy to show off his rare and one of a kind "worth hundreds" 78s, yet when I examined any of them closely, all I could think was "man, you need to clean these!".  He didn't believe in such "foolish investments", after all.  

Call it an unsolicited testimonial if you want, but I'm calling it just my opinion, I'm very pleased with my "investment".

Sean
On Dec 29, 2010, at 3:37 PM, H D Goldman wrote:

> Cary,
> 
> I must ask you to refrain from making in accurate referrals to my record cleaning products.  A pint of our Miracle Record Cleaner is $25 & makes up 1.5 pints of working solution.  The price you stated includes a pint of Cleaner & 4 oz. dispenser, a pair of our 12" sized wet cleaning brushes with spare pads & the average cost of s/h within the US when paid by credit card as clearly presented at our website.  
> 
> Personally I'm more a listener than a collector & to paraphrase the old Columbia ads, hearing all the beauty of all the music.  The sound quality of fine analog recordings stands as the reference point for media striving to replace it.   
> 
> Duane Goldman
> 
> On Dec 29, 2010, at 1:38 PM, Cary Ginell wrote:
> 
>> 
>> Actually, the question was how to clean "dirty 78s." Not necessarily collectible 78s, but "the kind that are found in antique shops on the floor and underneath a countertop." These are generally junky records and do not have to be treated as reverently as pricey one-of-a-kind items. At least I wouldn't spend $77.40 for a pint of liquid to clean records that are worth 25 cents. Dish soap is fine for those. The "best" way for me to go to the grocery store is in a chauffeured limousine, but my 2003 Camry does the job just fine.
>> 
>> 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
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> 78-L mailing list
> 78-L at klickitat.78online.com
> http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l