How to clean your records

WOW~!

It made the record sound brand new.

very cool. Ive reinstalled a system for records and Ive got an old collection of Ray Charles, Mingus , Bob James, Emrson Lake an Palmer, and of course Chet Atkins, E. Power Biggs (Bach) Vivaldi orchestrals and the Bee-uls.
I never threw those out cause I felt there would be a nostalgia craze for the tru sound that only records can provide.
Ive got some old folk albums that I can try this trick.

Interesting discovery. However, as an audiophile (and vinylphile), it’s of little value to me for the following reasons: The principle reason that this method works is because it liberates some grunge that was stuck in the grooves. There are many relatively easy methods that work and aren’t a fortune.

Furthermore, I can’t be sure what sort of chemical residue for wood glue might leave behind that might be reactive with vinyl that could degrade over time.

Most debris that’ makes ticks and pops is easy to remove as it’s usually dust attracted to the vinyl surface due to static. Anti static gun is good for the light stuff alstroemerias carbon fiber brush helps keep the dust in the air floating around at the mountains meant you play the disk.

However, ‘fixed’ embedded debris (due to oils and other crap/moisture that lodges itself onto the groove) needs a better solvent or method of removal. This is a tougher task.

The vinyl can become further damaged sonically if you use harsh solvents or degreasers. In the case of many solvents or chemicals you may end up with more noise than you started with.

My solution has been a product called ... which has cleaned in way that lessens tick pops and dirt. It’s not cheap method and it depends on a few issues. One is the condition and care that vinyl has had in storage and playing on turntable. Poor stylus wear and quality and tone arm balance destroys playability but that’s a whole other problem set. I digress.

The second is the quality of the vinyl. North America and much of the rest of the world used and reused cheap vinyl with imperfection and vinyl that’s thin. This Inherently causes static ticks and pops that won’t come out in cleaning.

Some audiophile Classical and Jazz records and some Japanese 180 gram virgin vinyl goes a long way to having quiet vinyl. This comes at a premium in theft initial purchase. For example, Cost of a regular vinyl, might be $15, whereas Japanese 180 gram virgin vinyl could be $25-$40 or more.

This expense has been worth it to me to purchase 10-20% of my vinyl collection with much of my classical and classic rock albums. Much of my Miles Davis records and much of my fave classical vinyl is purchased this way.

FWIW, I also use rice paper (not pvc) sleeves. This helps prevent further dust and dust mites that leave behind a lot of problems with static attracting dust and added noise. An once of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

This of course may seem extreme to many but my vinyl music sounds great after 50 years. And some of it is very listenable still and hasn’t degraded much over time.

I say put aside the glue idea as an interesting experiment. Not going to happen here.

Edit:
I use Spin Care vinyl cleaner to wash the records surface. It degreased without destruction and reduces surface noise. Oils make d bris stick in the groove plus the pressure from a stylus further embeds debris.

I plan to test the wood glue on a record I consider disposable. I have some that date back to 1958 and I am sure all could use a good cleaning. I was thinking of the expense with the wood glue and perhaps a thousand records.

The linking polymers in th TiteBond series of wood glues are marvelou. II nd III are consistently rate "The bst" goddam woodglues out there. BUT, like all the link polymers, they DONT ADHERE to plastics themselves. So, the only thing you need to worry about is not leaving it harden too long. Id say as soon as its dried clear, take it off, and yeh, the polymers have an affinity or anything fibrous or lignin or even metal dust, so it gets "sucked into the black hole of glue". I was amazed at how damn clear the record sounded.

Id just given up on vinyl when CDs came out cause Id play em to death and always hdda buy 2 albums(then I got into recording cuts). But never really liked CD's (or even now, my various playlists). NOTHING sounds like a vinyl record, Its true bass, the trebles. When CD's came out w were exposed to the marketing pitch that sounding "flat" was the wave of the future. NOW, with sound reduction and soma this shiit, IM GOIN BACK TA RECORDS.

I have some dual E POWER BIGGS recordings of some Bach pieces and Vivaldi thats like being at the concert, you can hear the organ stops and the air.

Now Im gonna have to consider your stuff too. SO IT REALLY WORKS???

PS, whats the name of the solvent??

I seemed to have given up on vinyl because I wasnt into it then but I reccall my old albums like George Harrisons "All Things Must PAss"

Or "Children of Sanchez"

Thanks Ed and Rags, youve opened a whole new area of sound listening. I have an old hybrid Macintosh, Dual table. and bigass JBL's in the attic. I wanna dig em out.

I bought All Things Must Pass the week it appeared in the stores. My drug addict brother visited the same week. After he left, the album was gone. When he came back a year or two later, he walked in with one of the album's records in his hand. No jacket, just a beat-up disk. He handed it to me as casually as you hand someone a stick of gum. I never got to hear the album.

I recall really liking Biggs. I must give him a listen again.

I just went to one of his more well-known (to me) works.. Bach Tocata and Fugue in D minor. Gorgeous!