whats the best way to clean a record?

Question

my uncle gave me about 25 of them

Answer 1

Hi Chris.There are two ways to clean a record.(1) Buy a record cleaning machine. (2) Do it yourself.I have cleaned all my records according to an article i read in an Australian HI FI magazine about 1980.The cheapest record cleaning machine available to-day is made by Nitty Gritty for about $350 U.S. (this is the best way of cleaning them by far) If you decide to do it yourself it is a fairly long process but it does get them as clean as possible. Ok.Here are the instructions :


First of all you need 3 velvet brushes (one narrow and two wide) A bottle with a spray trigger and if possible another turntable you can use to turn the record around by hand as you clean it. Then you have to make your own cleaning fluid. which is a mixture of detergent ,alcohol and distilled water.
Distilled water...50mils.
Isopropyl Alcohol.....10mils.
Detergent.......25mils.
Put the ingredients in a small clean bottle and shake well.
THE ACTUAL CLEANING PROCESS IS AS FOLLOWS.

(1 ) Moisten one of the wide brushes by spraying with distilled water and use the brush to remove as much surface dust on Side 1 of the record.

(2) Pour a little of the solution on side 1 of the record.

(3) Take the narrow brush and and rotate it around the record gently scrubing the groves back and forth with the narrow brush working the fluid into the record.

(4)Rinse side 1 of the record under a tap of running cold water,rotating it with your hand and fingers untill all the cleaning fluid has been washed off the record.Try to keep the under side of the record from getting wet.

(5)Take the bottle of distilled water and spray the record to remove all the tap water from side 1 of the record.

(6)With the other wide brush start to dry the record by rotating the brush around the grooves.Use a hair dryer on low heat to dry the wet brush and use it again untill the record is perfectly dry.This may take some time depending on the temperature in the room .The brush has to dry the record completely.

(7) The record side you have just cleaned should look shiny and new (Of course if there are scratches on the record nothing will remove them)

(8)Repeat the procedure for Side 2 of the record.

If the record is very dirty you may have to clean it several times but it is worth doing to get a clean sound from the disc.

Hope this helps.