Old school record cleaning...does it work?
Вставка
- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- Here is a batch of records that I have recently acquired that have water damage and I attempt to clean them with a couple of brushes and mostly water. Do you use newer and better methods to clean your records? Let me know in the comments!
Turntables: Kenwood KD-2055 & Opus 3 Continuo
Cartridge: Nagaoka MP-500
Record: Marvin Gaye - Midnight Love
Record brushes: Audio Technica Techniclean AT-6015, Antistatic round and Carbon Fiber straight brushes
Please Subscribe!
Dude from the Cheshire Audio channel gave a great tip for vinyl cleaning...play your records to clean them! So After an initial clean whether I use my Ultrasonic or Old Shcool scrub I do an initial play back with a cheaper cartridge/stylus (of coarse this will be a hassle for people that only have non removable headshells). I find this further removes dirt in the grooves you can see it on the vinyl and stylus after playback. I also find that type of microfiber you use leaves fibers in the grooves and I use an even finer fiber like the ones that come with sunglasses to clean them.
I have been wary of that, I heard a long time ago that the groove can be damaged by running the dirt into a diamond in the groove, that it can permanently damage the groove at that spot. No idea if this is true, just something I heard and seemed to make sense to me. Let me know if your records get quieter after you play them with your 'burner' cartridge!
Good tips for me if and when I ever start listening to the very few vinyl I own. =)
Well, if you bought them new or they are clean, just wipe them with a brush and you are probably fine! Maybe for those with streaming front ends, I'll do a video on cleaning your screen with wipes...
@@davelistenstohifi - I actually have a few very old pressings of Thriller .. and some Bob Marley stuff. No turn table tho.
I use a Spin Clean for wet cleaning and then a Record Doctor to vacuum off the moisture. Then a quick wipe of the edges with a micro fiber and a couple passes with the old Hunt EDA mark 6 brush… not dissimilar to what you’re doing.
My results are roughly the same. It’s good for getting the surface grime but if the grooves are noisy, I don’t find that this results in a huge improvement.
Yes, im curious to know if an ultrasonic cleaner would get into the grooves and clean it up further.
@ As am I, but not curious enough to spend the money. The Kirmuss videos are nuts… not just the cost of the unit but also the effort to clean a single record…
I have done a similar washing technique with really dirty records that were given to me.
I would worry about the detergent leaving a residue that might accumulate on the stylus. I did a rinse as well.
I didn't bother doing a rinse, I had a drop of detergent in the whole bottle and I wiped it off afterwards. I suppose I can try a rinse and compare, do you find that it makes a difference?
@@davelistenstohifi No I did not find that it made a difference but those records were in really bad condition to begin with.
With all the expensive record cleaners out there I wondered if the more traditional way of manually cleaning records works as well. I have a Discwasher that is now sold by RCA & carbon fiber brush that I use. I bought a Spinclean but, haven't used it much, seemed too involved/time consuming & kind of messy compared to hand brush cleaning & I really didn't notice much difference. I have a question. Did you mean when you first get used albums you do the first step, 10 to 12 times & then just use the second step on records already in your collection? I actually have the same Kenwood 2055 with the "stone" plinth that you have and the same cartridge Nagaoka 500, really like the cartridge & my Kenwood works fine & really isolates vibration from around the room. One more question do you have any idea where to get your round brush from Japan or who makes it so I might search for it?
For the batch of records that I just received, I will apply the wet solution 1 or 2 times per side, wipe it down 10x, dry with a cloth then 10 or so wipes with the carbon brush. The round brush I have found something similar on aliexpress for a few bucks, looks the same but I'm not sure if it is identical. I picked it up in one of the big department stores in Tokyo, they have EVERYTHING there!
If only a Bosch would clean my dishes this well! 💀
Jk, but nice turntable. I thought the opus 3 were linear trackers or did you swap the arm?
Yes, it would be great if our market was big enough for Bosch to take an interest in making a turntable, I'm sure it would work great!
I purchased the TT used, it had already been fitted with an Origin Live arm. I'm curious about the linear tracker that it should have originally come with, but I'm sure the glass parts on most of the originals have been destroyed in transit or something!
Great tips! Thanks davelistenstohifi
Glad you liked it!