Cleaning Vinyl Records.

I couldn't find a topic on this, but I've seen various youtube videos and there seems to be a few schools of thought on the proper ways. I'm going to start ripping some of my vinyl into iTunes and I want them to sound as clean as I can get them (most are dollar bin/flea market finds).

Any suggestions? Obviously, I'll test them out on worthless hand-me-down junk.

That's exactly what I have done to vinyl I have bought at yard sales, antique stores and such......what I do not do is actually wipe the record with a cloth of any sort. I let the soappy solution sit for about a minute to work into the grooves and loosen up the crud...then just rinse it off with water and allow it to air dry.

Easy Livin wrote: I've actually found that for some of my badly soiled LPs, warm (not hot) soapy water makes a huge difference.

Edited by Snow Dog - February 07 2011 at 06:49

I use a record brush for dust and a moist t-shirt for stains.

(By the way, the wood glue method is either very tricky or doesn't work.)

http://www.turntablebasics.com/cleaners.html  

I use isopropyl alcohol (it's cheap) and those round cotton thingies girls use to wash away make-up from their face. It works fine.. 

cannon wrote: http://www.turntablebasics.com/cleaners.html   The anti-static brush I've been using for 35 years. Essential IMO as is cleaning your stylus.

That brought back memories of this Dual turntable I used to have that had a dust brush on the cartridge head.

I have a pile of square cloths cut from old sweatpants which have a nice soft texture that "gets into the grooves" so to speak. I use the outside as opposed to the inside which usually has a rougher, uneven texture. I spray some distilled water onto the cloth and wipe down the surface of the record. Once it's clean I wipe it with a dry cloth. For really dirty records I use a small amount of dishwashing liquid mixed with the water first. If clean labels are important then put something between your fingertips and the label while doing this because some labels are very sensitive to fingerprints. I usually put an old t-shirt on the table then put a new plastic album cover bag on top of that and then I place the LP on top of the bag.