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How to properly care for vinyl records

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How to properly care for vinyl records

In the previous articles of the series, we considered the questions turntable selection for beginners and options for it connections to speaker systems… This time we will find out which brushes are suitable for removing dust before listening, and which ones are better not to use, whether it is necessary to wash the records and, if so, how often and with what, as well as much more.

Dust brushes

Big Fudge Vinyl Record Cleaning Kit

A fast and inexpensive solution to clean dust, dirt and fingerprints with an anti-static velvet brush combined with a cleaning spray. The kit includes a cartridge brush that will remove any particles from your turntable’s needle.

Amazon

Record Roller by Vinyl Vac Complete 4-in-1 Record Cleaning Kit

This set, similar to the previous one, uses a sticky roller instead of a spray, the size of which allows one movement to clean the entire width of the plate from the label to the edge. The roller material penetrates well into the grooves without damaging them during cleaning.

Amazon

Boundless Audio Record Cleaning Kit

An extremely stylish and high quality vinyl care kit that will suit both beginner hobbyists and serious collectors alike. Boundless design is Apple in the vinyl world. And their carbon fiber brush really removes not only dust from the records, but also static electricity.

Amazon

GrooveWasher Record Cleaning Kit

A very simple and very stylish set of spray for cleaning the surface of records and a special sponge in a wooden handle. One of the few kits offering “wet cleaning” just before listening to the record. The device is collapsible, so you can always replace the sponge without buying a new handle.

Amazon

Milty Zero Stat

The most unconventional solution possible is an anti-static gun. Despite the toy-like appearance, the manufacturer considers it a serious device. The Milty Zerostat Pistol emits positive particles when you pull the trigger and then negative particles when you release it. In theory, the result is that static electricity is neutralized on the surface of the plate, and this, in turn, increases its life.

Amazon

How to buy and place an order on Amazon with deliveryif you’ve never done it.

No matter how hard we try, it is possible to completely avoid dust particles on the plate only under ideal sterile conditions. And although we have gathered here for the sake of a strange hobby, we are still living people who live an ordinary life. We have fluffy clothes, dust can fly into our windows, and a pet, like a cat or a dog, may well live at home.

Therefore, after placing the record on the platter and starting playback, it will not be superfluous to walk at this moment on the vinyl surface with a special brush. A properly selected brush will not only collect random dust particles, but also excess statics.

Vinyl brush

Carbon fiber brushes are recommended here. The bristles of this material are tough enough to remove dust and dirt from the surface of the plate, but not so much as to harm the walls of the grooves. Plus, brushes from some manufacturers are really good at removing static, so that dust will not once again be attracted to the plate at the time of playback. Closing the cover of the turntable will be useful, though.

If it so happens that the needle has gone over a rather dusty plate and “nap” has adhered to it, it doesn’t matter – there are special neat brushes for the needles that allow you to clean the dust from the needle without damaging it.

Washing vinyl

Studebaker Vinyl Record Cleaning System

The Studebaker kit is a cross between brush and spray kits and real vinyl washers. In addition to brushes and rags, the customer will also receive a bath for the detergent solution, rotating rollers adjustable for any size of plates, and a chemical concentrate for preparing the detergent solution.

Amazon

Knox Vinyl Record Cleaner Spin Kit

The solution from Knox is very similar to what the competitors offer, but there is an important nuance – a complete plate dryer. No, this is not a hair dryer or similar device, it is just a comfortable stand with a mass of pins, between which the plates are placed vertically until they dry. But this stand is and it perfectly solves the problem of drying.

Amazon

Record Washer System by Spin-Clean

Another similar kit for cleaning vinyl at home. The manufacturer focused on the striking design and the patented composition of the concentrate for diluting the solution. It will appeal to those who, other things being equal, prefer a catchy design and bright colors. But the manufacturer did not think about the dryer.

Amazon

Spin-Clean Record Washer MKII Limited-Edition Kit, “Clear” (45th Anniversary)

The combination of “Limited-Edition” in the name of this kit is not just like that: the manufacturer added a lot of additional units to its composition, such as a whole additional liter of washing liquid, additional brushes and rags, as well as a completely transparent design of the container for records. The ability to see what is happening with the plate immersed in the washing liquid is a very convenient option, whatever one may say.

Amazon

The wildest way is soapy water at home. Not to say that this method is recommended, but with due care, damage the vinyl with water – you need to try hard. But this method also has obvious disadvantages in the form of inconvenience and length of the process. Plus, the records need to be dried somewhere else, and this is an additional complication.

Vinyl cleaner

It is much more convenient to use a special solution. It is produced by many companies, but some of them show some concern for users, completing the bottle with the solution with additional “goodies”. For example, a special cloth that is unable to harm the grooves of the record, and a round rubber strip on the label area. Very convenient: put the record on the turntable, covered the label with a protective cover, sprayed a little solution on the surface and wiped it with a complete cloth. And at the same time quickly, which is also important.

The next level is special tools for cleaning vinyl at home. Usually this is a kind of container for a cleaning solution with vertical loading of the plate, special protection against liquid on both labels, and fasteners that hold the plate at the desired immersion level and allow it to rotate. It differs from the version with soapy water in greater manufacturability, but the time spent on washing each plate is still off scale.

Vacuum cleaner

Record Doctor VI

An excellent representative of the “vinyl vacuum cleaner” class. But you need to take into account that this is a machine for dry cleaning of records: the suction slot is located directly on the body, that is, it processes the lower side of the plate. It is clear that gravity will simply not allow covering the plate with a cleaning solution from the bottom up.

Amazon

Pro-Ject – VC-E Record Cleaning Machine

Vacuum cleaner for wet cleaning. Unlike the “Record Doctor VI”, the Pro-Ject model is equipped with a suction tube that cleans the top of the record. This allows (and even requires) the use of a cleaning solution directly in the cleaning process. An uncompromising option for those who do not care about the price.

Amazon

Okki Nokki MK II

The manufacturer claims that the MK II motor is quite quiet, but you can hardly make any vacuum cleaner sound completely silent. The motor used in this model is designed to operate for several hours without overheating. However, it is recommended to empty the container every 20 plates. But the cleaning process is very simple due to the presence of a drain tube.

Amazon

Pro-Ject – VC-S2 ALU Record Cleaning Machine

The company calls the VC-S2 a “reference class” washer. It only takes its motor two seconds to spin the plate completely. For best results, Pro-Ject recommends rotating the record one turn forward and one turn back. Thus, it will take no more than 5 seconds to clean one side.

Amazon

In short, this is a specially designed vacuum cleaner that is not afraid of moisture. The plate is mounted on a rotating platform, poured with a cleaning solution, a suction tube with a slot along which the bristles are located is lowered onto the plate across the grooves. The power is turned on and the record begins to rotate in the same way as on a regular turntable, and through the tube, the washing liquid is sucked into a special container along with all the “garbage”.

Vinyl Vacuum Washer

Vacuum washers have one huge drawback – their price. It is often comparable to the price of a not-so-bad turntable. Taking into account the fact that it is not necessary to wash the records every day, and under normal conditions, and not every year, the purchase of such a unit is interesting only to the most inveterate collectors.

Ultrasonic cleaning

WEWU ROUNDS LP Vinyl Record Ultrasonic Cleaner

Like any other ultrasonic machine for washing vinyl records, this model consists of an ultrasonic bath and a special mount on which a record or several are placed. In this case, we are talking about the ability to wash 5 plates at the same time, and special silicone seals will protect the labels on the plates from accidental drops.

Amazon

CGOLDENWALL 6.5L 6-Records Ultrasonic Vinyl Record Cleaner

This model of ultrasonic machine is capable of washing up to 5 plates in one go. It also provides protection against moisture ingress on the “apples” of the plates, as well as a wide adjustable temperature range – from 20 to 80 ºС. Cherry on the cake – the function of drying the plates after washing.

Amazon

It’s even more complicated here. In addition to a bath for a cleaning solution (and in this case, several liters are needed) with an ultrasonic emitter (manufacturers “borrow” it from the jewelry industry) and a bunch of devices for attaching the plate (but they are just made by manufacturers on purpose), a question of time arises here: the cleaning cycle of one plate takes about 15 minutes of operation of the ultrasonic emitter. And it also takes time to first fix the plate, and then dry it and remove it from the mounts. But the result, according to many vinyl collectors, sounds fantastic. Well, let’s take their word for it.

Ultrasonic vinyl cleaning

By the way, in order to make the surface of the plate perfectly clean, it is not always necessary to water it with something. It is often much easier to remove dust particles from the grooves with special rollers made of sticky material. This is very similar to the well-known IKEA rollers for removing lint and pet hair from clothes, only the roller itself is not covered with layers of sticky paper, but is cast from a special material.

Roller for vinyl

This material is sticky and soft enough to penetrate deep into the grooves of the record and collect all the dust from there without damaging the grooves themselves. A few gentle strokes and the vinyl is clean. It may not be the most ideal of the described methods, but it is definitely the fastest.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are many ways to care for vinyl records. From the simplest, such as cleaning the surface from dust before listening to complex measures involving special solutions and ultrasound. Which of the “difficult” ways to choose and how often to use them depends on your attitude to the records and some other aspects.

One of these aspects of the preservation of vinyl is the conditions in which it is stored. The temperature and humidity in the room with the records, the material of the envelopes, even the position in space – everything matters. Therefore, in the next article of our “vinyl cycle” we will look at the issue of proper storage of vinyl and everything that goes with it.

Enjoy your collecting!

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