I'm an inveterate alley picker, and I found a huge box of 45's, many dating back to the 50's, so finding this thread is a cool coincidence, as I just started looking them up in Discogs. Next, they need cleaning, and I think I'll finally unbox the Spin Clean I bought a few months ago, and I can report back.The glue trick? Meh. Yes, it works, but if you've got a hundred records to clean, you may as well dedicate a year or two to it with that method. slow. tedious. the first few are fun, after that it's all downhill boring.

oh, and the glue thing isn't any good if you want to clean and listen to the record in less than a few hours!

catwoman wrote:The glue trick? Meh. Yes, it works, but if you've got a hundred records to clean, you may as well dedicate a year or two to it with that method. slow. tedious. the first few are fun, after that it's all downhill boring.Yeah I can see that if you were a collector and decided to go through all the dirty records in your collection. Or if you find a box of 45 in an alley and wanted to clean them all. I do it as the dirty records come in.Also, thanks, Steve!

Yay! Someone will not have to pour glue on their mono copy of Easter Everywhere...

Redline wrote:Glue to clean records, jesus H, just buy whoisalhedges 16.5 already, somebody...Too late, JT, they missed their chance. Sold!

I'm curious if people here think tap water damages records? I've read diverging opinions on this topic.

The Flying Ninja wrote:I'm curious if people here think tap water damages records? I've read diverging opinions on this topic.Everything I've read about homebrew fluids recommends against using tap water due to its inconsistency from tap to tap and impurities that can, over time, collect in the grooves. The most common ingredients in good cleaning fluid tend to be some variation on distilled water, isopropyl alcohol (90% or higher), and a surfactant (necessary to break surface tension and actually penetrate the grooves). The mix will be something like 75% water, 25% alcohol, and one or two drops of surfactant.There are differing opinions on what surfactants to use, with some using regular unscented dishwashing detergent, while others claiming it can be leave behind a harmful reside. Kodak PhotoFlo is one I see mentioned a lot, but again, there are some who claim it causes buildup.I like the Laura Dearborn recipe, which I found here. It's a simple three-part archival-grade mix pulled from a book she wrote called Good Sound. The water and alcohol are easy enough to obtain, and I was able to order the awesome-sounding Triton X-114 here. As you only need a drop of surfactant per batch of fluid, the smallest bottle should have you set for life.Holy shit, are commercial record cleaning fluids ever a ripoff.

The Flying Ninja asked:I'm curious if people here think tap water damages records? Yes. Look at your shower head, tap water will leave behind mineral deposits. I always use distilled water w/ my VPI concentrate.

Because I don't have room for a big old record vacuum and because my main problem is with built up old grime that's been on records since like the 70s (because my mom and everyone else I inherit records from kept their records in terrible conditions and handled them without a care), I went ahead and purchased a Spin Clean. Definitely too expensive for what it is materials-wise (the profit margin on these things must be fantastic), but man, it really works well. Obviously does nothing for the scratches on those old records, but it really cleaned the shit out of them. A couple stubborn bits of grit required some elbow grease with the drying cloth, but the sound is noticeably better on a few records that were bumming me out. If you have 80 bucks to burn and a bunch of old crudded up records, I recommend it.

Spin CleanGood for heavy finger prints and way dirty records. I still don't have one, but I'm thinking of using a Spin Clean to pre-wash dirtier lp's to extend the life of the tube brush thing on the VPI.I didn't know they have been making them since 1975 (!!!)...