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Until recently, all I’ve ever needed to clean my vinyl has been record-cleaning spray, a soft brush, and a soft cloth. But I recently acquired about fifteen 78s and five or six battered LPs and 10” records from my uncle’s collection. Even with a solid cleaning, they’re likely to sound rough; the surfaces have clear scuffs and scratches.

With one of them, I’m trying the wood glue method for the first time. (Or, rather, the second. I tried it with this record last night but clearly had not applied enough glue, as it didn’t peel off too easily this morning.) So we’ll see how it goes.

But I did have some questions for the PRF hive:

Have you had success with wood glue in the past?

And how should I clean the 78s? I know that alcohol-based solutions will wreck the shellac and that glues might do the same. Some sources recommend soap and water, with a very small amount of soap. But I’ve also read that Pledge works shockingly well and won’t compromise the shellac. Has anyone tried this?

None of the 78s are collectible, per se, but I also would like to eventually acquire an antique phonograph to play them. So I don’t want to sacrifice any of them.

Any advice? And how do you clean your media?

I've tried the glue method with a couple of very fucked up records and it indeed leaves the record completely clean... but I get the same results with warm water mixed with isopro. alcohol. Or even water with dishwashing soap.

But Some records have dust and dirt completely welded to the vinyl because of the hot temperature the stylus reaches and no glue will fix that.

I don't have any shellac.

I had not heard of the would glue method. Some dishwashing soaps are very harsh (I have scratched lenses with it), so dilution is key.

I add am looking forward to the tips to follow! I need to clean a bunch of records myself : )

For the shellac 78s, there are record cleaning solutions out there that don’t contain alcohol. L’art du Son is the only one I can think of. It works well for PVC records, in my experience.

I have some solution called Phoenix, but I only use it on dirty records. Otherwise, I just use distilled water in a spray bottle. I don't have any experience with shellac records.

I've seen footage of Joe Bussard 'King of the Record Collectors' cleaning his 78's in a running sink with the kind of brush you use to clean your bathtub. And a dish drying rack. Honestly, he scrubbed the groove like he was cleaning mud off of boots, it was alarming. And his 78s are the very old and SUPER valuable kind, which he's been collecting for a lifetime so I figure he has some experience. I think this was in 'Desperate Man Blues', which you can see on YouTube.

I've done the wood glue trick before (on LPs, not 78s) and it leaves the surface amazingly shiny and new-looking.
But it also uses a ton of glue and and is rather messy and VERY slow so the whole thing seemed overly cumbersome.
I ended up with tiny bits of glue left behind, in some places at the edges or if the glue was too thin.
But dang, it really did lift the crud off there. It just was not practical for someone with a ton of dirty records.

Regarding the 78 discussion in the other thread:
Antique / wind-up phonographs are super cool but they would be anachronistic for mid-century jazz or pop records*, which were recorded electronically for playback on electrical turntables. There are some serious "acoustic" collectors who specialize in the records that were made and played without any electricity, I think that barely extends into the 1920s. (?)

I have a 1970s Dual 3-speed turntable that works well for 78s.
I didn't bother getting a mono cartridge for 78s but I did get a separate stylus. The grooves are VERY different sizes so you shouldn't really mess around in that regard.

I used to think all 78s sounded like a rinky dink old timey wind up music box but I was wrong.
The 40s/50s jazz 78s played back with the right stylus through a proper receiver/speaker sound fantastic.
The mono vs stereo issue is a separate thing and is irrelevant for my purposes, I'm not making archival transfers or anything.

Sorry to hear about your uncle, this would be a nice way of honoring his life and keeping his memory close and present.
I hope somebody plays my records after I'm gone.



*Unless maybe you're on a picnic or stuck in a blackout or off-grid or something.

Vibracobra wrote: Sat Nov 25, 2023 4:08 pm But Some records have dust and dirt completely welded to the vinyl because of the hot temperature the stylus reaches and no glue will fix that.

An ultrasonic cleaner will. You can set yourself up with a 13 inch wide tank and a motorised spindle for about $100 if you buy from AliExpress. Happy to link if anyone would like. You can use warm water (mildly effective) and add detergents, iso alcohol etc for proper cleaning depending on what's safe. The spindle keeps the labels out of the fluid of course.

I'am always thinking about getting an ultrasonic but can't decide. Have some dusty Black Sabbath originals that may be worth tryin' to save...

I've been using a Pro-Ject VC-E for cleaning LPs for about 2 years now. It's a poor man's VPI, I think I paid about $450 for mine. I use it weekly, sometimes daily. It's holding up very well and I really don't have any complaints, you just have to get the hang of using it. I did have to shoot a little silicone into the arm assembly to get better suction. I use their proprietary cleaning fluid which you dilute with distilled water. It's more hands on than a VPI, but that's fine with me. And the brush is extremely soft so if you have to get in there for really stuck in/on crud there's no worry of scratching the surface. I usually apply and let sit for a minute or two, brush both directions and vacuum. If there are still problem spots you can kind of spot scrub from there and vacuum again. I really love this thing.

Tom Wanderer wrote: Tue Nov 28, 2023 7:52 am I've been using a Pro-Ject VC-E for cleaning LPs for about 2 years now.

Seconded. I use the slightly swankier VC-S and have had no problems in ~3 years.