Cleaning albums with wood glue?

Cujet

Cujet

Joined
Feb 15, 2003
Messages
15,652
Location
Jupiter, Florida
I have a modest album collection, with a good number of older albums that have embedded dirt. One that I played recently, Pink Floyd Meddle, was so bad I had to investigate. First I cleaned it in the "Spin-Clean" (a device for scrubbing records) then I put it under the Nikon stereo microscope and the dirt is still clearly visible.

I tried rubbing the dirt with my finger, a carbon record cleaning brush and 150 PSI compressed air, the dirt does not come out. If I'm careful and use a tiny pick, I can lift the speck of dirt out of the groove.

I read about using wood glue to lift the dirt out of the grooves. Has anybody tried it? Results?

The dust particles I have look much like the picture below, except they span the entire groove and are really stuck in there.

[Linked Image from blog.birdhouse.org]
 
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The way I clean my records is to use rubbing alcohol slightly diluted with water, maybe a 3:1 ratio, soak a q-tip in the solution, and gently clean the record in the direction of the groves. I then dry it with a super soft old cotton t-shirt.
 
I have heard about using wood glue; never tried it.

I have a record doctor, which is similar to the spin clean, but vacuums the water off after it has been cleaned. It seems to work fine.
 
Is there some reason you aren't using a commercially available record cleaning product? Under no circumstance would I ever use wood glue to clean my records no matter what someone on the Internet might say. But maybe that's just me.

Also, since that picture isn't your personal picture and is one copied off the web, do you have one from your Nikon stereo microscope?
 
Originally Posted by kschachn
Is there some reason you aren't using a commercially available record cleaning product? Under no circumstance would I ever use wood glue to clean my records no matter what someone on the Internet might say. But maybe that's just me.

Also, since that picture isn't your personal picture and is one copied off the web, do you have one from your Nikon stereo microscope?


I'll try to take a pic with my iPhone on an eyepiece.

I have a Spin-Clean. I also have a home machine shop with plenty of ways to ruin a record. None of the methods I've tried remove the embedded dirt. Including using a specially built suction device that mirrors those expensive record cleaning machines. But I don't really have a concept of what it takes to remove the dirt.

The good news is that I have another Meddle album in good shape.

Some of these are from my teenage years and they were not well cared for.

EDIT: Here is a pic I just took:

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
 
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Maybe carefully dab w/ a clay bar used for auto detailing? I have absolutely no expertise here, that just came to mind as something conformable and capable of picking up fine dust without damage to the substrate.

Now you have me thinking of digging through the basement back room for my KISS Destroyer album
grin.gif
 
I would personally use an ultrasonic cleaner with detergent. It's good for removing debris from crevices. I'm in the market for one right now. The only caveat is you don't want to get the label wet.

I see merit to using wood glue. It's like waxing your legs.
 
What stylus? the line contact can ride low.

Maybe get out the old .8mil conical pickering with the dustamatic.

My issue is I left some less important albums in the basement and mold EATS vinyl

so no fixing that.

How bout those sticky tape rollers used for cleaning lt off clothes?

Just don't play them wet. That's a killer there.
 
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I used to use the old "Dustbuster" product in the 80s when I was still into LPs. Brand new LPs often had cracking and popping background noise. Some brands were worse than others (I'm talking about you, MCA). Today, I think a microfiber rag, moistened with IPA and held LIGHTLY against the surface of a spinning record would be about as good as you need. I personally don't miss vinyl, but I was a fanatic in the past. I would buy a new album, clean it with the Dustbuster (https://www.ebay.com/itm/293160239988), play it once to record to a cassette, and then put it on a shelf. By the mid to late 80s a lot of brand new vinyl sounded like crap.
 
Originally Posted by DBMaster
I used to use the old "Dustbuster" product in the 80s when I was still into LPs. Brand new LPs often had cracking and popping background noise. Some brands were worse than others (I'm talking about you, MCA). Today, I think a microfiber rag, moistened with IPA and held LIGHTLY against the surface of a spinning record would be about as good as you need. I personally don't miss vinyl, but I was a fanatic in the past. I would buy a new album, clean it with the Dustbuster (https://www.ebay.com/itm/293160239988), play it once to record to a cassette, and then put it on a shelf. By the mid to late 80s a lot of brand new vinyl sounded like crap.

I used to remember when records were done right, from the 50's and 60's and into the early 70's. They were thick and the recording was right in tonal quality. The big brands like Columbia, Decca, RCA, etc were dependable. Then the industry went cheap. The records got a lot thinner and many times came pre-warped right from the store. The recordings themselves were trash. Tones wavered and were off tone quite a bit.

I did that same trick recording onto cassette tape to preserve the record.

My cleaning tool was a simple felt cleaner with a spray that you used on the felt. It worked well. The key in all of that was to handle the records by the edges.
 
Originally Posted by PimTac
I used to remember when records were done right, from the 50's and 60's and into the early 70's. They were thick and the recording was right in tonal quality. The big brands like Columbia, Decca, RCA, etc were dependable. Then the industry went cheap. The records got a lot thinner and many times came pre-warped right from the store. The recordings themselves were trash. Tones wavered and were off tone quite a bit.


I used to notice the same thing with "pre-warped" records. If I got one that was more than slightly warped I would put it between two pieces of glass and put it outside in the Texas sun. After fifteen minutes and bringing them back inside to cool they would end up pretty flat.
 
Originally Posted by ARCOgraphite
What stylus?


I currently use a Shure 97xe. I purchased a pair of them on sale years ago and never looked back. I have a few others kicking around, but the Shure seems to work best out of the pile that I have. The Audio Technica sounds good too, but it's awfully fragile.


Originally Posted by Kestas
I would personally use an ultrasonic cleaner with detergent.


That's a great idea. I have an industrial ultrasonic that will fit an album, edge on. I could tape off the label and try immersing it, about a third of the way in the water/soap solution. Then just rotate it around.
 
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Originally Posted by Cujet
Originally Posted by ARCOgraphite
What stylus?


I currently use a Shure 97xe. I purchased a pair of them on sale years ago and never looked back. I have a few others kicking around, but the Shure seems to work best out of the pile that I have. The Audio Technica sounds good too, but it's awfully fragile.
....


I remember having a M95HE when i was a teen on a BIC 980/ I liked a lot. Then i got a V15 mr. I tried to like it but didn't. Looked under the scope and the cantilever was un-raveling - it was a rolled tube! I wrote an article about that in the Sensible Sound back in the early 80's.

I've heard old the M91ED wth a JICO nude replacement stylus is better than any Shure Stylus.

Then a Good phono Preamp like Graham Slee or at least a project tube box with good vintage tubes.

Or some killer Japanese Receiver from the late 70's with a discrete fet phono stage built in .

Some were great. I had a Yamaha A1 integrated. Good phono stage just fair to so-so amp like most Yama Ha ha's
 
What's the best type of stylus? Conical or elliptical? I have an elliptical JICO Shure clone in my Shure R1000 cartridge.
 
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