Cleaning vinyl records is one of the most unfortunate jobs. It requires a kind of vinyl addiction for doing this task. Vinyl records should be kept perfect and clean. Despite that, your vinyl records will frequently require maintenance. If your records are not kept clean, they will play ineffectively. As the residue particles will develop on their pointer, causing a fluffy sound. The more terrible thing is if records are not effective but kept up for a long period. They become home to the feared “snaps and flies” of vinyl playback. The truth is many individuals ignore the development of gunk in the record grooves. It has a greater amount of impact on sound than scratches on the record surface. Individuals who have purchased old, recycled vinyl know the difference. There is a contrast between well-maintained records and ineffectively kept up records. And it is often hard to tell by just seeing them, what will play well and what will not.
Fortunately, cleaning vinyl records is simple and not such an exhausting task to do. Similar to cleaning your teeth, it becomes a daily routine and you will not notice much about it. Individuals who have never thought to clean vinyl records might be in several extended cleaning encounters. However, when the records are clean it involves seconds before each play.
The cleaning choices introduced are of varieties, and are summed up in the below list –
1. Anti Static Brushes
Anti-static brushes are the least demanding way of keeping your vinyl assortment clean. The anti-static brush is best utilized before each play of a record. It takes out friction-based electricity that develops because of wear and tear. Like insertion and expulsion from record sleeves. It additionally eliminates dust from inside the sections of the record. If you are a new collector and your vinyl is new or close to new, then the counter static brush is all you really want. While cleaning the records your wrist needs to contort at various odd angles. A little tip to save you from that is to establish the record down on the platter. Get the platter turning and afterwards hold the brush in one spot to clean up all the residue as it cruises by. A simple gadget costs under 30 dollars. It is an easy decision for any individual who pays attention to vinyl.
A simple device with a highly effective price, at under 30 dollars it is a no-brainer for anyone who listens to vinyl.
2. Washing Your Vinyl Records Clean
People having messy records with sound modifications need a perfect cleaning solution. Also, records having noticeable smear marks need to get the vinyl records cleaned. Across all techniques, one cleaning ingredient is normal: distilled water. Regular water contains minerals that may harm your vinyl. You can purchase refined water from pretty much any place. Buy it from big supermarkets, small stores, and tool shops. Washing records with a microfibre fabric and distilled water will eliminate surface faults. This technique turns out to be incredible for cleaning. It will not get anywhere deep in the record grooves to decrease the snaps and pops.
3. The Glue Trick
Most people have recorded it just for the sake of keeping it in the home, but not for a collective purpose. The standard surface cleaning strategies had failed to help the surface noise. And people usually end up abandoning the records of amazing works of art.
Those were the problems, people were facing before Glue Trick was introduced. The glue trick is the incredibly basic one. For that, you need to cover your record lightly in wood glue. For example, let it set, then strip it off. The right glue to utilize is Titebond II Wood Glue. As it has been tried to be viable by many clients. Apply around 30ml uniformly across the record utilizing a laminated card, like an old Master card. It dries in around 3 hours, so it is surely not a fast task. While applying, a little tab can be left at the edge of the record to make it more straightforward to strip off. Utilizing that glue to clean vinyl records is a fabulous method. This method really gets them perfect with cleaning. Particularly when joined with a record vacuum before. A few clients of this method have announced a totally silent surface noise subsequently!
4. Vacuum Cleaning – Not Just For Carpets Anymore
Two machines, the Nitty Gritty and the VPI are phenomenal for cleaning vinyl records. Attempting to part the two is a troublesome process. So maybe you should go for whichever machine you find more profoundly satisfying. The two machines put the record through a multi-stage process. That includes scrubbing with a record cleaning liquid. After then you can vacuum the record. So to eliminate the liquid and any other particles that are sticking around. The base models of either brand will cost you around $500.
The best record cleaning machine is the Loricraft record cleaner. It was created by similar folks who currently own the Garrard name. For as much as 1000 pounds you can claim a record cleaning machine. That too is identical to Mary Poppins in cleaning capacity. This is obviously a great thing for buying for most people. Yet, such things will suit vinyl audiophiles having high-end quality frameworks.
A few people have figured out how to DIY their own strategy for cleaning vinyl records. For the most part of cleaning people utilize a turntable playing at high RPM. Also, use some DIY cleaning liquid and an old vacuum cleaner. If you feel familiar with such record cleaning strategies then you can check it out for that! There are different guidelines accessible through Google.
5. Spin-Clean Record Washer – Too Good To Be True?
The Spin-Clean Record Washer is fundamentally a water repository. It has a brush inside. And a gadget to join a record to which the record can spin through the water. The Spin-Clean works really well with old and messy vinyl. But should not be utilized on new vinyl. Because certain clients have observed that their new records sound noisier after utilizing the gadget. As we have set up, cleaning vinyl records by hand utilizing refined water is a boring task. Yet not a burdening task and you shouldn’t be doing it regularly by any means. So doing it manually is an option to avoid excess cost. The included towel is not good for drying the records. And a microfibre towel should be used instead.
So people having a massive collection of vintage vinyl can think of such a record washer. The Spin-Clean record washer is good for such records which have not been touched for a longer period. It would definitely save you some time.