Records and Turntables

ANTI-STATIC CARBON FIBRE BRUSH

Buy a quality brush and it will serve you a lifetime. WARNING: there are many cheap ones that are not ANTISTATIC and/or the bristles fall out. I purchased a quality brush back in 1974 and I still use the same one.

STYLUS BRUSH

Only this type of brush will do the job well. It has short very tightly packed bristles. It can be used dry or wet with cleaning fluid sold by Disc Doctor. To use and if required, place one drop of fluid on brush. Lightly drag brush from BACK to FRONT of underside of cartridge so that entire cantilever and stylus go through bristles. Repeat a couple of times. Do this every few months to prevent stubborn dirt build up. NEVER use gel cleaners, Blutac, magic eraser or other things not specifically designed for the job.

WET WASHER

Spinclean wet record washer (mainly needed for washing used records). Ensure you use it according to the directions and ALWAYS use distilled or demineralised water with it.

A Spinclean is the minimum device I would recommend for wet washing. There are many other Record Cleaning Machines (RCMs) available which cost a lot more, that use vacuum or ultrasonic methods for cleaning. But they may not always make a record completely noise free.

My Spinclean method

Aim to wash several records in one batch. First thing to do is cue up some rocking tunes via a digital system so you have continous music while you work.

Setup tank with rollers and brushes. I found my brushes would lift out when pulling out a 180g record so I jam some suitably thin pieces of plastic behind the top part of the brush so they are a tight fit.

Fill tank with demineralised water. Measure out 10mls of Spinclean Washer Fluid and pour over the brushes. Clear a clean flat area big enough for two records. You will need at least 4 Spinclean cloths. The more cloths you have the more records you can do in one batch without waiting for cloths to dry.

Place two Spinclean cloths (1st & 2nd) flat on that clean area and have the other two cloths ready. I wear thin disposable latex gloves because the fluid irritates my skin a bit, plus it gives better grip when rotating record in washer.

Hold record at 3 & 9 o'clock using your palms and push record down into the tank. Rotate record using your palms at least three revolutions in one direction and again for three in opposite direction. For dirty/used records I do several more rotations. Pull record up and allow most of the fluid to drain off back into the tank. Then turn record horizontal to stop drips.

Place record on 1st flat cloth. Get a 3rd cloth and place flat over record and pat it all around to soak up fluid, then remove. Brace the record by using other hand to press down on label. Then use 4th cloth bunched up and wipe record in direction of grooves so it looks dry. Now flip record on to 2nd flat cloth and wipe with 4th cloth bunched up in direction of grooves until it looks dry. Then I place record horizontally on a small spice bottle so bottle only touches label so it can air dry.

Proceed to wash the next record. If a cloth gets too wet to be effective swap it for a fresh dry one.

After washing all the records and they have completely dried I place each on old turntable and spin it up at 45rpm and use Carbon Fibre Brush to remove any surface dust. See that method here Then place in good inner sleeve or new inner sleeve if required.

Clean up

Empty tank water down the sink and rinse with tap water. Remove brushes and rinse them several times in demineralised water in a small container. Dunk in, take out and squeeze the brush from top to bottom. Repeat a few times and then leave out to fully air dry. Good to have those latex gloves on while rinsing brushes so skin oils are not transfered onto the brushes. Rinse cloths in clean tap water, ring out water and then hang to air dry. After they have dried, fold and store in clean bag or container ready for next time.