restoring vinyl

honda cber

heya folks. just "found" about 100 lps. it looks like quite a few got wet, and some of those, very wet. as youve guessed, the jackets are fairly destroyed, and a few of the lps have residue, etc. some of them are going to be beyond saving, but i think i have a fair chance with the others.

question 1:
what is the best way? i was using lukewarm water with dishsoap in it to clean (with the pads of my fingers) the grooves, then rinsing thoroughly under the faucet.

question 2:
since the jackets are destroyed, where is a good place to buy sleeves? preferably the kind that have mylar or plastic inside of a card-stock sort of shell. paper sleeves are another option. any ideas? i will need bulk (at least 50).

hey, they were free, and worth the effort.

TIA,
a

BaggedLancer

no dishsoap. Either buy premade solution or read this thread:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=144116&highlight=record+cleaning+solutions

TroyD

Toss 'em. Once mold is in the grooves you are pretty well screwed.

BDT

dorokusai

Yea, get rid of them.

honda cber

well, i appreciate the enthusiasm, but i feel i have nothing to lose here. i can enjoy even moderately noisy records in the 'shed. it is a 100% ****-rage set-up, and the cartridge is a cheap AT with most of its life left, and i feel it is pretty expendable.

there are definitely ones that are gone. most of them do NOT seem molded, but i have only given the cursory look.

it is a crying damn shame, too. the ones i have tried to clean look like they were in great shape before "the flood".

so, dont worry about #1--- i am going to do it anyway.

but are there any suggestions for #2?

thanks,
a

honda cber

BaggedLancer wrote: »

no dishsoap. Either buy premade solution or read this thread:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=144116&highlight=record+cleaning+solutions

thanks, i will check it out. are these solutions recommended for deep cleaning? a cursory cleaning just aint gonna cut it on a lot of these. i am willing to sacrifice the labels to get the vinyl clean enough to enjoy. there are some great titles that i do not otherwise own.

reeSPECK yo' vinyl, yo. i much lament that we have become such a throw-away society.

a

mhardy6647

Dilute, warm soapy water is OK for cleaning; rinse really thoroughly with good quality water (see below).
There are good quality commercial cleaners available from all the big names (e.g., Acoustic Sounds, etc.); also good brushes for wet cleaning (e.g., Disc Doctor or MoFi brushes). There are enzyme-containing cleaners, too, but I cannot vouch for them. Dedicate a brush for cleaning really grungy records.

Some info on cleaning solutions:
http://discdoc.com/
http://store.acousticsounds.com/search_results.cfm?adv=true%20&searchtext=cleaner&field=All%20&category=86
http://www.savemyrecords.com/material/
http://www.walkeraudio.com/prelude_record_cleaner.htm


The classic cleaning fluid is nothing more good quality distilled, deionized, or RODI (reverse-osmosis/deionized) water, a bit of good-quality ethanol (not denatured), and a drop of a nonionic surfactant such as Triton (tm) X-100.

madmax

The steam cleaner could be of help. You really need a vacuum cleaner.
madmax

Jonesy

http://sleevetown.com/

....for sleeves

Ricardo

You can get some tips here. Joe swears on the Zyme thing for getting rid of mold.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47245

honda cber

Jonesy wrote: »

http://sleevetown.com/

....for sleeves

hey jonesy, i did find there, and currently have the paper/poly liners and cardboard sleeves with center holes in my cart; thanks!

i am a cheap bahstud, and was trying to find the parts express of the sleeve world, lol.

ricardo, thanks for pointing there. i had remembered that from when it was more current. but couldnt find it again.

BTW, hearing impaired got banned? i know some weird stuff got put up, but i also know he was having some health probs. he was more help than he was hurt to this place.

a

honda cber

BTW, i managed to clean about 5 of them so far to a playable condition, and worked on that many more that need more attention. not perfect, but better than nothing. going to hold off cleaning the rest until the sleeves come so i will have somewhere to put them.
a

reeltrouble1

I remember reading a sterophileriffic article about this, there was a solution that worked well with getting actual mold from mildew off the record, its likely archived in there website, or I am sure when/if Joe comes back he will know as he had the same problem with a large portion of his collection.

shack

TroyD wrote: »

Toss 'em. Once mold is in the grooves you are pretty well screwed.

BDT

Not necessarily true. Joe (hearingimpared) was able to salvage most of his vinyl collection that had serious mold.

Read here what he was able to do.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showpost.php?p=592233&postcount=39

TroyD

Agreed but in most cases, you are better of ditching them and starting over unless you have the time/tools to do this....unless the LP's are super rare or what not, it's probably not worth the hassle. Easier and cheaper just to hit ebay/thrifts/whatever and reconstitute the collection.

BDT