Subj : cleaning old 78 vinyls ?
To   : Thurston Ackerman
From : James Bradley
Date : Mon Jun 13 2005 06:59 pm

THURSTON ACKERMAN wrote to ALL, "cleaning old 78 vinyls ?" on 06-13-05 21:17

 TA> 78 vinyl records that has collected some yuck.

 TA> Several of you all have discussed copying old recordings so
 TA> I am hopeing you will be able to advise me how to best clean
 TA> these records before I attempt playing and copying (some
 TA> other very hot day 8-( please.

You sure they weren't found in your dungeon?

Anyway...

I forget the catchy name of a device that would clean the roller that cleans
the vinyl as you use it. It's reported to be the definitive cleaner you can
use, but be careful! Your disks might well be shellac, and I'm not sure what
fluid they would use. If these might be archival quality disks, you should be
able to contact any conservator to get you in touch with the right person. The
library or museum should have one on staff.

There used to be a pretty good magazine published that would know the *proper*
answer. I say "pretty good", as other HiFi publications look like Modern Nude
Bike Rider in comparison. I just picked up a copy of a '94 issue, so I believe
they changed their name since, but they used to call themselves UHF, or Ultra
High Fidelity. This one doesn't have a web address, so I doubt this is their
new name.

Write back if you want to pursue this more. It's been too many years since I
looked at it closely. As Jay says, distilled H2O is always an option. Just make
sure your scrubber is softer than the vinyl/shellac. (-;


.... Do one brave thing today... Then run like hell!
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