Vacuuming in the Basement AKA: Cleaning Vinyl Records

I once overheard a conversation between a father and his son standing at the record bins at Half Price Books. The son appeared to be in his upper 20s, and the dad looked like me.

"Why in the 'blank' are you buying that on record? They have the same thing on CD right over there!"
"Records sound better, Dad."
"Like 'blank' they do. You didn't have to grow up with Snap, Crackle, and Pop like I did. I say throw all those 'blank' things in the fire!"
The son shook his head and kept flipping through the LPs.

Actually, I think they are both right.

Records, if they are clean, cared for, and played on a decent stereo system, do sound amazing. Records that are warped, dirty, or scratched can sound terrible. CDs require little maintenance, and their sound is crisp and clear. It can be argued that because the music on a CD has been compressed and digitized and into 1s and 0s, there is a loss of warmth and depth.

YouTube videos, online music streaming, and MP3s also have their merits, but I prefer things that I can hold.

Shopping at Goodwill for records is much different than shopping at a record store or online. Sometimes I get surprised, but I expect the pickings to be slim and the LPs to be cheap and dirty. I like the cheap, and today's post is about showing Charlotte how I deal with the dirty. 

I chose the Seekers Seen in Green from 1968. I haven't heard of this band, but the psychedelic cover is interesting. My guess is that this is a folk group. I resisted the urge to use my phone to look them up. I like the surprise of dropping the needle and hearing the music on my stereo for the first time. 

I also like that it's a gatefold cover (it opens like a book). Gatefold sleeves often have more artwork. From the look of their instruments, these guys have to be a folk group. 

My first step is to remove that bothersome price sticker(s). I'll use my fingernail to pry up the left corner. Sometimes I'm lucky, and the sticker will peel right off. If that doesn't work, then I make myself stop. That's hard to do, but if I keep working at it, I'll dig or scratch grooves into the surface of the cover. Worse, I could pull up the sticker and the artwork it's stuck to. Instead of a price tag, there will be a fuzzy, white patch. Those marks bug me more than the sticker does.

I have had good luck with using a hair dryer. The idea is to heat up the adhesive layer so it will peel back easier. REMOVE THE RECORD from the sleeve! You don't want the heat to damage or warp the vinyl. I set the hair dryer to "high" and aim it directly at the sticker about an inch from the surface. I usually heat the sticker for about 15 seconds.

It works best to start on the left side of the sticker, but I'll start on the right to show why. The left side began to come up, but then the glue started to regain its grip. I used dryer for another 15 seconds.

If you start on the right side of the sticker, inevitably it will peel around the at middle "tail" (says "good"), and you have to risk scratching the sleeve again by getting the tail to lift up. You have a better chance of getting the sticker off all at once by starting on the left.  

I used the dryer one more time, and this time pulled from the left. The sticker is now off. Any adhesive residue left can sometimes be lifted off by using the sticker itself to dab at the surface.

I've been using a Discwasher brush like this since high school, and I still use it to remove dust and hair when I have a record on the turntable. It's fine for new and gently used vinyl.

Another reason I picked the Seen in Green LP was that it wasn't scratched up. It was really dirty. It's hard to see in this picture, but it is covered with debris. I rather not run my stylus through that.

BTW, if you want to clean your records inexpensively, "Vinyl Me, Please" published a fun article reference article called "10 Cheap Vinyl Accessories That Can Boost Your Vinyl Game. "

If you want to deep dive into vinyl record cleaning, you will find hundreds of opinions online. My preferred method is to use Squeaky Clean Vinyl's MK-III RCM 3D Printed Record Cleaner. It works with 12", 10", and 7" records. And no, I do not work for the company. 

You do need to supply your own wet/dry vacuum. Here I have the hose attached.

Again, the arguments over what is the best cleaning formula are a mile long. I use what was recommended by Vinyl Me, Please for my cleaning formula. It's simple and it works for me. (edit: I use 91% isopropyl, and I just went to Wallgreens to buy some more... I had no idea it had become a hard-to-find item. I have some at work I'll bring home and use sparingly.)

The "For Records" spray bottle contains the cleaner; the "rinse" spray bottle contains distilled water.

The label cover is also a handle that turns the platter. Sometimes a label will not be perfectly centered and parts of it are exposed. You have to watch that you don't get that area wet. What can I say? It's an imperfect world. 

I rotate the plater and spray cleaner on the record. Then I use the blue, cleaner brush to smooth the fluid over the surface. I let it sit like that for a minute.

I then swing the arm over the vinyl and fire up the vacuum. I turn the record as the fluid and debris are vacuumed up and away from the vinyl's surface. Next I repeat that process using the "rinse" water. 

Any remaining water droplets air dry very quickly. Time to flip the record over and do it again.

Hey, that looks much better. Shiny.

How does it sound? I think the best way to judge a cleaning is to listen between the songs and see how many imperfections you can hear when it should be silent. Here's the end of "Sad Cloud" and the beginning of "Feeling Groovy." (Very folk.)

If the LP is a keeper or a gift, I'll put the album in a protective cover and the record in a new, paper sleeve.

Finished!

Cleaning a dirty record like this does wonders, but it doesn't work miracles. You can't vacuum up a scratch. I tried; it doesn't work. 

I have also used wood glue to clean really grungy records, and that is effective, but pulling the glue off creates so much static electricity that record practically hovers over the turntable and sounds noisier than it is. This wet/ vacuum method removes that static and the static that can make new records sound noisy. 

BTW, I've listened to side one of Seen in Green, and I can't say that it is in my lane. That doesn't bother me. I get more satisfaction out of fixing something forgotten than I do of owning it. If I don't enjoy side two, I can use it as wall art or put the LP in my donation box and give it back to Goodwill.

Unless you want it. Let me know.