Overview
Phonograph Record Care and Maintenance
Cleanliness is absolutely mandatory if the optimum sound capability of the vinyl record is to be realized. A clean record will not only sound better, but last longer. It has been shown that repeated playing of soiled records can cause permanent damage to the vinyl. Preservation of valuable or irreplaceable...more
Phonograph Record Care and Maintenance
Cleanliness is absolutely mandatory if the optimum sound capability of the vinyl record is to be realized. A clean record will not only sound better, but last longer. It has been shown that repeated playing of soiled records can cause permanent damage to the vinyl. Preservation of valuable or irreplaceable records requires careful cleaning. Further more, stylus wear is greatly accelerated by playing dirty records, and with cartridges costing what they do these days, playing soiled records can lead to significant and unneeded expense.
Phonograph Record Care and Maintenance - Three Essentials
Phonograph Records are delicate, and very susceptible to damage and wear. Therefore a few techniques should be used when it comes to handling, cleaning and storage of your valued recordings.
There are essentially three concerns to consider when handling phonograph recordings. One that the record is kept free of foreign matter, Two that they be kept free of any pressure that might cause deformations such as warping and three that they are stored in a stable, controlled environment.
HANDLE WITH CARE - Handling Your Phonograph Record
When handling your phonograph records avoid touching the playing or grooved surface. You should handle the record by either edge and the labeled surface only.
Remove phonograph from the jacket with the inner dust sleeve by bowing the jacket open by holding it against the body and applying a slight pressure with a hand. Pull the record out by holding a corner of the inner dust sleeve. Avoid pressing down onto the disc with the fingers as any dust caught between the sleeve and the disc will be pressed into the grooves.
Remove the phonograph record from the inner dust sleeve by bowing the dust sleeve and letting it slip gradually into an open hand so that the edge falls on the inside of the thumb knuckle. The middle finger should reach for the center label. Never reach into the sleeve.
To hold a record, place the thumb on the edge of the disc, and the rest of the fingers of the same hand on the center label for balance. Use both hands on the edge to place disc on turntable.
Do not use paper or cardboard inner sleeves and do not store records without inner sleeves. Use soft polyethylene inner sleeves. Do not use record sleeves made of PVC.
Vinyl Record Care and Maintenance - What Is Foreign Matter??
Think Micro Biology
One can classify foreign matter as deposits which are not part of the original record, such as body oils from fingerprints, smoke, stains, stearic acids, dust etc.
Dust is commonly a mixture flakes of human skin, minute particles of mineral or plant material, textile fibers, smoke, fingerprint oils and other organic and inorganic materials. There are often salts such as sodium chloride from fingerprints, and skin fragments and gritty silica crystals. Within this chemical mixture are the spore of countless molds, fungi and micro-organisms which live on the organic material in the dust (fingerprints make for a good culture). Mold loves vinyl, not vinyl per se but what is in the grooves. The paper dust and such that settles in the grooves, combined with the occasional wet cleaning, the dark confines of an album sleeve coupled with moderate temperature, all are extremely conductive to forming your own mold colonies. Much of this dirt is "hygroscopic" (water-attracting) and this tendency can encourage molds, as well as increases the corrosiveness of salts. Dust is an abrasive and combined with the pressure exerted on the groove walls by the stylus, can permanently etch the walls and worse the dust can be imbedded permanently into thermoplastic substances. Only a small point of the stylus is actually making contact with the groove walls, one and a half grams of stylus pressure on such a minute surface translates to several tons of pressure per square inch. The resulting drag generates enough heat that the plastic partially melts, though not enough to deform the vinyl but cause a microscopic flow around the stylus into which dust can be embedded permanently.
Stearic acids have always been a part of the making of vinyl in one form or another. After a record is pressed there will be thin film of these acids on the surface of the vinyl. The stearic acids found in vinyl formulation has a two-fold effect in the vinyl production process, they act as a record mold release agent but there primary purpose is to act as a buffer for the vinyl stamping process.
Okay most will agree that these foreign substances should be removed to achieve ultimate playback and to preserve the life of the record itself, the debate rages on as to how best to accomplish this goal. If you ask 10 different record collectors about the best way to clean a record, you are a likely to receive ten wildy different answers from the alchemist approach to Ivory Liquid Soap in the kitchen sink.
DID YOU KNOW? Most Records Are Positivly Charged With Static Electricity
Most records are positively charged with static electricity. This positive charge attracts dust and grime to the groove, resulting in clicks cracks and unwanted surface noise and also accelerated the deterioration of the stylus. Since dust is usually held in place by electrostatic attraction, dry wiping on its own does not effectively work. The added friction created by the duster will cause the dust to jump back to the charged surface.
Cleaning Fluid
Distilled water is used for cleaning for many reasons
Distilled water is used for cleaning for many reasons. First being, its precise chemical make-up is known, distilled water will not leave any residue behind, it is safe to use and inexpensive. Water disperses static charges and counteracts the increased conductivity from the pick-up of salt deposits from finger prints. However water alone can not dissolve grease and oils, thus surfactants are used as additives to enable water to be grease solvent. Surfactants break grease surface bonds and allow water to penetrate grease solids, causing swelling and the random dispersion.
Fox Music Company recommends the use of nonionic, ethelyne oxide condensates surfactants to clean sound recordings. Nonionic surfactants such as Tergitol, Tergitol 15-S-3 is an oil soluble surfactant and 15-S-9 is a water soluble surfactant. Combined they remove a wide range of dirt and greases and can safely be used on sound recordings. Use 0.25 part of Tergitol 15-S-3 and 0.25 parts of Tergitol 15-S-9 per 100 parts of distilled water. (These products are available in small quantities from TALAS (Division of Technical Library Service Inc) 213 West 35th Street, New York, N.Y. (212) 465-8722.) The recording must then be rinsed thoroughly with distilled water to eliminate any trace of detergent residue.
Phonograph Records are best cleaned using a record cleaning machine such as the Keith Monks, VPI, Nitty Gritty using 0.25 part of Tergitol 15-S-3 and 0.25 parts of Tergitol 15-S-9 per 100 parts of distilled water. These machines allow for an even dispersion of fluid and can then vacuum the liquid leaving a clean, dry surface. The discs must then be rinsed thoroughly with distilled water and vacuumed dry - never ever play a wet record.
Cleanliness is absolutely mandatory if the optimum sound capability of the vinyl record is to be realized. A clean record will not only sound better, but last longer. It has been shown that repeated playing of soiled records can cause permanent damage to the vinyl. Preservation of valuable or irreplaceable records requires careful cleaning. Further more, stylus wear is greatly accelerated by playing dirty records, and with cartridges costing what they do these days, playing soiled records can lead to significant and unneeded expense.
Phonograph Record Care and Maintenance - Three Essentials
Phonograph Records are delicate, and very susceptible to damage and wear. Therefore a few techniques should be used when it comes to handling, cleaning and storage of your valued recordings.
There are essentially three concerns to consider when handling phonograph recordings. One that the record is kept free of foreign matter, Two that they be kept free of any pressure that might cause deformations such as warping and three that they are stored in a stable, controlled environment.
HANDLE WITH CARE - Handling Your Phonograph Record
When handling your phonograph records avoid touching the playing or grooved surface. You should handle the record by either edge and the labeled surface only.
Remove phonograph from the jacket with the inner dust sleeve by bowing the jacket open by holding it against the body and applying a slight pressure with a hand. Pull the record out by holding a corner of the inner dust sleeve. Avoid pressing down onto the disc with the fingers as any dust caught between the sleeve and the disc will be pressed into the grooves.
Remove the phonograph record from the inner dust sleeve by bowing the dust sleeve and letting it slip gradually into an open hand so that the edge falls on the inside of the thumb knuckle. The middle finger should reach for the center label. Never reach into the sleeve.
To hold a record, place the thumb on the edge of the disc, and the rest of the fingers of the same hand on the center label for balance. Use both hands on the edge to place disc on turntable.
Do not use paper or cardboard inner sleeves and do not store records without inner sleeves. Use soft polyethylene inner sleeves. Do not use record sleeves made of PVC.
Vinyl Record Care and Maintenance - What Is Foreign Matter??
Think Micro Biology
One can classify foreign matter as deposits which are not part of the original record, such as body oils from fingerprints, smoke, stains, stearic acids, dust etc.
Dust is commonly a mixture flakes of human skin, minute particles of mineral or plant material, textile fibers, smoke, fingerprint oils and other organic and inorganic materials. There are often salts such as sodium chloride from fingerprints, and skin fragments and gritty silica crystals. Within this chemical mixture are the spore of countless molds, fungi and micro-organisms which live on the organic material in the dust (fingerprints make for a good culture). Mold loves vinyl, not vinyl per se but what is in the grooves. The paper dust and such that settles in the grooves, combined with the occasional wet cleaning, the dark confines of an album sleeve coupled with moderate temperature, all are extremely conductive to forming your own mold colonies. Much of this dirt is "hygroscopic" (water-attracting) and this tendency can encourage molds, as well as increases the corrosiveness of salts. Dust is an abrasive and combined with the pressure exerted on the groove walls by the stylus, can permanently etch the walls and worse the dust can be imbedded permanently into thermoplastic substances. Only a small point of the stylus is actually making contact with the groove walls, one and a half grams of stylus pressure on such a minute surface translates to several tons of pressure per square inch. The resulting drag generates enough heat that the plastic partially melts, though not enough to deform the vinyl but cause a microscopic flow around the stylus into which dust can be embedded permanently.
Stearic acids have always been a part of the making of vinyl in one form or another. After a record is pressed there will be thin film of these acids on the surface of the vinyl. The stearic acids found in vinyl formulation has a two-fold effect in the vinyl production process, they act as a record mold release agent but there primary purpose is to act as a buffer for the vinyl stamping process.
Okay most will agree that these foreign substances should be removed to achieve ultimate playback and to preserve the life of the record itself, the debate rages on as to how best to accomplish this goal. If you ask 10 different record collectors about the best way to clean a record, you are a likely to receive ten wildy different answers from the alchemist approach to Ivory Liquid Soap in the kitchen sink.
DID YOU KNOW? Most Records Are Positivly Charged With Static Electricity
Most records are positively charged with static electricity. This positive charge attracts dust and grime to the groove, resulting in clicks cracks and unwanted surface noise and also accelerated the deterioration of the stylus. Since dust is usually held in place by electrostatic attraction, dry wiping on its own does not effectively work. The added friction created by the duster will cause the dust to jump back to the charged surface.
Cleaning Fluid
Distilled water is used for cleaning for many reasons
Distilled water is used for cleaning for many reasons. First being, its precise chemical make-up is known, distilled water will not leave any residue behind, it is safe to use and inexpensive. Water disperses static charges and counteracts the increased conductivity from the pick-up of salt deposits from finger prints. However water alone can not dissolve grease and oils, thus surfactants are used as additives to enable water to be grease solvent. Surfactants break grease surface bonds and allow water to penetrate grease solids, causing swelling and the random dispersion.
Fox Music Company recommends the use of nonionic, ethelyne oxide condensates surfactants to clean sound recordings. Nonionic surfactants such as Tergitol, Tergitol 15-S-3 is an oil soluble surfactant and 15-S-9 is a water soluble surfactant. Combined they remove a wide range of dirt and greases and can safely be used on sound recordings. Use 0.25 part of Tergitol 15-S-3 and 0.25 parts of Tergitol 15-S-9 per 100 parts of distilled water. (These products are available in small quantities from TALAS (Division of Technical Library Service Inc) 213 West 35th Street, New York, N.Y. (212) 465-8722.) The recording must then be rinsed thoroughly with distilled water to eliminate any trace of detergent residue.
Phonograph Records are best cleaned using a record cleaning machine such as the Keith Monks, VPI, Nitty Gritty using 0.25 part of Tergitol 15-S-3 and 0.25 parts of Tergitol 15-S-9 per 100 parts of distilled water. These machines allow for an even dispersion of fluid and can then vacuum the liquid leaving a clean, dry surface. The discs must then be rinsed thoroughly with distilled water and vacuumed dry - never ever play a wet record.
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