CLEANING OLD RECORDS CAN BE CHALLENGING.
AUTHOR: by Doug Smith
Originally Published Nov 2013
he column below is from the Quad-City Times titled “Dough’s Q-C” Douganswers questions about collectibles. The Quad Cities includes Davenport, Iowa, Rock Island, Moline and East Moline, Ill.
“Hello! I saw your column a while back regarding a guy who found a box of records in a garage. I’ve been meaning to write because something similar happened to me. I have a rental property, and a renter left boxes and boxes of old records behind when they moved out. Now recently I was given a record player, and I have been enjoying treasurers that were given up as trash. My question to you is: What is the best way to clean them?” Thanks for your column, Kraig.
Dear Kraig,
It makes my day to hear that someone rediscovered the joy of playing records. So let’s talk a little about it.
Collecting records, or anything for that matter, is very much like playing the stock market. You want to buy when the market is down and nobody is buying, and sell when everybody else is buying. Obviously, you acquired this collection at the right price, but if you are truly enjoying it, I would urge you to jump in with both feet and buy more. Because of the compact disc, or CD, many people have completely abandoned their record collections as “outdated technology” and have reinvented hard-earned money into CD reissues of the old stuff. Of course, they’ve made two bad decisions here. They’ve given up what they had that was valuable and original, then paid a premium for a reproduction, mostly of inferior quality to vinyl, which has little likelihood of increasing in value. The bottom line is the market is flooded with records, there are fewer people buying them and the prices are at rock bottom.
Cleaning records, for the true audiophile, can be an expensive proposition. One cannot only invest in cleaning solutions and supplies, but very costly machines also exist for the purpose of getting the best sound possible. For the vast majority of us, this is hardly necessary, and cleaning records can be accomplished easily and at little cost.
First of all, you didn’t specify whether you had found boxes of 45, 33-1/3 or 78 revolutions-per-minute records, and it really does make a big difference. Really, the different has nothing to do with speed, but with what the record is made of. Most records, like standard 45-RPM singles are made of shellac.
Lets talk first about cleaning vinyl. What I have used for the past 35 years is isopropyl alcohol, or what is commonly referred to as rubbing alcohol. The percentage content is of little concern, but the higher-percentage products will evaporate faster, which is a good thing. I put a little rubbing alcohol on cheesecloth and just go around and around on the record until I’m satisfied that I have gotten every inch and loosened up any dirt, removed fingerprints and smudges.
Immediately, I follow this with a soft rag to help evaporate the alcohol quickly, so there are no unsightly streaks, watermarks or residues left. A standard baby diaper works great. Most of the time, residues are left if you happen to touch the label of the record with your wet cheesecloth, nothing will be harmed, but there are some such as the red Columbia label issues from the early 1950’s that will be damaged, both from color bleeding and deterioration of the paper surface. So my advice would be to stay away from the center label. Water can be used as a substitute for alcohol, of course, but it takes seemingly forever to completely dry the record. If you’ve got a pile to clean, you won’t like the wait or your tired arms.
As mentioned previously, 78’s are a horse of a different color. These are really old records that were made until 1960. The majority of what you find is big-band recordings from the 1940’s by Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and crooners such as Bing Crosby. Many of the record players produced by the 1970’s would no longer even play at that speed, so I am guessing you do not have 78’s or you probably would have mentioned it.
Because they are made of shellac, rubbing alcohol would instantly ruin such records. The alcohol records with the shellac, actually melt into the grooves and coating the musical content to the point where listening is no longer enjoyable and volume is greatly reduced. Good old cold water is the safest way to clean a 78, and then follow it up again with a dry cloth. People have been known to dunk 78’s into dish soap, clean them with a soft brush and rinse them thoroughly before drying, but I don’t see any need to. If the record is extremely dirty, just wash it several times.
I also have known collectors spray a 78 with soapy water or Pledge, cleaning it coats the groove for a smaller needle rise and a softer, “cleaner” sound by eliminating the snap, crackle and pop. I guess I never have been so deeply into the perfect reproduction of sound that I desired to experiment with such things. I grew up playing scratchy old 45’s brought for a nickel in a garage sale and loving every minute of it. Mint records just don’t sound right to me.
Here’s an important part of record maintenance: Be sure not to stack 78’s too high. Their weight literally will crack the records on the bottom of the stack if it becomes too tall. They would be stored upright like a book on a shelf and preferably out of the basement and other areas of high dampness.
