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Tips on storing and cleaning vinyl records


ampTK
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Few days ago a got a couple of old vinyl records the used to belong to my father and my uncles, and there are two boxes pack with more, that all I need to do is pick 'em up, mostly Beatles and Rolling Stones, and I really want to keep them.

 

But I've never owned records, and I have no clue on how to keep them in good shape, some are so dusty that dust fills most of the tracks. For things like this generally there is whole market of products for cleaning and I bet most of those are common cleaning products in a fancy package (like ipod cleaning products).

 

So any of you guys have any good tips on storing and cleaning/menteining records?

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as per most objects that deteriorate over time try keeping them in a cool dry spot. heat can and will warp them so don't throw them in the basement right next to a water heater or somethin. keep them in their covers, some come with a thin plastic or paper jacket in addition to the cardboard sleeve. dust will ruin the grooves as the needle goes over it as well as mess with the fidelity. if you have a turntable with a clear dust cover make sure you use it especialy if you leave a record out on it for any period of time. if your turntable doesn't have a cover then make sure you put records back up after use. you'll want to clean off the records with a felt pad, curdoroy works fine as well anything that's been heavily washed will work well as it should be relatively lint free. be sure to clean the dust off of the record cleaning cloth as well otherwise you'll ust be rubbing the dust back into the grooves. a plastic brush will work fine for this.

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This came from Heloise:

 

Even records stored in jackets collect dust and grease from handling. To clean a record, carefully hold it by the edges and rinse both sides with a stream of cold tap water. Try to avoid wetting the label. Squirt a bit of mild liquid detergent (no bar soap) on your wet fingertips and rub around the record -- going with the grooves, not across them. Rinse well and let air-dry in a rack or wipe with a cloth designed for dusting records. Do not use a towel or lint-producing fabric -- and don't let your dry fingers touch the vinyl.
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Vynl's worst enemy is oil...particularly the oil on your fingertips...take care to hold the records by the edges, over time oil will destroy the grooves accuracy far faster than dirt. Scratching (like a DJ) can also be very bad for records, and the needle, unless you have a good scratching needle.

 

The crackling you hear when playing most records is more often than not caused from static, not dirt...of course dirt isn't good, but the point is that the crackleing is usually static. You can pick up anti-static spray which comes with a velvet cleaner at your local Radio Hack.

 

Contrary to what most people think and use, the best tool for cleaning records before playing them is a camel hair brush. This also coincidently lowers static levels. Camel hairs have some strange ability to suck in static charges and with it lint and dirt, almost like they're magnetized. I think it has something to do with their hollow cores.

 

and lastly, a bit OT, don't under-estimate the sound quality of top shelf turntable running through a full frequency dialed in system. Properly tuned analogue stereo systems running off of tape and vynl have been known to reach frequency response levels of up 100khz....presto change-o, digital has it's uses, but I'd never say either route is 'better'!

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