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cleaning help!!!
Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2007 3:10 pm
by kl12_2007
I really really need help!!!!
I bought a set of Toscanini's 45rpm from the fled market. I find there is a group of mold/fungi on one side. But after I washed it, they did not being washed away and remain there. I can use my finger to scratch some away but still a lot remain in the groove.
I wondered what I should use so as to remove them away.
Please help me! Thank you.
Re: Help with cleaning!!!
Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2007 3:52 pm
by kl12_2007

here is the photo.
From how I feel and what I see, the white parts seems aren't scratches due to there is something above the grooves.
Re: cleaning help!!!
Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 3:48 am
by shane
Believe it or not, I've used caustic soda on vinyl records quite a few times to remove these sort of things before. One record I bought had paint overspray all over it. Caustic soda won't hurt the plastic, but will rip the label straight off, so be very careful using it. I'd mix a small amount of a medium strength solution, and paint it on the effected areas using a small Plastic bristled artists brush, and let it sit for a couple minutes before rinsing it off well. Just dont get anything on the label, and don't use a nature fibred brush, or the hairs will melt to a dark sticky mess.
Re: cleaning help!!!
Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 10:10 am
by Record-changer
I have never gone that far, but I never saw mold on a vinyl record.
Is it a vinyllite record instead? Those are not pure vinyl. They are also not as flexible as a vinyl record, and can be easily broken.
For a 100 percent vinyl record, I use a 50-50 mix of distilled water and isopropanol. To get stuff out of the grooves, I play the record wet with this solution.
For filled vinyllite or shellac, I use distilled water with a tiny amount of Dawn dish liquid, with a distilled water "rinse" afterward. Again, playing the record wet removes stubborn gunk from inside the grooves.
But do not play World_War II era (1939-1947) records wet. You don't know what they mixed with the shellac during the war rationing. Water could dissolve the cheap binder (they sometimes used hide glue). And some of them have acetate grooves, which water dissolves.
Don't use any solvent (even water) with home recordings or 78 rpm picture discs. You don't know what the recording medium is.
Re: cleaning help!!!
Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 3:19 pm
by kl12_2007
This is a 45rpm Toscanini's record, with Carmen and other opera's overture. But I am not sure the date and material that making this record.
Iso-propanol? Where can I get this? Lens cleaner?
Can I use Polish Cleaner? The one that I found contain Acetone.
Re: cleaning help!!!
Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2007 8:19 pm
by wand143
Thanks for the tip on not cleaning home recordings and acetates. I discovered several of my homemade records got exposed to water (or some sort of liquid - can't say what) and it left a nice little white fog on the surface of the disc -it's audible, too. Recently I found a cache of homemade records which got WAY too wet - not only did the surface get foggy but it also cracked and peeled the surface away from the metal base. Some unique recordings lost forever due to ignorance...

Re: cleaning help!!!
Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 3:18 am
by Record-changer
I get isopropanol (isopropyl alcohol) at the drugstore as 91% isopropanol rubbing alcohol.