Cleaning 78 Record

Joe_DS wrote:A soft bristle toothbrush shouldn't hurt the groove--I've used one from time to time to clean a heavily soiled record--but a standard sponge or cotton cloth should be fine for normal cleaning. The important thing is to make sure the record dries thoroughly before playing it.

I should point out that all of the above instructions pertain to standard, shellac-based 78s. If you have any "thick" Edison diamond disc records -- http://www.gracyk.com/diamonddisc.shtml -- NEVER apply water to them since water will dissolve the center core of the record. The condensite surfaces of these records should only be cleaned with alcohol. (Along this line, NEVER use alcohol on a shellac based 78.)

Thanks for the clarification!

One more question regarding the drying process - will resting the discs on a typical rubber-coated dish-rack affect the grooves (possibly ruin them)?

My questions might seem slightly paranoid in their concern because I have about 40 discs that are extremely rare and plan on digitizing them - thus wanting to get the cleanest, best sound out of them.

muffinass wrote:One more question regarding the drying process - will resting the discs on a typical rubber-coated dish-rack affect the grooves (possibly ruin them)?

My questions might seem slightly paranoid in their concern because I have about 40 discs that are extremely rare and plan on digitizing them - thus wanting to get the cleanest, best sound out of them.

There should be no problem with that. Normally, when I've cleaned my records, using the damp cloth method described above, I immediately wipe them off with a clean cotton cloth--normally an old T-shirt--running the cloth in the direction of the groove until they feel dry. Then, I set them in their edge to air dry the rest of the way.

I'm curious. What are some of the records you have?

JDS

Joe_DS wrote:
There should be no problem with that. Normally, when I've cleaned my records, using the damp cloth method described above, I immediately wipe them off with a clean cotton cloth--normally an old T-shirt--running the cloth in the direction of the groove until they feel dry. Then, I set them in their edge to air dry the rest of the way.

I'm curious. What are some of the records you have?

JDS

In all fairness, I don't think the records are worth much to everyone, but I've come across a whole set of records from a New York-based record label called "Cristea's Roumanian Records". From the looks of it the owner was Josef Cristea, a tenor who sings on the majority of the records.

Beyond this, I wasn't able to get any more information - short of going to New York and trying to do some detective work based on the addresses on the labels.

Not to hijack the thread, but if anybody can help me tracking down information on the label, Josef Cristea or anything else related to these records, I'd be eternally grateful.

(will post in the wanted section as well, asking for Romanian 78's)

muffinass wrote:Not to hijack the thread, but if anybody can help me tracking down information on the label, Josef Cristea or anything else related to these records, I'd be eternally grateful.

(will post in the wanted section as well, asking for Romanian 78's)

Why not post this as a new topic, probably right here in the 78s forum. In the meantime, I'll check around and see if I can come up with anything.

JDS

--------------- Later ----------------------------------------

Okay...

Here's a few tidbits about his career, in case you haven't see them:

Taxicab Driver to Study for Opera -- The Pittsburgh Press, Oct. 2 1932 -- http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1 ... 22,4454206

"After the Thin Man" program of events -- https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=ca ... 1xApLoqC8Q

Cristea will give recital -- http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=x7 ... pera&hl=en

and .... possibly his grave -- http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cg ... d=33556420

HTH,
JDS