Phonoland

Hi all for over 30 years i have been cleaning 78's with a scrubbing brush and plain old water and yes as you all know it works. Just recently however i have been using PVA or carpenters glue . this works a treat . Ok so it takes time but it really gets every bit of rubbish from your cherished record. It takes a fair bit of practice so use some scrap records first and you will also need a pulling tag at the edge of the disc...........Paul

Still far easier with a scrubbing brush and water ,especially when you have many thousands ......Paul

Glue is one thing I haven't tried. Keep in mind, though, the composition of 78s varied throughout their production. Some were also laminated, such as the red Columbias issued in the 1940s/1950s; the last ones produced were vinyl. I've had good luck wiping them with a lint-free cotton cloth dampened with mild detergent and distilled water. Then, I dry them with another cotton cloth, running the cloth in the direction of the groove, and letting them air dry the rest of the way for about 24 hours.

If you come across an Edison Diamond Disc record, I wouldn't recommend this method. Since wood glue/carpenter's glue is water based, it could ruin the Edison DD's Condensite surface which can only be cleaned with alcohol -- http://www.edisonphonology.com/problems1.htm

JDS

Don't try this with World War II era records (1939-1947) made from substitute materials during rationing.

It can break the record made of substitute materials, cause the thin shellac veneer to delaminate from the substrate, or even dissolve a substitute surface. The substrates themselves were often made of wood glue and sawdust.

Also, make sure there is no alcohol or other solvent in the glue.

Riley,
That happened here too (USA) as I understand it--I was not that old, but one of my earliest re-collections, was going to the Post Exchange, with my Mom, and me holding a coffee can of kitchen grease to turn in-- Ron Rich

The turning in of old records to buy new ones caused these effects in the 78 rpm market:

1. After World War II, many old records became valuable as people tried to rebuild their prewar collections. This ended when LP versions of most of them were released. The LP especially devalued 78 albums of classical works.

2. Some recordings either completely disappeared or became very rare, as too many people turned them in for new records. Compounding the problem was the fact that many record companies turned in old masters for the war effort as scrap metal, and the bankruptcy of Gennett records (the masters were sold as scrap by the creditors).

3. At the beginning of the time when substandard sandwich records were first being made, the knife type changers and the throwoff changers started breaking these more fragile records. People quickly learned to stop using those kinds of changers, but they had to turn in TWO records as a result, to replace the broken one with another new one. This caused the push type changer to quickly replace both of the other types, with the Webster-Chicago and Utah-Detrola changers being the most desired.