by Record-changer »
Sun Nov 18, 2007 10:10 am
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.