How should I maintain my Vinyl Collection?

Hi! Philip,
Check out www.musicdirect.com, I have imported many record cleaning solutions and record cleaning brushes for my vinyl clients. IF you want the same I can help.

Do a google search for LP cleaning liquid and you will get tons of DIY stuff too. Try that out too.

Regarding the stylus, man just dont mess around with it.
Rgds

Prithvi

Thanks Prithvi.
So as per your suggestion I shouldn't bother about any cleaning agent for stylus.
Regards,
Philip

Dear Phillip,
Some home grown solutions.
First dont blow rupees two thousand on a carbon brush. Go to a shop which sell cosmetics for women. Ask for a make up brush. I found one about -one inch thick - for Rs. 150 or so. It works perfectly, and I am glad I go shopping with my wife.

Second, go to the whole sale chemist and ask for distilled water. It will come in a jerrycan. Its good enough. From the same place get some ethyl alchol. Go to a plastic shop and get a spraying can, the kind you see at a barbers shop. All this should come to less than five hundred

Make a solution of the alchohol and water ten percent alchoho and rest water. You can spray clean records with this mixture. Dont use this mixture on older records. These can be damaged. Just clean with distilled water. If you use soap make sure you get it all off.

If you can find an old turntable which just goes round and round. Use it for placing the record and cleaning them. Try not to wet the record labels

Collect all old banians (vests)in the house. Cut them up. They make the best lint free cloth you wll find anywhere. Wipe your recordsdry after spraying them. This is where an old turntable comes in useful.

Dont blow money on record sleeves. Go to the wholesale plastic bags man. Get 500 sleeves for 50 rupees. Put records in new sleeves after use. If you have some money to spare. It costs Rs,1500 to get a die made for cutting plastic to your size. If I get round to doing this, I will let you know.

Last lesson. Records are great not simply because hey are better sounding or different sounding, but because its a cheap way to get a good music. Like Prithvi, find an old Aunt and shower her with love. Spread the word around that you welcome records. Believe me they will soon start trickling in.
Purnendu

Great info. Also try isopropyl alchol, distilled water & a few drops of teepol will do the trick in cleaning the records.

I would still prefer a nice dedicated LP cleaning brush to the other one .
Rgds

Prithvi

My mode of disc cleaning is as below.

Real old dirty mouldy maries - Rinse the disk with a hand shower and clean them with tepol (not other dish washer liquids because tepol is an industrial grade wetting agent that is perfumed) using a soft 2" paint brush with the base of bristles taped with paper masking tape to make them stiffer. Rinse the disc under flowing water, a hand shower and home pressure booster system helps you a lot.

If there was a lot of fungus it is better to apply freshly made 10% sodium hypochlorite solution, the chlorine will prevent further growth of fungi. Be care full not to get the solution on to labels because they may get bleached.

Allow excess water to drip off and immediatly rinse them with 10% isopropyl alch sol made using demineralised lab grade water. The purpose of this rinse is to get house hold water that may contain minerals that will get dried and stick on to the grooves, a plastic spray bottle is usefull for this job.

Dry them with a soft paper kitchen towel and place the discs on a PVC dipcoated plate rack to dry. In humid areas like mine airconditioner set to lower temp can get the job done faster. There will be some paper lint which can be blown or brushed away once the discs are dry.

A carbon fibre brush can only remove large dust particles, they help in dischrging the LP od static elec and makes a big difference in ticks and pops.

Once you have a clean disc from the above process you need a wet vacuume cleaner to maintain it