How to clean records
Problem
From the very generic point of view – no problem since a record is a just a piece of vinyl or shellac plastic with some grooves and it can be washed as any dish even in a washing machine. Using any domestic cleaning solutions and just water. Actually, the internet is full of such DIY recipes that look convenient and cheap. For cleaning industry, it is only hard surface cleaning problem. Well, no. Since this piece of plastic contains microgrooves and will be played by an expensive cartridge with a diamond stylus that was cut very complicated way. Does not look like a dish. The record must be clean to play as it was cut and keep also the health of your expensive cartridge ( that actually lives a little more than 1000 hours). Do not forget that playing a record also a perfect way to render static on its surface. That will attract dust with more power. So we at CHISTO see the fourfold problem.
- First – record must be cleaned well as soon as grooves tend to gather dust and biological dirt very quickly.
- Second – the record must be disinfected.
- Third – washing solution traces must not stay in that grooves that will make things even worse.
- Fourth – antistatic treatment is a must.
Q&A
Classification of dirty records? A. Brand new or mint records They are brand new and sealed. No need to clean! Actually, new records contain a silicon-like layer of MRA ( Mould Release Agent) that help to press records. MRA is a perfect solution to attract dust. So we at Chisto first realized that a special treatment is required for such records. By the way, same MRA is present also on brand new CDs. So the reason our first product Disk Analoguer has very impressive results. B. Normally used records It must be washed well, disinfected and stay clean and antistatic for a while. C. Very dirty records stored for decades Such records must include a pre-wash cycle as soon as stubborn dirt needs extra attention.
Why clean? Brush use is quite enough.
Well. English approach. A good way to collect heavy dust. Not good way to lift it up from the surface. Actually, I never have seen a brush that does it well. Maybe our simple but effective “fur coat” you can find inside our spray&wipe solution, or an expensive state-of-art brush made by Japanese Jelco. In most cases, you just work the dust in the gentle grooves scratching it.
Vacuum or manual cleaning?
It is up to you. Your budget or lifestyle. We offer cleaning solutions that can be used both ways. What matters is your collection volume and time you have. If you have just a couple of dozens of records – manual spray&wipe will do well. If a little more – maybe more advanced, but still manual solutions like Knosti. If you have hundreds of records – well, good vacuum machine is your choice.
Ultrasonic cleaning?
It is very good but takes a lot of time to clean one record and a bit expensive.
How special are CHISTO Easy Groove solutions?
- We offer the solution for different types of records.
- Actually, other vendors solutions were developed decades ago. We at CHISTO are checking and testing new chemicals every year and choose the best. And believe us, chemical industry develops very quickly and we are very excited about new available products.
- Our antistatic agent used in Easy Groove formula is so powerful that static eliminating time on a record surface is close to zero. And we still want more.
- We add very good and safe anti-bacterial and fungicide component and that help your records stay fresh longer and also healthy for your family. We know how usually smell thousands of records and who knows what bacteria still alive inside.