The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I know this has been discussed many times before just wanted to share my method of cleaning dirt, grime and oil off Gold Moulded Records. I am sure many will disagree and I would love to hear the reasoning why. The lot of cylinders I picked up today were all filthy. I first use Isopropyl alcohol and cotton balls to wipe them down, then with a soft sponge and dishwashing liquid under lukewarm water I wash off any leftover residue. Finally drying with a dish towel lightly. Like I would like to hear of any cons of doing it using this method.

Steve

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After

If the records have ONLY dirt, grime, and oil on them, your method should be effective. If, however, there's mold on the records, your method will merely make the records black and shiny again. The mold will have damaged or destroyed the recording.

Again, if it's only dirt, grime, and oil, you're all set (and lucky!).

George P.

You can see from the photo that your method works just fine. I though don't use tap water, distilled water is much safer so the minerals don't cause noise. I bet you heard quite a difference in sound though. Shure, you can see some mold damage, however, a cylinder spins at 160 rpm, the sound waves are spread across the record, yes microorganisms do eat some of the stearic. The other day, I was doing some recordings ( on blanks I had made) and thought I had shaved it all off, however, even though no actual visible grooves were present, you could still understand it. Try recording on a blank, and then shave it very thinly, you won't erase all the sound, and you will still be able to tell what it was.