Using Glue to clean a 78?

[JerryVan]

Hello all,

So, I just received a comment from a viewer on my channel saying: he used Gorilla Glue to clean a 78 record?

Paul

Are you certain they were serious? Or, was it mentioned in jest, with reference to the young lady who recently experimented with using it as a hair styling product, (much to her detriment & dismay)?

[Edisonfan]

Yes! He was serious! In fact I have seen videos on YouTube of people using glue, too clean a 78. Mostly Elmer’s wood glue or white glue. Not Gorilla Glue.

[Curt A]

White glue or Elmer's Glue is safe because it is water soluble and won't permanently stick to a non-porous surface. Original Gorilla glue will stick permanently to almost any surface and is very difficult to remove, I have never found a good use for it because it foams and expands. Gorilla wood glue, on the other hand is an excellent wood glue and is water soluble, but I still wouldn't trust it on records since it is fast drying and has strong adhesion qualities.

[gramophoneshane]

The way I see it, is than an assumption is made that there is a single layer of dirt accumulated in the grooves when in fact there is probably a few layer of microscopic dirt and worn shellac caked together in there, so will the glue remove them all or just a layer of crud?
Another reason I think a good scrub with soap and water followed by a good rinse is probably going to be more successful than glue.

[gramophone-georg]

White glue or Elmer's Glue is safe because it is water soluble and won't permanently stick to a non-porous surface. Original Gorilla glue will stick permanently to almost any surface and is very difficult to remove, I have never found a good use for it because it foams and expands. Gorilla wood glue, on the other hand is an excellent wood glue and is water soluble, but I still wouldn't trust it on records since it is fast drying and has strong adhesion qualities.

Correct on all counts.

(Double-click the video above or click this link to go to the video on YouTube.)

And, as far as Elmer's goes... it's not a penetrant, so I don't see the advantage over washing or your WD idea. It might make a nice fake stamper, though.

[bikesteve]

I had a play around with Elmers wood glue a few years ago on vinyl and out of idle curiosity even managed to play the dried glue "stamper" 45 after careful removal & placing it on a record deck running in reverse. Results were actually pretty good; https://youtu.be/UoDZJoXcZ20

[Inigo]

Amazing! And you played it with a standard needle or with a fork needle... /\...? I supposed that if played with a standard needle, it would get a mixture of the two adjacent grooves (really ridges)... But it sounds very clear!

[bikesteve]

Yes I just played it with an old Audia Tecnica needle nothing special, like you say it's effectively playing the ridges! -It's also a MONO record if that had any bearing on success.

Steve

[Inigo]

As it is a negative of the record, the needle actually gets into which was the nobody's land between grooves in the original record. One wall belongs to one groove and the opposite belongs to the next groove. If the needle would be thick enough to fill in the new anti-groove, it would read a mixture of music from the two adjacent grooves.
I suppose it could be that the needle, being thinner than the anti-groove, due to the lateral friction force, attaches itself to one of the walls, the outer one, probably, and only plays this one. If you forced the anti-skating so to make the needle go to the inner wall, it would play that alone. What a curious experiment! Thanks for sharing!

[bikesteve]

As it is a negative of the record, the needle actually gets into which was the nobody's land between grooves in the original record. One wall belongs to one groove and the opposite belongs to the next groove. If the needle would be thick enough to fill in the new anti-groove, it would read a mixture of music from the two adjacent grooves.
I suppose it could be that the needle, being thinner than the anti-groove, due to the lateral friction force, attaches itself to one of the walls, the outer one, probably, and only plays this one. If you forced the anti-skating so to make the needle go to the inner wall, it would play that alone. What a curious experiment! Thanks for sharing!

It was only after you first mentioned it that I thought more deeply about how a needle could track ridges instead of a groove and I came to the same conclusion. The needle is being thrown to one side of the negative groove. Interestingly the Anti Skate is actually faulty on this LP120 turntable (a very common fault) that together with the fact the turntable is in reverse and an old Mono record could easily explain why it sounds pretty clear.