Cleaning 78s

[ddamico361]

I have used the mild (Dawn) dishwashing liquid and warm, distilled water in "knox" record cleaner" trough. You can adjust the level of the water to avoid the label. Rotate 20 times in one direction and then 20 in the opposite. Rinse and then dry with a fan. A positive byproduct is that small cracks are easier to feel when the record is slippery. New paper sleeves are always used, white for pre 1925 and craft paper sleeves for post 1925.

The YouTube video showing how a Victor record is made states that the label is pressed into the record material rather than pasted.

David in LeRoy.

[Lah Ca]

Anyone for a drink?

I just wet-vacuum cleaned ten 12" 78 RPM disks in a batch run.

The collection tank on my cleaning machine had been drained before starting.

Each disk was cleaned twice.

The first cleaning was done with a mix of distilled water and soap using a nylon bristle brush. The record was then vacuumed dry.

The second cleaning was done with a commercial product which the manufacturer certifies as safe for shellac disks. A brush with boar bristles was used. The record was then vacuumed dry again.

After the twenty cleanings for the ten disks, twice each side, this is what I drained from the collection tank on my vacuum machine.

As you can see, the volume of liquid used was relatively small.

[Marc Hildebrant]

I have had good sucess by washing them in a sink with lots of soap and warm water, followed by a rinse and wipe. Never harmed a 78 at all.

Now, do not use alcohol as it will dissolve the binding shellac.

Marc

[Lah Ca]

Thought I would post another image of the tank dregs from my cleaning machine.

I cleaned a batch of eight pre-1920 records. For this job I used a solution of three drops of a mild dish soap to one litre of distilled water. I used a fairly soft bur coarse boar-bristle brush on the records as they turned, first in one direction, then the other. Not a lot of pressure was applied. Then they were vacuumed dry. I then rinsed them with distilled water only, using a soft goat's hair brush to work the water into the grooves and around the record. Then they were vacuumed dry.

I let the dregs evaporate for a couple days to get a better view of what was lifted off and out of the records. This was from eight 10" records, eight only, some of which were single-sided. I assume the crud is a mixture of dust from foxed paper, wear debris from the bottom of the grooves, metal fragments from needles, as well as organic contamination from human hands.

The dregs are in the bottom of a glass tumbler which has a diameter of 3" or about 76 mm.

[Inigo]

It's a lot of time since I last bought (and cleaned) 78s... I'm getting misused to this... Time for buying more!