Some of the cylinders I have are dirty, they are not moldy but just a film of dirt and haze to them! How and what can I use to clean them, someone said pledge but is that a wives tale?
You all have been great helping me wit the speed issue and thanks to you it hats working fine, I thought I'd ask how to clean them
And also the top of the bed plate, under the mandrel it's crudy with old dirt and grease, not bad but the rest of it's shiny and wanted to clean it, any thoughts?
I've heard of some sellers making Blue Amberol records look less worn by using Pledge to shine them up, but it's nothing more than cosmetic.
Check out this website: http://home.earthlink.net/~gnordenstam/ ... eaning.htm
I've not tried this myself, but it's been linked in posts in the past.
Bob
"Comparison is the thief of joy" Theodore Roosevelt
I'm sure the link provided using labtone is probably the best of the best. For those of us who encounter a few dirty cylinders here and there probably won't go to those degrees of conservation or archival preservation.
A friend of mine swears by the use of the skin cleaning cream "Noxema" to clean cylinders. He says it curtails and fungal growth on brown wax cylinders as well. I've tried it on black wax with a soft cotton type cloth and it did wipe away quite a bit of dirt and dust from the surfaces. An idea to consider.
Good to know i will read the link the person above said to read and look into the Noxema as well. I was just going to use a damp cloth room temp water to wipe them down with. i will try the other to
Im not logged in, Shawn Borri here. I. Clean really dirty cylinders with the following. I heat distilled water, just to luke warm, not much above rom temp, or you can fog the records. I put two drops of Dawn dish detergent in it,and have two clean cotton cloths handy, although a bit of velvet for the scrubber is preferred, I. Wet the scrubber, srub in the directions of the grooves, Then wipe excess water off, put them on a cotton towel to dry. Isprople alcohol and cotton cloths work too , just do not saturate the surface, just enugh to lift the dirt..
Can anybody confirm that the Noxema method works and doesn't damage the cylinders in any way? I'm new to cylinders and just getting ready to clean the ones that came with my Edison Standard. I have mostly Gold Moulded along with a Columbia and a Lakeside.
Noxema and other folk cures may appear to work now, but what happens as these things oxodize over the next 100 years? Having said that, I have put Micotin on moldy cylinders to arrest further growth, but those cylinders are already damaged by the mold. I still have never seen a report from a mycologist on cylinder mold . . . is it for certain a mold, or is it a chemical bloom?
"All of us have a place in history. Mine is clouds." Richard Brautigan
Just to put it simply, if they are dirty,(mold)nothing will make them sound better. You can make them look better by washing, using pledge and all sorts of other things, but the damage is done. Buy clean wax cylinders only.
Personally, I don't think it's a very good
idea to use *any* liquid of any kind on
Gold Moulded cylinder records, or 4 minute
black wax Amberols, or brown wax cylinders.
It's very difficult to imagine the long-term
chemical reactions of any "stuff" applied the
the surface of this old wax.
If they are dusty, I wipe them off very lightly
in the direction of the grooves, using a soft
cotton cloth.
Then, simply play them a couple times with
a good model C reproducer, (or an H, if they
are 4 min Amberols)
Playing them will clean them up the best
I think. Try it and you will see.
Chuck
"Sustained success depends on searching
for, and gaining, fundamental understanding"
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