To wax or not to wax.

[Phonoboy]

I've noticed some collector aply wax to their records before playing them, and I'm curious. Wouldn't that trap grit in the groves and cause damage?

[CarlosV]

If you wax a worn record and play it immediately after, it will sound better - the wax reduces the background noise. In the long term however it will be detrimental - as you wrote, it will capture and entrap particles, and once the wax is applied it cannot be completely removed. In the 20s there were several products in the market with this purpose, some made by record manufacturers (I have a Pathé wax can), but they disappeared from the 30s onwards.

[Marco Gilardetti]

Yes it does and it also expose the record's surface to a high risk of being attacked by mold. The wax layer is also very difficult to remove, should the record's owner change his mind later. The paper sleeve will also be altered by contact with wax and will in turn be at high risk of being attacked by mold.

IMHO the only records with which it makes some sense to apply a lubricant to the surface are those that are so badly worn-out that the gramophone can't get through the entire song. Still, however, I would refrain from playing these records on a gramphone. Records so sensibly worn-out are at the end of their life and are by all means better played with an electric, light-weight pickup of a radiogram.

(now quite obviously some gramophone enthusiasts living in Arizona will reply that they have never had any issues with mold! )

[Phonoboy]

Thanks for the explanations.

[Orchorsol]

I've been using ibota wax for some months and find it really excellent. A minute amount (mere specs) can have a dramatic effect on playability of a worn or highly modulated record, especially with fibre or thorn needles, and improve sound quality too in some cases - and it is not sticky. This is a material which is exuded by insects in a similar way to shellac.

I understand other members' cautions regarding surface treatments, and certainly wouldn't disagree entirely. However, don't forget that when new, our records would have had a certain amount of a fatty release agent such as stearic acid on their surface, which was used to ensure they could be removed cleanly from the press...

[estott]

I don't see that wax in itself should promote mold growth- wouldn't that be more of a factor of your storage conditions? I work in a museum where we have used microcrystaline wax on bronzes and other metal objects with no ill effects in storage.

[Marco Gilardetti]

I don't see that wax in itself should promote mold growth- wouldn't that be more of a factor of your storage conditions? I work in a museum where we have used microcrystaline wax on bronzes and other metal objects with no ill effects in storage.

You can easily re-discover it yourself. Take two identical objects, clean one with gasoline/alcohol/dishsoap and treat the other with wax, put them side by side in a damp cellar and leave them there for some months. Later, inspect them and see which one has aged better.

Other compounds that I've found to be ideal for mold growth are "red oil" for furniture and grease for leather and shoes.

[estott]

I don't see that wax in itself should promote mold growth- wouldn't that be more of a factor of your storage conditions? I work in a museum where we have used microcrystaline wax on bronzes and other metal objects with no ill effects in storage.

You can easily re-discover it yourself. Take two identical objects, clean one with gasoline/alcohol/dishsoap and treat the other with wax, put them side by side in a damp cellar and leave them there for some months. Later, inspect them and see which one has aged better.

Other compounds that I've found to be ideal for mold growth are "red oil" for furniture and grease for leather and shoes.

well, if you are storing your records in a damp cellar you have other issues to deal with. You are introducing extreme conditions to the equation here.

[Marco Gilardetti]

That's what you did in first place. Bronze is not a compound that gives any problem with mold. Most bronze statues are left in open air exposed to wind rain and snow all of the time and some of them are >2K years old and they still look good. So you can basically do whatever you want with bronze. Not the same with shellack. Also, most museums have air conditioned if not computer-controlled temperature and humidity, so that molds will never grow in any case. That's not what happens in a normal house during a prolonged rainy spring or a foggy fall.

Early cylinders made with a wax-based compound are very well known for the problems that most of them have with mold growth, and as a result few of them are still listenable today. Shellack is less critical from this point of view and is more easily preserved over long times, if kept clean. Who plaster shellack with wax has forgotten the old lesson from the early cylinders, IMHO.

This said, perhaps yes: if you live in Arizona you will likely have less problems with mold than folks who live in London...

[Phonoboy]

Thanks again. I think I'll refrain from waxing just to be safe.