The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I have a feeling this may be a tired and often answered question but as a newbie to the site I can't find any old posts that discuss this topic. I probably just didn't look hard enough. My question is about cleaning my old shellac 78's (1900 - 1926) with Armor-all. I tried it on a "junk" damaged record and it seems to clean VERY well and of course makes the disc all shiney. I do know that alcohol is deadly to shellac records so I actually called the company on their consumer hot-line and was told that Armor-all does NOT contain alcohol. Please help.

I tend to just use an old toothbrush together with soap and water (avoiding the label area). Clean around all the grooves with soap and water using the tooth brush and then rinse off. Dry with a towell and allow to dry overnight before playing with a heavy pickup...if I am playing with modern equipmeent then I usually will play it the same day.

The purpose of cleaning a disk is to remove some of the crud from the grooves so that it plays better and reduces record wear (through the removal of any gritty build up in the grooves). The purpose isn't to make them look all shiny and to just a wipe over a disk with something like armour all will have no impact of how clean the grooves are - it would give a cosmetic improvement in appearance only. I have no idea what the long term impact on the disk would be but I would be cautious against using it, personally.

S-B-H

I had very poor experience with ArmorAll (sp?) and never use it on ANYthing, least of all my phonograph records (or my cars!). I can't imagine that its use would add value to anything, especially when there are much better and truly benign ways to clean "shellac" records, namely, distilled water and mild liquid dish detergent, for example.

The "vinyl"(?) dashboard on my '70 Dodge Dart cracked in a dozen places after I started using ArmorAll on it. I can't in all fairness blame the product; it could have been Chrysler quality and/or the harmful UV rays from constant exposure to sunlight. Still, I wouldn't use the product!

I had a very unfortunate experience with ArmorAll and wouldn't use it on ANYthing, least of all phonograph records or cars, especially when there are proven benign ways to accomplish the same goal; namely, distilled water and mild liquid dishwashing detergent, for example.

After applying ArmorAll to the vinyl(?) dash of my '70 Dodge Dart, it cracked in a dozen places---the very condition it was supposed to prevent. I can't in fairness blame the product, as it might have been Chrysler quality and/or UV rays, but in any case I don't use ArmorAll for anything.

[The Guest post above is mine, too. I wrote it not realizing that I wasn't logged in, thus the double post. Moderators, please note! I can't delete the Guest post.]

Thanks to both of you for your advice. I had a feeling that using Armor-All to clean old shellac 78's was just too easy. The last thing I want to do to my 1900-1926 collection of Victor records is cover them in chemicals that might cause damage over time. Thanks again!

Using products like that is to 'upgrade' bad records to a better status for a quick sell. The longer term effects can be disastrous. They will almost always contain some kind of alcohol and that will dissolve the shellac. Your record may shine and have less surface noise on first playing, but within a month it can be destroyed. Only clean with a minimum of demineralised water, a tiny bit of unperfumed dish washing liquid and rinse carefully with demin water. That way you will get of dirt and not damage your record. NEVER use things from a spray can. And never use things you would use one a newborn baby. Tepid water and a bit of baby shampoo won't harm 90 % of the records. Anything else WILL.