Started buying a bit more vinyl off eBay and thinking they would benefit from a clean. What do people use? Would be happier with something from the budget end.

And I thought records were making a comeback.

I’ve got a velvet cloth thing that used to belong to my dad. I’ve no idea whether you can buy such things now, but that always seemed to work for him / me.

I use a cloth and Isopropyl Alcohol mixed with distilled water in a spray bottle.

Really dirty ones I wash in the sink with washing up liquid. Look lovely drying in the plate racks on the draining board.

Warm water. Soft dusting cloth. Fairy liquid. Rinse. Works a treat.
Let them air dry (a toast rack or two works well for this!)

I hope you guys are rinsing in distilled water.

And leaving them out to dry in the correct north/south orientation.

I bought a bottle of something alcohol based specifically marketing for cleaning records from amazon

Works pretty well

Al – I try to stay well away from all that hi-fi voodoo bollocks! Makes the wheel size threads here look sensible.

Wood glue seems popular on YouTube, would like to try it one day but not had the nerve yet 😉

I use a pro-ject carbon brush thing that came with my turntable removes fluff buts I would say it useless tbh

Wood glue? My records are all pointing North, is that ok?

zbonty – Member
Al – I try to stay well away from all that hi-fi voodoo bollocks! Makes the wheel size threads here look sensible.

Rinsing with distilled water makes sense, it avoids lime scale being left behind from water droplets if the water is hard.

Wood glue? My records are all pointing North, is that ok?

Yep, PVA Adhesive, spread across the record like making a crépe, allowed to dry, then just peeled off. It’ll lift dust out of the grooves. Washing cleans off contamination caused by fungus which grows from specks of organic material when the record is stored against an outer wall that gets slightly cold and damp.
What it can’t do, though, is get rid of noise from groove damage caused by worn sylii, mis-tracking, mis-aligned cartridge, etc.
It only needs to be played once with the alignment out for damage to be caused to the groove wall.
The time I’ve spent with tracking gauges, alignment gauges, balance scales, etc…
Or really badly pressed records. Which was why I bought my first CD, in 1982, after taking an album back five times because of the crap pressing; continual loud, intrusive crackling right through the album, made it impossible to enjoy listening to the music.
Of course, just sticking a penny on the tone arm might be all you need.

Dang, I was hoping for a flooring thread. Then I remembered that this is STW….

I only really use isopropyl alcohol and a lint free cloth. For anything substantial I find a dab of washing up liquid can help.