LAST record preservative improves the sound

Norman,

I can't comment on record wear. But as I understand it, it's not the age of records that really matter but a number of plays. I also read somewhere that it is not a good idea to play one record twice within about 24 hours, someone said that records need time to 'get some rest' and provided kind of scientific explanation for that. I cannot comment on that either. There are records that I play quite often, though not more than once a day, so I treated them with the LAST. Sound improvement was a pleasant bonus, but again it was quite subtle, just as subtle as when I put one half-inch Walker resonance control disc on the maple block next to the turntable motor and also when I put another Walker disc on top of the Nakamichi deck. Small improvements accumulate and at some point may become one sigificant improvement comparable to upraging a component.

Norman,

I like Needle Doctor. The price is $50 for a bottle that will be enough to treat about 60-70 records,
Also, Walter Davis, the LAST man behind it is very friendly and knoweledgeable. You can buy this stuff directly from the LAST.
He also makes two solutions to preserve tape heads and tapes and swears by them. You might be interested in this too.

"Yes, LAST Head Treatment is safe and effective as a head cleaner. This is actually accomplished during the application of the treatment to the tape heads. However, under conditions wherein excretions from the surface of compromised magnetic tape have established a hard, resistive, ridge (or coating) on the leading edge of the heads or guides, a stronger acting solvent such as Isopropyl Alcohol may be needed to dissolve and remove the offending material.

Head Treatment may also be used on pinch rollers, if used sparingly. The goal is to clean and maintain the flexible surface of the pinch roller without providing any excess that might be transferred to the capstan, thereby compromising its task.

LAST Tape Preservative is unconditionally safe for use on magnetic tape. I have treated my own seven and ten inch reels of tape for more than twenty five years. There is an operational caveat which relates to the amount of atmospheric moisture that has been absorbed by the tape's oxide layer. At the point wherein 20% of the oxide has been compromised by moisture, the polyester binder/matrix in which the magnetic particles are suspended, can begin to catastrophically break down. When this happens, large sections of magnetic oxide and binder separate from the plastic tape and can peel away and become lost information! Excessive amounts of oxide shedding onto the heads and guides is an indication that the tape carries a significant moisture content.

Some operations attempt to repair this condition by "Baking" the tape in an oven. We feel that this can lead to huge mechanical stresses on the tape and support reel as the tape first expands under heating, then contracts during the cool down phase. Our approach is to place the (potentially) problem tapes into a vacuum chamber and evacuate to a very high vacuum. In so doing, the moisture diffuses to the edge of the tape and is evacuated by the vacuum pump. With a High Vacuum pump this process can take several days before the tape is essentially moisture free. Once an end point has been reached, the tape(s) are brought back to standard air pressure and then treated with Tape Preservative. The Preservative prevents the uptake of new moisture, so that the tape remain viable for decades after. We have several customers, who lacking access to vacuum chamber/pump facilities, place their tapes into plastic, sealable containers with silica gel desiccant to achieve suitably dry tapes (ready for application of the Tape Preservative). This approach can take a couple of weeks to reach an end point.

Thank you for your questions. They required a thoughtful answer that became rather wordy. I hope the foregoing is helpful.

Sincerely,

Walter Davies
The LAST Factory"

That's what Walter said when I asked him couple of questions. He sounds very convincing to me.

I experimented with treating the LAST treated records second time. Didn't hear anything different. Cleaned the records after that, again no difference. I agree that on some records the noise floor is somewhat down and there may be fewer pops and clicks on some. Less high frequency distortion? Maybe. Definitely not more. Great stuff.

I applied it to both pristine and not pristine records, the result was the same. Very different music and pressings. Acoustic, electric, vocal. From McLaughlin's Shakti to Dead Can Dance to Miles' Bitches Brew and Pangaea to Mahavishnu Orchestra to flamenco singing. So maybe results do depend on the recording, the pressing and preferences. For my taste I heard nothing negative.
By the way, I also tried LAST tape head preservative. Same outcome. The difference is that for best results you have to apply it before each play. I usually do it every other play. It also cleans the head. It appears that the tape moves a little smoother.

And when I asked him if it would make sense to use this on records that I don't play for purely preservational purpose, he was not quite sure but said that it might not make economical sense. I said I don't care about the cost since I only have couple of hundred.
He is really great to talk to and to deal with.