Precision Aqueous Cleaning of Vinyl Records

Today, I had visitors to experience recent changes made to the Audio System.

I was extremely confident the LP receiving a Pre Use Brush Clean was being done to the standard when the Brush was new.

The Grimace seen on a face when I showed the Stylus in the Brush and pulling the brush to myself was worth its weight in gold. I did have to explain by showing the unusual softness for the brushes  bristles.

More importantly there was very very little noise born from fibre contamination during a LP's replay. 

@slaw, @billstevenson 

The UV light verifies that the PTFE (Teflon) rod works; that it picks up particles & lint from the brush (or record is used as specified in the book).  The UV light also verifies that the PTFE (Teflon) rod is clean with most particles removed prior to use.  I use the Kinetronics Tiger Cloth Amazon.com: Kinetronics Anti-Static Microfiber Cloth, 10x18-Inch Tiger Cloth : Health & Household to wipe down the rod.  The cloth which has copper threads interwoven is anti-static and the particles it removes from the rod are easily removed by just shaking the cloth; the particles do not want to stick to the neutral charge cloth.  Every so often I will spray the rod with DIW and then wipe it down with the Tiger cloth to remove all particles from the rod.  

After all is said and done, it's all about maintenance of cleanliness.  We just jumped through many hoops to wet clean the record; it does take a little bit of forethought and effort to keep it reasonably clean.  

Take care,

Neil

Thanks Neil, I have a tiger cloth on order.

The Tiger cloth is no longer available.  Is there an option or another vendor?

It's available on Amazon 

@billstevenson, 

The Kinetronics 10x18-Inch Tiger Cloth is available from many sites besides Amazon.  Just search "Kinetronics 10x18-Inch Tiger Cloth"; you may have to pay for shipping such as Kinetronics Soft Microfiber Anti-Static Cloth - 10 x 18" KSASC or eBay has Kinetronics Anti-Static Microfiber Cloth, 10x18-Inch Tiger Cloth | eBay with free shipping but a few dollars more than Amazon.  The cloth often sells out at Amazon (it's popular with many different users) only to show back up when negotiated pricing and stocks are available again.  

Take care,

Neil

The Tiger Cloth is working well at wiping off dust particles on previously cleaned records. Thanks Neil.

The UV flashlight, the TFE rod and the Tiger Cloth all finally assembled late yesterday.  I charged the battery overnight and this morning went to work.  Three brushes first: a Sage, a VPI and a RxCord Doctor all full of little white specs visible only under UV light.  Removal using the TFE rod was fairly easy as was clean up as I went along using the Tiger Rag.  Next and the bigger surprise were my two turntables.  My VPI HW40, with mostly smooth surfaces and few nooks and crannies was relatively clean with only a scant few little white particles here and there when examined under the UV light.  My Technics SL1200GAE, however, with many irregular surfaces, crevices and so forth lighted up like a Christmas tree.  I spent a lot of time and it is still not perfect.  So I have learned a very important lesson.  Getting a record clean is not the end of the battle.  I have no idea how many clean records I promptly recontaminated by putting them on a contaminated turntable.  Sheesh.  Thank you again for your continued insight.

@slaw 

@billstevenson, 

Do not drive yourself crazy with trying to remove all particles that UV can detect.  It's inherent to the environment but keeping it under 'reasonable' control benefits keeping the record clean - it's all about maintenance of cleanliness.  FYI, I use a fingerprint brush to dust the table - Amazon.com : fingerprint brush.  They last about 6-months before they get too dirty for further use.  I do not use it on the record; the fiberglass bristles are too fragile for that kind of dusting.  

Take care,

Neil

I've been using one of those old fashioned shaving cream brushes to clean my table platters for years.