If you can touch one of your power cords with the other hand you'll have no dust. Sounds dumb but it works. |
Once you have allowed the dust to collect, slowly slide the brush toward the outside of the record until the entire brush is of the record.
Now reach into your pocket, take out your credit card and purchase a vpi 16.5 record cleaning machine with fluid and a supply of rice paper record sleves. I suggest a zerosat gun also. Now you are ready to perform the most holy of rituals for audiophiles- the record purification ritual.
You can never get that dust off the record entirely using the carbon brush. If you don't follw this, your stylus will become the record cleaning device grinding the dirt into your record and collecting what is left of it on to the stylus.
greg |
The answer is that you throw away the "audiophile approved" carbon fiber brush and get a cheapo, classic, Disc Washer brush. The dust will be lifted off with the brush. Sorry, but I bought one of those carbon brushes after reading about them for years in the Hi Fi Magazines. After a couple of uses, I went back to the dumb old DiscWasher for exactly the problem you are describing. |
Gregadd, I like you comment about the 16.5 :) |
I vacuum off that line of dust -- it's the second step in my personal cleaning ritual (a zap with the Zerostat gun being the first step). But then again, I use a homemade RCM, and I can center that line of dust in the vac attachment and avoid having the dust contact that special velvet-like material which lines the edges forming the orifice of that attachment. (See homemade RCM under my system). I would think that dragging the brush to the side and off the LP would deposit the dust on the outer sidewalls of the grooves.
Next time I build one of my RCMs I'll take photos of each step and post ... provided someone with more 'net savvy than me shows me how to post photos on a thread.
Best regards,
Paul |
And you think it is a 'really basic question' We all of us can tuck into this one like a puppy with a slipper. Now for my assertions: A carbon fiber (audioquest please)is best, in two stages, an almost perpendicular sweep, slightest bias with the spin. Next, after wiping the detritus from said brush, agressive now, turn the end of the fibers against the groove. Happy guy! As for the rest of the nicely detailed cleaning commentary, it should have all happened before you brought this old beauty out on the track again. Very simple, clean the horse first and then all she needs is brushing. |
IMHO -
I buy and play a lot of records - probably 15 or 20 a day, so I have some experience.
These carbon fiber brushes are useless, and possibly harmful. I have tried a couple of brands, including the "grounded" type and the expensive "combo" one with the fabric center strip and they all leave that line of dust - and often Broken pieces of carbon fiber if you look closely. Not satisfactory!
Like HiFiHarv, I use the good 'ol Discwasher brush (after cleaning with either Disc Doctor or Nitty Gritty systems first, of course).
However, the methods in the instructions supplied with the Discwasher don't really work!
The key is to wet the brush lightly, but EVENLY, and to also pre-perk the fibers so they are standing "upright" BEFORE the brush hits the record. This is all accomplished by placing a light line of distilled water across the whole length, near the front of the brush, and then (with your hands clean!) rubbing it back across the fibers in the direction which is "against the grain" of the fibers. This wets and raises the fibers so they'll really dig into the grooves. The damp fibers leave virtually no dust behind!
It's important to wait until any water left on the lp evaporates before playing.
Try this method and you'll throw those carbon brushes away! |
I find the Audioquest brush indispensable,the secret to using one correctly is a very light touch, the carbon fiber bristles are very supple they will easily get down into the grooves with the lightest touch basically the AQ's
wieght alone, when you've got the line of dust gently slide the brush across the grooves, flick the brush across the handle briskly a couple of times to shed whatever dust adhere's to the bristle tips and give the LP another few rev's with the brush and you've removed all the fine dust.
With a really dusty LP the Decca Xstatic or Hunt brush with their stiffer double set of bristles and the velvet pad between is useful for digging out heavier crud before using the AQ brush, with the Hunt or Decca you don't slide it off the LP like the AQ they're designed to have the velvet pad pick up the dust,you use a stiff bristled tooth brush to clean the velvet pad, any residual dust dug out and left behind is easily removed with the AQ, all that's needed to use an AQ brush is a little finese.
I also use CF brushes for wet cleaning now as well, I tried the RRL recommended CF brush technique and I find it works perfectly as the surfactants in the RRL do all the heavy lifting a CF brush gently abrading the grooves is all the scrubbing that the RRL needs.
I read reports of people unable to use CF brushes effectively I find that most friends who have experienced that are trying to jam the bristles into the grooves, all that is accomplished is the smooth shafts of the bristles
are contacting the grooves and they have no ability to abrade nor pick up anything, the bristle ends are what does the work.
DiscWasher bruishes were fine in their day, but are sadly deficient at best now in comparison with proper initial wet/clean vacuuming and subsequent CF brush use you'll never need to wet clean an LP again and it will remain pristine. |
I respectfully disagree with Fgj. I've tried Hunts and AQ's every which way and they just doesn't work thoroughly. Think about the logic of the Hunt - since you definitely DO need the middle velvet pad to pick up the piles of dust which the carbon fibers leave behind (which, BTW, it doesn't do nearly as well as a DiscWasher) - Then what exactly were the carbon fibers actually doing, that the velvet alone wouldn't have done in the first place?
The carbon fiber brush is like a good broom, but without a dustpan. The DiscWasher is like a wet mop. Now ask yourself which is more thorough - a broom with no dustpan, or a wet mop?
I suppose you can make a case that if you want to do it really right - use the broom and then the mop! |
Oops, hit send before I was done -
That makes the Hunt brush the right idea, but it's too poorly executed to be of value. The relative vertical placement of the carbon fibers and the velvet is wrong, the nap length of the velvet is inadequate, and unlike the DiscWasher it's velvet portion is completely flat and non-directional so it doesn't "catch" the dust. |
I have tried nearly all the available brushes (and still have them in a box somewhere! Here are my thoughts:
1) Dry method/Carbon Fibre - Hunt, Decca, AQ
Goes nice and deep and good only for dusting relatively clean LPS. Have not found a satisfactory method to remove final dust line. Bristles left on LP as already indicated.
2) Wet/velvet type pads - Audio Technica Sonic Broom, DiscWasher, Watts, Last, Disc Doctor, Obitrac
All have similar results and are better for lodged dirt.
The cleaning solutions used prevent the line but depending on how thorough I am, and sometimes a residue is left.
Of these my preference is the Audio Technica.
3) Maxell Vacuum - a device that spins around the record with a rotating brush and vacuum. Good only for loose dust but needs Zerostat and fresh batteries to be affective.
4)I did have one of those devices that looks like a tonearm. At the "cartridge" end there were CF brushes in front where the needle would be and and a rotating velvet roller behind. This was actually quite affective at keeping LPs dust free each time it was played. The CF tip digs the dirt up and the velvet picks up the rest.
I finally bought a VPI 16.5 for deep cleaning new and used LPs. The brushes are now used in conjunction with the Zerostat for maintenance purposes only exactly as Opalchip has described - CF for getting at the dust and velvet for removal of the line. |
