What I do.
I assimilated the Fremer article quite a while ago and made some modifications that are IMHO realistic. First, instead of disposable cotton pads I bought a stack of white terrycloth wash cloths, and use them in place of the pads.
The environment that people clean records in is always overlooked, and while I do nothing special to mine the bottom line is that contaminants are in the air that are continuously dropping on the record in microscopic amounts. My procedure does nothing to deal with this, and follows through on the concept by not using needles, etc. to open bottles, or cotton gloves to handle records. I do wash my hands thoroughly prior to starting a cleaning session. I do not clean more than 4 records (about an hour of work) at a time.
Many people adhere to using only RRL fluids (and use the time they save to bash Disk Doctor cleaning fluids), which skips an important aspect of the article: Use more than one cleaning fluid. Each of my fluids is designed to clean up the one previously used. If I am out of RRL I substitute Nitty Gritty Pure 2.
Also, no substitute for time. I spend 1-2 minutes per scrub cycle. At the end of the process a total of around 15 minutes has elapsed.
Here is my complete regime for cleaning a record ---
1) on a clean washcloth put record side A face up
2) apply 1-2 tsp of DIY cleaning fluid (1 gallon distilled water + 1 pint 90% isopropyl + 10 drops Dawn dishwashing soap)
3) scrub around with Disk Doctor brush #1
4) wipe up DIY with new cotton cloth
5) apply 1-2 tsp of Disk Doctor cleaning fluid
6) scrub around with DD brush #2
7) wipe up DD with new cotton cloth
8) apply 1-2 tsp of drug store grade distilled water
9) scrub around with Disk Doctor brush #3
10) vac off 3-4 turns on NG
11) apply 1-2 tsp of RRL SVW fluid
12) scrub around with DD brush #4
13) vac off 3-4 turns on NG
14) apply 1-2 tsp of lab grade distilled water
15) scrub around with DD brush #5
16) vac off 3-4 turns on NG
17) replace washcloth from step #1
18) repeat side B
19) air dry in rack for 1 hour.
Following this I clean the RCM brush with distilled water and the supplied brush. Then I rinse the DD brushs with SVW and pat dry with yet another cloth.
Before playing the record it gets a few spins of the carbon fibre brush to dislodge any particulate matter that has fallen on it. As the record is substantially degreased, the contaminates are loose and should come up easily.
Following play I put it in a new sleeve, if it doesn't already have one.
I assimilated the Fremer article quite a while ago and made some modifications that are IMHO realistic. First, instead of disposable cotton pads I bought a stack of white terrycloth wash cloths, and use them in place of the pads.
The environment that people clean records in is always overlooked, and while I do nothing special to mine the bottom line is that contaminants are in the air that are continuously dropping on the record in microscopic amounts. My procedure does nothing to deal with this, and follows through on the concept by not using needles, etc. to open bottles, or cotton gloves to handle records. I do wash my hands thoroughly prior to starting a cleaning session. I do not clean more than 4 records (about an hour of work) at a time.
Many people adhere to using only RRL fluids (and use the time they save to bash Disk Doctor cleaning fluids), which skips an important aspect of the article: Use more than one cleaning fluid. Each of my fluids is designed to clean up the one previously used. If I am out of RRL I substitute Nitty Gritty Pure 2.
Also, no substitute for time. I spend 1-2 minutes per scrub cycle. At the end of the process a total of around 15 minutes has elapsed.
Here is my complete regime for cleaning a record ---
1) on a clean washcloth put record side A face up
2) apply 1-2 tsp of DIY cleaning fluid (1 gallon distilled water + 1 pint 90% isopropyl + 10 drops Dawn dishwashing soap)
3) scrub around with Disk Doctor brush #1
4) wipe up DIY with new cotton cloth
5) apply 1-2 tsp of Disk Doctor cleaning fluid
6) scrub around with DD brush #2
7) wipe up DD with new cotton cloth
8) apply 1-2 tsp of drug store grade distilled water
9) scrub around with Disk Doctor brush #3
10) vac off 3-4 turns on NG
11) apply 1-2 tsp of RRL SVW fluid
12) scrub around with DD brush #4
13) vac off 3-4 turns on NG
14) apply 1-2 tsp of lab grade distilled water
15) scrub around with DD brush #5
16) vac off 3-4 turns on NG
17) replace washcloth from step #1
18) repeat side B
19) air dry in rack for 1 hour.
Following this I clean the RCM brush with distilled water and the supplied brush. Then I rinse the DD brushs with SVW and pat dry with yet another cloth.
Before playing the record it gets a few spins of the carbon fibre brush to dislodge any particulate matter that has fallen on it. As the record is substantially degreased, the contaminates are loose and should come up easily.
Following play I put it in a new sleeve, if it doesn't already have one.