Record cleaning machine makes more surface noise?


I use to have a nitty gritty hand crank record cleaner until I accidentally kicked it and it broke. The thing basically collected dust for 6 years because I never felt like it cleaned the records at all. In fact sometimes they sounded worse afterwards. I've tossed around the idea of getting a good automatic machine to see how that goes, but I'd rather put my money elsewhere if It is going to be another dust collector.
fruff1976

Showing 1 response by kurt_tank

Fruff1976,

I use the basic Nitty Gritty, and I get very good results with it, (comparible to the results that my friend gets with his VPI 16.5).

Can you describe your cleaning routine, and what fluids, brushes, etc., that you used? (Also, if you did not buy this new, did you replace the possibly warn and dirty velvet lips around the vacuum slot?)

Just so you know, the Nitty Gritty is typically used for vacuum drying the records only, not really for cleaning them. (At least using my routine for cleaning them.) My routine is to first clean one side by hand using Disk Doctor brushes and Record Research Labs (now rebranded as MoFI) Super Vinyl Wash. (If the Records are really dirty, I first clean them with the deep cleaner, and follow up with a Super Vinyl Wash fluid.) Then I put it on the Nitty Gritty and vacuum it dry. I then repeat this procedure for the other side. (NOTE: Having a flat, clean place to lay the records down and clean them is important.) And typically, once I have a fully cleaned record, I put it in a new poly lined record sleeve.

BTW, What did you do with your broken N.G. RCM? If you think it might be salvagable, I would pay you to UPS ground ship it to me. A friend wants a RCM, and since I had to piece mine back together, (after a bad incident with FedEX ground!), I figure I might be able to fix it.

If you truly don't want to put forth the effort into first manual cleaning records and then drying them, a VPI 17F will do an excellent job, as will the Clearaudio Matrix series of RCMs. (And of course the best of the RCM, the Loricraft's and Keith Monk's RCMs, will not only clean them, but will do so with a minimum of noise. Both the VPI, the Nitty Gritty and even the Clearaudio (albeit to a lesser extent) are rather noisy.

Well, Good Luck in your search for a RCM that works best for you!