Record-playing Rituals?

1. Clean record with VPI HW16 and custom made fluid. Thorough scrubbing if needed.
2. Treat record with Zerostat with Staticmaster brush 2x.
3. Clean stylus with custom fluid and Diswasher stylus cleaning brush.
4. Treat stylus with Stylast.

Fetishist? Perhaps. However, I have many 40+ year old records that play very clean, and I only have to change my stylii when I want to.

First, condolences on your dead amp. May its resurrection bring sweetness and light.
Second, I've always kept my records scrupulously clean, even before I had a cleaning machine. The fluid retained from records that I had previously cleaned by other methods has never been anything but clear. That isn't to say that there are not sonic benefits of more thorough cleaning, just that they aren't readily visible.