Vinyl Care

Mention must be made that VPI makes the most long lived record cleaning machines.  While new ones start in $600 range they often turn up used for reasonable money.  I have a VPI 16 which is old, but works great that I paid $75 for a couple of years ago.  Things like that show up here on Audiogon if you are patient.  

twangy57,

I am originally from IL, but left there many moons ago.  Why do you ask?  ghdprentice makes a good point, VPI machines sound like very noisy vacuum cleaners.  That is because they use very big blowers and motors.  That is also why they work so well and last forever.  My first one, bought new in 1986, is an HW17, still works like a champ and I'm taking it up to our home in NH in June.  When it gets there I'll be looking for a new home for my HW16.  Let me know if you still need one then and we'll work something out.  My new one is the very awesome MW1 Cyclone, which I am using daily as I sort thru an 8,000 estate collection.  It is being used to do the heavy lifting and a HumminGuru Nova is being used for the final rinse.  Currently I am cleaning maybe 5, 6, 7, or 8 records a day.  Whatever I find that interests me.  ghdprentice mentioned Last products.  He and I share enthusiasm for them as well.  I use their StyLast and Last Record Preservative.  They are a good company. 

twangy57,

You might want to visit discogs.com some time for used records.  

Different Bill Stevenson.  Common name.  Mine is a VPI 16.  It can be converted to a 16.5, but I never bothered.  The difference is that the latter has the ability to drain the waste fluid from the tank, whereas the 16 just relies on the waste fluid evaporating.  If the machine is used to clean records all the time, draining the tank is a good idea, but if you are only cleaning a few records a week (maybe at the rate of 1 or 2/day) evaporation is ok.  When I reach my home in NH in June it will be available.  $75 plus shipping at cost.

Perhaps I should weigh in again.  It is HumminGuru.  I have one of their 2nd generation Nova machines and I use it in conjunction with my new VPI MW-1 Cyclone.  The VPI does the heavy cleaning and the HG does the final touches.  This is way beyond the scope of what twangy57 needs.  He has a bunch of old records that might have beer, coke, peanut butter and jelly, cobwebs, dust and grit, and what not on them.  He needs scrub-a-dub, not a nuanced for precious new audiophile records approach.  Finally, for those who really want to really learn all there is to know at the current time about cleaning vinyl records, google Neil Antin and get his book on cleaning vinyl records, now in the 3rd edition.  It is free.  It has all the information, based on science, not the opinion of some nut case wallowing in delusions caused by sniffing the fumes of his misbegotten alchemy.

Neil,

I believe we are in agreement.  My concluding sentence "There is more than one way to clean a dirty record, but follow the proven scientific methods."

With respect to Last I have shared this story on this forum before.  I was working at a high end stereo shop in San Diego when Last was first introduced.  I believe ~1977 or 1978 (?).  Anyway the sales rep demonstrated the product as follows:  We set up two identical Dual 1229 Turntables, on one a fresh copy of Thelma Houston's Direct To Disc was treated with Last; on the the second an identical copy of same was left untreated.  Both were played back and forth to verify that they sounded the same.  This was all done in front of a room full of interested customers.  The two turntables were left on auto-repeat and left to play for one week.  Everyone reconvened and the two were compared again.  The stylus on each was checked and cleaned.  The untreated record had noticeably deteriorated, but the Last treated record sounded fine.  Next it was compared with a third fresh copy of the same record and there was no noticeable difference.  The store sold a lot of Last on that day and ever after.  I still use it on my best records to this day.  

This thread is an excellent case study of what is good and bad about the internet and forums like this one.  As it meanders along the impetus has been perpetuated by a series of excellent questions.  There is a lot of good information, but unfortunately along with it there is a lot of conflicting information that is cause for confusion.  My purpose in adding this note is to try and stabilize the course and minimize the confusion.  I am not the world's foremost authority of vinyl care, Neil Antin is.  Neil Anitin has contributed here and once again I urge anyone who is interested in this subject to download his book.  It is free.  Advice that you might find in this thread that conflicts with his should be considered very carefully.  Ask for the science and the statistical evidence to support any conclusions, procedures or recommendations that seem contrary to the known data as outlined in his writings.  This is an evolving topic, but there is sound science available to support taking reasonable steps to care for your records.  Do no let wild imagination and anecdotal evidence deflect you from what to do.  Do not worry about things that cannot occur such as diamond tracing vinyl producing electrostatic energy.  And heaven forbid you should refrain from washing your dirty records following carefully developed and tested procedures because of the longstanding prejudice of one or two well meaning, but otherwise collectors without documented science to support their conclusions.  There is more than one way to clean a dirty record, but follow the proven scientific methods.

richardbrand,

Ben Franklin advises us to say all of the positive things we can, but none of the negative.  You seem determined to obfuscate the value of this discussion with unproveable conjecture.  The following is my response....

Please stop.