cleaning gritty surface noise on LPs

@mijostyn 

Ultrasonic cleaning is a fad and the process has extreme limitations.  

A Fad???? LOL that is the most ridiculous comment I have ever read (well maybe not the most but damn close)   I get the most Amazing results with my cleaning mix in a Ultrasonic bath and a distilled rinse and Vacuum dry.  I have been doing this for over a year and will not be stopping.

@eryoung2k 

Unless you have an industrial clean room in your house using any vinyl cleaning method that uses an evaporative drying technique, air or fan simply re-contaminates the record with the crap floating around in the air. Records have to be vacuum dried which is why so many machines do this. The companies that rely on air of fan drying need to take a class in environmental science. So, if you are going to try cleaning your records ultrasonically you also have to buy a machine to vacuum dry them. This is an expensive messy process and a royal PITA. While you are trying to dry one side the other is being contaminated dripping all over your machine. Machines like the Nessie effectively clean one side at a time and vacuum dry it immediately then you flip to the other side. If time is a consideration, which it is for me, get a Clearaudio Double Matrix Sonic Pro which is handily the best vinyl cleaning device on the market as it cleans and vacuum dries both sides at the same time. 3 minutes and you have a clean record. 

I repeat ultrasonic cleaning of vinyl is a silly proposition. It is great for Jewelry. Have fun wasting your time and contaminating your records. 

@mijostyn 

                    Sorry didn't mention this,  I have a vacuum machine I dry the record with and no I do not live in a "clean room"   Boy your a bit Snarky with your "Wasting time and I'm contaminating my records" comment. My records go into new either Mofi Anti static sleeves or Invest in Vinyl sleeves right after listening to the results. My results for my cleaning process (which ends with my Ultrasonic Machine then distilled rinse and Vacuum dry) Blows your "Wasting time and Contaminating my records" Out of the Water.   Anyways Happy Holidays to you and Yours. 

Kindest Regards,

Eddie

I'd be a bit suspicious about all those LAST products too.

@mijostyn I must disagree with you in your blanket condemnation of ultrasonic cleaning. If used wisely, it certainly improves on a vacuum RCM, and by wisely I mean addressing the issue you raise about air-drying. For example, I remove as gross contamination as possible with a Loricraft point-source vacuum machine, mostly to avoid contamination of the solution in the Degritter which follows it. Then I do a distilled water rinse on the Loricraft and dry the record on that same machine. I have experimented with changing the order of the machines and with all sorts of solutions, and I think I have it right now. It doesn't make very much difference whether I use a detergent based solution or an enzymatic one: either gets removed by the final rinse and so residue contamination is not an issue. And the final vacuum drying reduces static from air-drying, so that is dealt with (I admit I still use a Furutech Destat III and a blower brush before each play to be sure.) A record treated like this will usually be silent and can be played a dozen times before needing a repeat clean.

I do agree in one respect though, if the Degritter breaks down (as they seem to eventually do) I shall likely continue with the Loricraft alone. It seems to do all the heavy lifting as about 80% of records will be silent when cleaned on it without the Degritter, as I discovered by using it for twelve years before I added the Degritter. That has made a record with surface noise quite the rarity now, the exceptions are usually older records that have had a hard life with previous owners or with me before I learned that cleaning was so important.

@dogberry 

All you have to do is use the Loricraft, a fine brush and a good fluid. What you are doing is exactly as I described. However, being a very impatient person, the single most important factor in record cleaning is spending as little time as possible doing it. I know the Double Matrix is expensive, but IMHO worth every cent because of the time it saves doing the best job possible.