Listening to old Carpenters 12" LPs

Darthskyguy

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I hate calling them vinyl.

I have recently purchased a used turntable in order to listen to my dad's old Carpenters records. I was wondering if anybody here had a record preparation ritual that they swore by in order to properly clean them prior to listening and ensure that they sound their best?
 
I have a Nitty Gritty Record Doctor machine, first special solution then apply it with the correct brush then it vacuums the record to extract the dirt and dust particles in the grooves. It’s the best investment and pays for itself if you collect a lot of records. The machine comes with an adapter for 7” and 12” records. You might find less expensive ways but you get what you pay for. :)

Here is the one I have...I don’t think I paid more than $200.00 for it.

https://www.needledoctor.com/Record-Doctor-V-Vinyl-Cleaning-Machine
 
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If you don’t want to spend much on this, the spin clean system is a good place to start if you don’t mind manually cleaning the vinyl. Also you could buy and old turntable from a junk sale and use that as a cleaning machine by hand ( without electricity of course ). Make a solution of distilled water with 20% isopropyl Alcohol and put this in a spray type bottle. I myself made a pad cleaner out of MFSL cleaning pads attached to a rectangular handled pad which I still use to this day. The handle I bought from a do it yourself store and modified it to the size of these pads.

1. Place record on old turntable (ideally with DJ mat on the player under the vinyl.
2.squirt iso mix into vinyl then distribute into grooves.
3. Clean off with a dry and smooth microfibre cloth.

A bit Heath Robinson but does the job, did for me till I could afford my current Project record cleaning machine, which basically does the same job.

I actually made my own cleaner a couple of years ago using a modified vacuum cleaner , with retractable arm which could be placed over the grooves to suck the debris out. all together this cost me around £25 ($30) to build and provided super results.i was so sure of its capabilities that I used it to clean vinyl valued at over $300 each.
 
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Great advice guys. I am a bit of a tinkerer, so I may try some manual solutions based on your input here. Thanks!
 
If you don’t want to spend much on this, the spin clean system is a good place to start if you don’t mind manually cleaning the vinyl. Also you could buy and old turntable from a junk sale and use that as a cleaning machine by hand ( without electricity of course ). Make a solution of distilled water with 20% isopropyl Alcohol and put this in a spray type bottle. I myself made a pad cleaner out of MFSL cleaning pads attached to a rectangular handled pad which I still use to this day. The handle I bought from a do it yourself store and modified it to the size of these pads.

1. Place record on old turntable (ideally with DJ mat on the player under the vinyl.
2.squirt iso mix into vinyl then distribute into grooves.
3. Clean off with a dry and smooth microfibre cloth.

A bit Heath Robinson but does the job, did for me till I could afford my current Project record cleaning machine, which basically does the same job.

I actually made my own cleaner a couple of years ago using a modified vacuum cleaner , with retractable arm which could be placed over the grooves to suck the debris out. all together this cost me around £25 ($30) to build and provided super results.i was so sure of its capabilities that I used it to clean vinyl valued at over $300 each.
Are you the guy from techmoan.com? I was watching a video from there a few days ago and the guy was demonstrating how to clean a record in a very similar way as you described when he was talking about a vinyl record from the 70’s that could hold 2.5 hours. He was also talking about a CD that could hold 2 hours of a mono program.
 
Are you the guy from techmoan.com? I was watching a video from there a few days ago and the guy was demonstrating how to clean a record in a very similar way as you described when he was talking about a vinyl record from the 70’s that could hold 2.5 hours. He was also talking about a CD that could hold 2 hours of a mono program.

Afraid not, sounds interesting though. I wish I had images of the machine I made as I took a lot of time making it. Basically I bought an old numatic pond vacuum cleaner from a car boot sale which I thought would make a good project piece. I then bought an old DJ deck and removed the platter and bearing mechanism, I then bolted the platter to the top of the vacuum, and shortened the vacuum hose to around 2.5 ft. I bought a crevice tool which would fit in the vacuum hose and cut a 2mm slot along its full length to suck up the solution and blocked off the end of it to increase pressure a little.
Onto the crevice tool (either side of the 2mm cut) I glued strips of MFSL cleaning pads which would prevent prevent any damage to the record surface.
Finally I created a support bracket so the tool could be swung over the record and lowered onto the wet grooves , spinning the record edge by hand I was amazed how effective this was - equally as good as the one I bought retail.
I had many comments from guests puzzled as to what it was that’s for sure!!.

Here’s the vacuum I bought for £15 at a boot sale, I removed the handle and bolted bearing and platter to the top

Numatic Wet Vacuum WVP 470 DH - Pond Vacuum with Kit1 - Pond Vacuums - CleanStore

And here’s the MFSL pads

https://www.mofi.com/product-p/mfsllpp.htm
 
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I just use this stuff below and works great. I lay the vinyl down on one of the clothes, spray the vinyl, avoiding the centre label best you can, allow a few minutes to soak in, then wipe off with the other microfiber cloth to get the excess off. Always do this in a circular motion, following the grooves. fold the cloth to a drier part, then wipe the vinyl again in a circular motion till reasonably dry, then place on the stand till it`s completely dry.

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I always do the same things with cds, give the disc a good clean and believe it or not, I actually polish the inner artworks, by spraying some polish onto a duster/soft cloth, gently polish the artwork and buff off. This only works with glossy labels though, which thankfully, most Carpenters albums are and makes a hell of a difference to the look, I even do the same to the vinyl covers :)
The other thing I ALWAYS do, is replace the cd cases, unless their new. EVERY cd I`ve bought second-hand, although looks clean, isn't and actually looks like this when you hold it upto the light;

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