On Oct 27, 5:15=A0am, XYLOPHONE wrote:
Luc
----------------------
By way of automotive detailing, I discovered microfiber cloths and
then the good ones. I get mine from PakShak.com, the thick "Big-Boy"
blue ones are thick and dense and best I've found for cleaning records
(
http://www.pakshak.com/big-boy-ultra...iber-towel-16=
x16-1.html)
A spray of distilled water on a rolled-up microfiber and it's
extremely clingy. Daily use, just the water. Sometimes I use the
distilled water/isopropal and for the soap portion I use a drop or two
of windshild cleaner (20/20 brand) which is clear, odorless, and
disolves quickly. The dash of a soap is to break the surface tension
so that the water/alcohol doesn't just stay beaded on the surface. If
this is a garage sale album, I put the album on a padded bar stool and
soak all but the label with the water/alcohol/soap solution while
brushing the grooves in a circular motion with a nice facial brush.
Then I use the Big-Boy microfiber to dry in a circular motion. I use
a commercial record cleaner (what left I have) as the last step and
apply that only once. In my mind, it's the nutralizer and does add a
shiny coat (lubricant I hope?). I get pretty good results and have
removed pops and ticks on a before and after comparison. Aside:
nothing I've seen in stores is half the microfiber that PakShak
carries; he won't tell me where he gets them, Korea somewhere. The
yellow ones in Costco are for wheel wells and engine bays.
Treat a good microfiber right! The good microfibers I wash by hand
warm using addative-free detergent. For the album cloth, I use the
microfiber detergent offered at PakShak; it makes a little difference
in the final dry feel. Never use fablic softeners or dryer sheets.
Tumble dry ok, but never use a hot dryer as the microscopic fibers can
melt. Always wash & tumble a new microfiber before intial use to
remove the stray fiber hairs. After a couple few years, the album
specific microfiber goes to the car and a fresh one for albums is
used.
PS: I looked at my old retired Denon DL-103 under a microscope
recently... Keep your stylus clean! It looked like firing chamber
gun parts under the microscope with black/gray contaminants fused onto
the tip (especially the back-side) and cantalever. I got some off
with the Mr.Clean Magic Eraser method, but the dust is all up in the
cracks. With the new cartridge, I now hold the sylus creaner brush on
the needle before the swipes (as steady as possible). I'm thinking
that by pausing, it soaks a bit longer. I'm not affording the good
Kontak type stylus cleaners, but if you can, the microscope showed it
needs something better than I've been using.