What's everybody using to clean their CD-4 LP's?

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Q-Eight

2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Since 2002/2003
Joined
Sep 30, 2003
Messages
3,699
Location
Castlegar, BC, Canada
Curious to know how you guys deal with soiled or just generally grungy LP's? I've got some Quadradiscs that - I'm sure would play much better if they were cleaner. The old "record cleaning solution" and a soft cloth doesn't seem to cut it.

I've looked at record vacuums and record washers but.... I dunno.... seems like a good idea but could also just be gimmicky.

Can't afford any of those $1000 dollar plus "Professional" washers.

So, what do you folks use?
 
Hi. Q-Eight

The cleaning prosess I use is the (Spin Cleaner) which is not dear for what you get, but I use it in a different way than advertised, I use the cleaning fluid in a small hand sprayer & spray the LP not the lable, and use a flat paint brush with fine bristles which you can pick up at any handy store and clean the LP with this around 6 or 7 times per side one way and than the other way the same, then I would semi dry each side with the cloth you get with the Spin Cleaner and I put the LP in the Spin Cleaner full with Distilled water this will clean the crud and cleaning fluid off the LP and rotate the LP 5 or 6 time one direction and the same the opposite direction take it out lay flat on a cloth & then dry with other cloth you get with the Spin Cleaner.
If the LP is good one cleaning is anuff, if LP is grungy you may need to repeat 2 or 3 time if it is that bad. I have had good success with my method.
Bill....

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The brush is the width of the LP label edge to the outer edge....
 
I use the $100 Canfab Record Cleaning Machine with a shop-vac and I can't recommend it enough. About the same price as a Spin-Clean and kicks it's butt. It does essentially the same job as the $500 VPI machines, but it is manual.
 
I use the $100 Canfab Record Cleaning Machine with a shop-vac and I can't recommend it enough. About the same price as a Spin-Clean and kicks it's butt. It does essentially the same job as the $500 VPI machines, but it is manual.

That looks like the way to go. I'm pretty clumsy and would hate to ruin labels with the vertical Spin Clean. Where'd you get yours, Mark?
 
Get 'em in the sink and scrub several times with Dawn and a cellulose sponge. Rinsing thoroughly is very important. It fixed all mine.

Doug
 
I usually use a combination of a slightly damp washcloth and a discwasher. Running a brush under the stylus on occasion is also helpful.

Buying used CD-4 is always risky. I was all excited when I found a copy of Sinatra's "Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back" at a tag sale for $1, but it ended up being unplayable (carrier damage).

The Japanese ones are always perfect though.
 
That looks like the way to go. I'm pretty clumsy and would hate to ruin labels with the vertical Spin Clean. Where'd you get yours, Mark?

eBay. Looks like he has raised the price a little bit since I got mine (or maybe it's just an exchange rate fluxuation). Still a great value. Mention Mark from Pittsburgh when you order and he may throw in some extras. I was a sort of a volunteer beta tester for the current version.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3D-Printed-Record-Cleaning-Machine-Bring-your-old-vinyl-back-to-life/152620931960?hash=item2388ea9b78:g:UCMAAOSwHQ9WX8LG

He can also do on hand colors for no extra charge. I got mine in black and yellow. I am Mark from Pittsburgh, after all.
 
Get 'em in the sink and scrub several times with Dawn and a cellulose sponge. Rinsing thoroughly is very important. It fixed all mine.

Doug

This actually will get you about 90% of the way there, but the tap water will leave mineral deposits. The Canfab with a distilled rinse really does make a difference.
 
This actually will get you about 90% of the way there, but the tap water will leave mineral deposits. The Canfab with a distilled rinse really does make a difference.

Soft water makes a difference but I forgot to mention I use distilled water for the final rinse if I have any suspicion deposits may be left.

Doug
 
Yeah, my local tap water is so "hard", it doesn't freeze in the winter.... it just gets thicker!
I travel 40 minutes away to use a car wash that runs their water through a softener. If I wash my Mustang here at home - even after a chamois job - it's still covered in water spots. On a dark blue car.... it drives me nuts.

Luckily, we do sell distilled water by the gallon where I work.

Since I've gotten into CD-4, yeah, buying on eBay has been a total crapshoot. I got Dolly's Bubbling Over for cheap that was horribly warped. It's reasonably straight now after several attempts to flatten it, but it must've had a hard previous life. An awful lot of distortion and crackle happening through-out. I've got a couple Japanese discs but they could use a light cleaning. Very quiet in regards to surface noise, but a bit of dust static here and there. My Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and CCR Gold discs all need some major cleaning.

Gordon's "Sundown" is probably the best disc I own. Very quiet.


Thanks for all the info guys!
 
My Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and CCR Gold discs all need some major cleaning.

Funny you mention Deep Purple as I've gone through three copies of that LP and they are all unplayable. Distortion, crackle, etc. Are there any good copies out there ??

It's one of only two or three CD-4 discs in my collection that distort. Even Cat Stevens' GH plays perfectly on my setup.

Absolutely love that album- but I refuse to drop $20+ on yet another copy. Shame as I've heard the reel conversion and the mix is a neat alternative to the excellent UK version on SACD.
 
Counting stereo, SQ, QS and CD 4...Yes Markshan, Well over a thousand records. I've been collecting sense 1968. Why do you ask?:)
 
Yeah, my local tap water is so "hard", it doesn't freeze in the winter.... it just gets thicker!
I travel 40 minutes away to use a car wash that runs their water through a softener. If I wash my Mustang here at home - even after a chamois job - it's still covered in water spots. On a dark blue car.... it drives me nuts.

Luckily, we do sell distilled water by the gallon where I work.

Since I've gotten into CD-4, yeah, buying on eBay has been a total crapshoot. I got Dolly's Bubbling Over for cheap that was horribly warped. It's reasonably straight now after several attempts to flatten it, but it must've had a hard previous life. An awful lot of distortion and crackle happening through-out. I've got a couple Japanese discs but they could use a light cleaning. Very quiet in regards to surface noise, but a bit of dust static here and there. My Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and CCR Gold discs all need some major cleaning.

Gordon's "Sundown" is probably the best disc I own. Very quiet.


Thanks for all the info guys!

How did you straighten a warp, even partially? Two plates of glass in the sun for 5 minutes? I have Airplane - Volunteers, purchased from a seller who did not mention the giant warp that flings the needle off the record.
 
How did you straighten a warp, even partially? Two plates of glass in the sun for 5 minutes? I have Airplane - Volunteers, purchased from a seller who did not mention the giant warp that flings the needle off the record.

I had the same issue with a quadradisc copy of The Guess Who's "Road Food". I put it back in the jacket and left a stack of textbooks on it overnight. The next day it was significantly less warped but I had to adjust the tracking force slightly to prevent the arm from skipping.

Makes me nervous increasing the tracking force as it wears the Shibata stylus out quicker (they are rather expensive these day), so I played it once to make a conversion and shelved it.
 
How did you straighten a warp, even partially? Two plates of glass in the sun for 5 minutes? I have Airplane - Volunteers, purchased from a seller who did not mention the giant warp that flings the needle off the record.

Luckily, I have a pool table I rarely use. So given that the slate top is generally perfectly flat, I laid the record on that covered with an old piece of melamine from when we redid the kitchen a few years ago and then proceeded to stack everything under the sun on top of that. Books, a Sansui receiver, a Pioneer reel to reel....

That took out the "whoop-ti-do" in the record that caused the stylus to jump. Now, the record has a gentle up-and-down motion to it that is inaudible when you play it, but still makes me squeemish thinking what it's doing to my stylus. So yes, come summertime, I'm going to try the heat+pressure method.
 
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