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Record Cleaning with Tergitol

Yeah, you are about 7 years late to the party ;), but L'Art du Son makes a great fluid (and it is Tergitol based). The only issue is that it is a bit costly if you are doing a lot of records or if you are using a large volume ultrasonic tank. In these cases, there are options to make your own, including improvements on the L'Art formula. Several threads on this....the search function can help.
 
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Phantom, you are correct! Matter of fact I am new to this whole thing, is this what is called a blog? lol Seriously when I was growing up the only computers I ever dealt with were called a slide rule! lol So anyway I guess I have about 2000 albums in my collection and I NEVER got into the whole CD thing and feel that I have been vindicated as of late with this resurgence of vinyl.That being said now that I have my sound system all dusted off I am looking to improve sound quality especially since thru the 60's and 70's my records got danced on, partied on, beer poured on, sat on, tossed around and generally shown a lack of respect. I just splurged and bought the "Studebaker" record cleaning system which, if you are not familiar with it, is just a system that has two fiber brush pads that cleans both sides of the record simultaneously as it is rotated manually around over two rollers. That simple system has made a big improvement in reducing the noise from the pops and scratches that come from being dirty and just generally having too much fun but I am still on the hunt for better noise reduction. And to that end I just picked up a SAE impulse noise reduction system and am hoping for good things once I get it hooked into my system. I appreciate your responding to my inquiry and am open to any suggestions you might have, or anyone might have for that matter,(don't know if this is being seen by just you or is open for all to see). I agree the L'Art du Son is a bit pricey however I am not a library or some archive with thousands upon thousands of albums which I am trying to preserve and figure for my meager collection I could/will bite the bullet.
thx again
 
Well, with 2000 albums, you certainly qualify as a collector! That said, you need to find a consistently good system and solution for cleaning and preserving these gems. The Stubebaker is very similar to the popular Spinclean system. An issue with this type of device is that you need to use a cleaning solution that contains a flocculant (to aggregate the contaminants and keep them in the bottom of the tank....the solutions sold with the units have this). L'Art products do not contain flocculant and are therefore inappropriate to use in these devices (you can end up driving removed contaminants right back into the grooves!). Besides that, you are left with the burden of drying your washed records in a manner that does not introduce static (which is typically introduced when wiping with a rag for example). I would suggest you investigate using a different cleaning method for your collection. A vacuum based or an ultrasonic cleaner are two that I can recommend. I actually use a combination of the two with great results, where the ultrasonic wash (using my homemade fluid) does the bulk of the work while my vacuum table does the final deionized water rinses and leaves the record mostly dry. You may be able to find a way to incorporate you Studebaker device, for example hand-washing and rinsing, then using your device for a dH2O rinse, then drying via vacuum. There are many posts here where people have found economical ways to achieve these different steps so it doesn't require a huge investment. Either way, your collection deserves the best you can achieve and this site is a great resource for information on best cleaning practices. A well-cleaned record, if handled properly (which includes a new, quality sleeve) rarely needs additional cleaning in it's lifetime and provides the ultimate in listening enjoyment.
 
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