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VPI record cleaning machine brush question.

gagelle

gagelle

Super Member
This question is for anyone who has a VPI record cleaning machine. How do you clean the brush after use?--with distilled water? Should it be cleaned after every use? It says nothing about this in the instructions. Thanks in advance for any help?
 
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I rinse in a little dish of distilled water, shake it out. Once in a while in 99% alcohol (which hasn't seemed to hurt them).

You might want to consider multiple brushes. Especially if you ever go to a multi-step cleaning process, one for each step helps keeps things uncontaminated.
 
I actually found that the vpi brush was scratching my albums. Did a before and after on a pristine albums dead wax, and the brush was actually causing micro scratches. FYI.

I got mine in a package deal with a nitty gritty velvet brush, which is 1000x better. Now I just use a paint pad and the Nitty gritty brush. To clean that, I run it under a faucet and rub my finger up and down the velvet. You'd be surprised how much dust and crap builds up on it. The water and rubbing pulls it out of the fabric and balls it up.

This is the nitty gritty brush.

http://store.acousticsounds.com/includes/image_browser.cfm?title_id=12479
 
Which brush are we talking about here

The one on the vacuum tube or the seperate VPI brush ? I have one too and wondered if the paint pad was better (have that also...)

What do you use the nitty gritty for? Scrubbing ?
 
I use Disc Doctor and MoFi brushes. A sepetra one for each step. Disc doctor is better for wet washing and I use those in steps 1&2. I use a MoFi before washing to remove surface dust and a MoFi for the rinse step.

I also use seperate wands for each wash and rinse stage.

Never used one of those white ones mentioned above.
 
jgordon said:
I actually found that the vpi brush was scratching my albums. Did a before and after on a pristine albums dead wax, and the brush was actually causing micro scratches.
Click to expand...

I used the VPI brush to scrub over 600 records and found no evidence of it scratching anything. I seriously doubt that Harry would sell a brush that was known to scratch records. YMMV. I rinse it after each cleaning session using distilled water with a spray bottle over the sink.
 
I switch to using one of those cheap paint pads for scrubbing the records with my home made cleaning solution, and I use the VPI brush for the rinse. Those paint pads work excellent! To clean the brush and the paint pad, I hit it with my hand held steamer every once in a while.
 
I actually use both

The VPI brush and the paint pad..not sure which I like better. The paint pad also seems to be directional...one way is with the grain so to speak, the other against...I don't think either is harmful since the records are wet with my cleaning solution first ...and from experience with car paint finishes, wet is the only way you want to wipe anything to prevent micro-scratches.

Thanks all !
 
I have found no evidence of scratching either. We did some testing over a few days. The only thing I noticed, is that with very dirty records, surface scratches that were already there, can be seen more clearly after a cleaning. On some records, the degree to which the VPI cleaning restored the sound quality was simply amazing. Before the cleaning, a particular record had little bass and muted highs. We had relegated it to a junk pile. After a cleaning, it sounded like a different record. One of the very dirty ones we restored was a first pressing of The Beatles' "White Album." It looked almost clean to the eye but sounded flat. There must have been grit in the grooves. The VPI cleaning brought back all the original sound quality. The record isn't perfect. It has a few scratches on certain songs but nothing that would prevent playing.

One thing I have noticed is that on certain records, a little area of dust is left after a cleaning. Once over with a carbon fiber brush takes care of that. If you think about it, any record that's around 50 years old is going to have some serious grit, deep in the grooves. Who ever thought that records would become rare and collectible, when they were plentiful not too long ago.


classic carl said:
I used the VPI brush to scrub over 600 records and found no evidence of it scratching anything. I seriously doubt that Harry would sell a brush that was known to scratch records. YMMV. I rinse it after each cleaning session using distilled water with a spray bottle over the sink.
Click to expand...
 
I tried the paint pads, but they shed like crazy and were more trouble than they were worth. The Mobil Fidelity brushes are superior in every way: they clean better, last way longer, don't shed, and have use-replaceable pads. When you consider the life expectancy of the the MoFi brush, the cost averaged out over time is miniscule.

When I finish a cleaning session, I use the VPI's vacuum to suck residual cleaning solution and any dirt out my MoFi brushes. Swing the vacuum tube forward so that the tube is pointing toward the front of the machine. You can lift the vacuum arm tube/holder assembly up just enough to slide the brush under the vacuum tube without disengaging it from the RCM. I've been using this method for 3+ years and my brushes are clean and in excellent condition.
 
The VPI nylon bruch DEFINITELY scratches my records, I can see it in the dead wax. Trying to decide on a replacement.
 
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