What's In Your Vinyl Care Arsenal?...

SlowSteve

SlowSteve

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....And where do you keep it?
NOT talking about your RCM devices.
But what you use for immediate care, dust removal, stylus cleaning/inspection, etc.
Here's what I keep on a shelf next to my decks:20191109_161334.jpg
I'll break it down....

2 Discwashers of different grade, coarse & fine w/ D-1 brush for grooming them.
20191109_161225.jpg
In the mini crate is:
A small Altoids case holding a carbon brush and Magic Eraser, a 10x loupe, a mini razor knife for opening new LPs, a 45 adaptor and a reamer for those tight holes
20191109_161119.jpg
Lastly, a few of Audio Technica record and turntable care & maintenance bits.
20191109_160803.jpg

What's in your wallet? :blah::boring:
 
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I have 5 items. 3 of those are retired and not necessary. Those 3 are the Zerostat gun, the DiscWasher brush, and the DiscWasher stylus cleaning brush.

I play vintage records, so the reamer is of no use, neither is the box cutter.
 
BB1FA69F-371E-4C1F-AAE0-24C3F9E861F3.jpeg There's a hunk of Magic Eraser for stylus cleaning that kind of floats all over. Usually sits on the top plate of my main table. I have a coffee cup that holds my dusting brush (it's a 2" soft bristle paint brush) and assorted screwdrivers and pliers. I’m getting carbon brushes both fit records and styli soon. It’s hiding behind the record in this pic:
 
A paint brush, being made of natural hair, will generate a healthy static charge on the surface of the record. It will pull dust off your brush and lodge it by static charge onto your record. You will accomplish very little.
 
Wolfie62 said:
A paint brush, being made of natural hair, will generate a healthy static charge on the surface of the record. It will pull dust off your brush and lodge it by static charge onto your record. You will accomplish very little.
Click to expand...

Dust the brush off, dust the record off. Rinse and repeat. I'm getting the carbon brush for a reason though.
 
I had a FULL Discwasher kit until it was lost or stolen during a move. :rant:

I now have a zerostat, a carbon filament brush, a near useless magnifying mirror and an Onzow Zerodust on an unoccupied shelf in my rack.

EDIT: Also a Spinclean that sits on my CD rack (ironically.)
 
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My arsenal includes:

1 Discwasher brush
1 bottle of Bac-Out enzyne cleaner
1 bottle of DIY record cleaning solution.
1 nylon nail brush
1 Vinyl Styl spin cleaner
Mr Clean Magic Eraser

Discwasher brush gets used before every play. Wet if the record is pretty dusty. Otherwise, just dry.

Magic Eraser get used as needed on the stylus

Dirty used vinyl gets the "full treatment."
  • Scrub one side with generous amount of Bac Out and nylon nail brush and let sit for 15 min.
  • After 15 min, scrub again and flip record over and repeat.
  • After 15 minutes, flip record, apply DIY record cleaners (4 parts Distilled Water, 1 part 91% isopropanol, 1 squirt of dye free, hypoallergenic dish soap) and scrub with brush.
  • Flip and do the same to the other side
  • Put record in spin cleaner full of distilled water.
  • Spin 10 times in each direction
  • Put in drying rack
  • Spin some vinyl
If I am in a rush to listen to the record, I'll blast it with a can of Staples compressed air to dry it off quickly.

I try to use as much DIY stuff as I can.
 
I have an AT version of the Hunt brush, two rows of carbon fiber bristles and a velvet pad between. It's OK, but I just bought (from another AKer) a vintage Discwasher with D4 fluid and the little grooming brush in the handle. I'm liking the Discwasher with fluid because it seems to knock down static nicely in my setup.

Speaking of Discwasher, I'm amazed that hobbyists don't find and discuss one-way fabric to refurbish these beautiful old brushes. I understand the newer ones use don't have the same fabric and people complain about it, but there are still lint brushes made with directional fabric, so I feel like we as hobbyists should have answered the directional fabric refurb thing by now.

Oh, I also have magic eraser and a little stylus brush.
 
DavidTT said:
I have an AT version of the Hunt brush, two rows of carbon fiber bristles and a velvet pad between. It's OK, but I just bought (from another AKer) a vintage Discwasher with D4 fluid and the little grooming brush in the handle. I'm liking the Discwasher with fluid because it seems to knock down static nicely in my setup.

Speaking of Discwasher, I'm amazed that hobbyists don't find and discuss one-way fabric to refurbish these beautiful old brushes. I understand the newer ones use don't have the same fabric and people complain about it, but there are still lint brushes made with directional fabric, so I feel like we as hobbyists should have answered the directional fabric refurb thing by now.

Oh, I also have magic eraser and a little stylus brush.
Click to expand...

Rumor has it that the Crosley brush has directional fibers on it. Someone posted a question on the Amazon page for the product and there was one reply that said that the fabric was not directional. But one review says it IS directional. With 1 Discwasher in my house now, and another arriving from eBay on Tuesday, I can't justify buying the Crosley brush out of curiosity.
 
I still have my disc washer brush and use VPI cleaning fluid from my 17.0 record cleaning machine. I have my Dynavector and ortolans stylus brushes and my power Signet stylus cleaner. That vibrates around 400 hz per second cleaning the stylus very thoroughly. My Cecil Watts cleaning arm brush is around some where. But now that we replaced the windows and doors 20 years ago and have a central filtered heating and cooling system and closed record storage cabinets I don't need the watts cleaning arm anymore.
 
I have a small square of magic eraser for the stylus, and a microfiber cloth for giving the l.p. a once over for dust.

Most of my lp's have been already thoroughly cleaned before.

If I come across that blustick stuff for the stylus, I'll give that a try.
 
I keep an old, thick carbon brush I've had for years, but I also have a Nitty Gritty and a US tank as well. I use an old microwave stand (!!!!), which is a good 8" wider than my Technics SL-1301 that resides on it now anyway. It also allows for a lot of storage for other 'stuff' under it as well (like an EQ, cassette deck, 8-track, ect.).

Funny... I've been wanting to re-do the plinth on my Dual 1229 (I really hate that chintzy fold down door and such). I think I'm going to do it in oak, but add more room on the tonearm side so there is room for the other 'stuff' like brushes, adapters, ect. It would be open (or the dust cover wouldn't cover it). Gotta lot of ideas for that one (like removing the springs for starters).
 
SlowSteve said:
....And where do you keep it?
NOT talking about your RCM devices.
But what you use for immediate care, dust removal, stylus cleaning/inspection, etc.
Here's what I keep on a shelf next to my decks:View attachment 1667799
I'll break it down....

2 Discwashers of different grade, coarse & fine w/ D-1 brush for grooming them.
View attachment 1667801
In the mini crate is:
A small Altoids case holding a carbon brush and Magic Eraser, a 10x loupe, a mini razor knife for opening new LPs, a 45 adaptor and a reamer for those tight holes
View attachment 1667812
Lastly, a few of Audio Technica record and turntable care & maintenance bits.
View attachment 1667817

What's in your wallet? :blah::boring:
Click to expand...

where did you get the reamer? I find a need for one once and a while on some newer records
 
I have a 50 cent velvet from the fabric store
Few good fluids, soft paint brush.
Grounded antistatic arm brush.
Moongel.
Magic eraser.
X10 magnifier to watch the stylus.
AG.
 
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