First, I want to thank the father of this thread, Mario, and all of the other people who contributed by sharing their trials and techniques. Thanks for making it possible for me to revive records, much loved but consigned to the shelf because they were all but unplayable. Well, there are no miracles - a record that's truly trashed with groove damage and deep scratches will never come back from the grave - but the glue method will bring back some treasures.
Being somewhat cautious for my first attempts, I tried gluing two of my all-time favorite albums that have languished for decades as they've not been listenable -
LiveDead (the first, and greatest, of the live Dead albums), and Maria Muldaur's
Sweet Harmony, a wonderful jazz-inflected album that seems to be under the audiophile radar. Both were Rice-Krispied from beginning to end.
So far, three different glues seem to vie for top honors - TiteBond II, Aleene's Tacky, and the clear Elmers gel glues. I used TiteBond for the initial attempts; thanks to this thread, the techniques for use and removal were clear and easily performed. The results were astounding, especially on the Maria Muldaur record, which went from poor to very good. The Gratefull Dead album was successful, but less so, as there was much remaining noise from the many large and small scratches accumulated from careless play.
I subsequently used Aleene's on the Muldaur disk, and some further improvement was heard. While the record is not perfect, it is eminently listenable as the noise is greatly reduced. The posters who have reported a drop in the overall noise floor are, I think, correct - I thought I knew these albums inside out, note for note, yet many fine details were evident after this cleaning that I'd never heard before. More, the music seemed to leap off the record - more dynamic range, more detail, more music.
I should note that I have a VPI 16.5 RCM, but the glues were removing layers of grit and grunge that had been left untouched despite multiple cleanings on the vacuum machine using a variety of the 'best' cleaning fluids. I still think the RCMs are indispensable, especially for larger collections...but clearly there's some dirt that even they cannot remove.
Gluing is an easy and safe way of dealing with records that are otherwise hopeless, so anyone who's nervous about subjecting precious and irreplaceable disks to torture can put his fears to rest. Since doing my first two 'experimental' albums, I've glued many more, all with nice results. Both TiteBond II and Aleene's seem equally effective; the Elmer's gel, however, seems less effective, and it definitely has less grip when peeling the mask, making me think that it's not pulling as much schmutz from the grooves.
While I was glue shopping, I spotted another Aleene's product from their Tacky line, a glue in a spray can. Although I bought the glue - thinking that a spray-on glue would be much easier to apply - I contacted the manufacturer, Duncan Crafts, before trying it. I'm glad I did, as while the other glues are all water-based emulsions, the aerosol is a
solvent-based(!!) product. According to the MSDS, it has, among other nasties, hexane, acetone, and propane; I had nightmarish visions of my vinyl dissolving under the chemical assault. :tears:
I'm still playing with differing amounts of glue, varying pressure whilst applying, and looking for other glues that might prove to be even better. Using an old, non-working turntable as a Lazy-Susan while working with the glue is really helpful, and makes it easier to evenly spread the glue and work it into the grooves. I'd love to find a glue that doesn't build up a huge static charge (the Elmer's gel is the least staticky of the bunch so far, but as it doesn't seem to be as effective, the trade-off isn't worthwhile). Even using a Mapleshade Ionoclast - better than a Zerostat, and half the price - I have to wonder if some of the remaining cracklies are from residual static. Perhaps impaling a dryer sheet on the spindle under the record while removing the mask might work?
Anyway, thanks again to all who posted here - this is even better than sliced bread!
Cheers, Mark
