MannyE
Exterminate!
But...... my ass.... the candy.....
Wood Glue as Vinyl Cleaner
- Thread starter Mopic5
- Start date
But...... my ass.... the candy.....
Love it but honestly I did some work on my AR XA , added sapphire Vee jewel bearings to the tonearm, a SME Style bayonet to the tone arm with a Yamamato basswood head shell, also went with a sapphire thrust plate and sapphire ball bearing to the tone arm, and I have to say its as good as the Soto sound wise, but not at good at extreme isolation like the SOTA. You just cant make that table skip !!!
I have been wanting to move the Yammato head shell with my self re tipped Acutex M312 ( Brick type ) to the SOTA and do a comparison. It might be
the Acutex that is making the sound so good to my ears.
EDIT: Oh And I added Linn springs and Mass loaded it.
Athanasios
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I've tried wood glue on 6 or 7 extremely dirty albums over the past few weeks. I do NOT think this method is worthwhile for several reasons.
1) My Spin-Clean, followed by wet/dry vac, does as good a job if not better than wood glue
2) I can clean 20-25 albums on my Spin-Clean over the course of about 90 minutes, whereas I can only do 2 SIDES with wood glue over a 24 hour period (I let them dry on a closed turntable), unless I want glued albums drying all over the place, gathering dust and dog hair.
3) It is hard not to leave dried glue remnants in the deadwax, and I worry about either damaging a stylus if I miss some, or scratching the record when trying to remove the traces with my fingernail
4) It's more expensive that a Spin-Clean if you use the 16 oz bottle of glue like I did. I've gone through 2/3 of a $7 bottle of glue to clean half a dozen albums. If you get a gallon jug of wood glue the price will go down quite a bit though, so the difference in cost may not be very great either way.
The Spin-Clean cost about $80, a wet-dry vac costs $20, and the attachment wand another $20 from various vendors. So for about $120, you have a system that is 90% as good as the BEST cleaning, which is the much more expensive Ultrasonic method. If you're looking to clean a handful of records, maybe wood glue will work well for you. But if you want to clean several hundreds over time, the Spin-Clean plus wet/dry vac method is vastly more productive/less time consuming than using wood glue. VASTLY.
1) My Spin-Clean, followed by wet/dry vac, does as good a job if not better than wood glue
2) I can clean 20-25 albums on my Spin-Clean over the course of about 90 minutes, whereas I can only do 2 SIDES with wood glue over a 24 hour period (I let them dry on a closed turntable), unless I want glued albums drying all over the place, gathering dust and dog hair.
3) It is hard not to leave dried glue remnants in the deadwax, and I worry about either damaging a stylus if I miss some, or scratching the record when trying to remove the traces with my fingernail
4) It's more expensive that a Spin-Clean if you use the 16 oz bottle of glue like I did. I've gone through 2/3 of a $7 bottle of glue to clean half a dozen albums. If you get a gallon jug of wood glue the price will go down quite a bit though, so the difference in cost may not be very great either way.
The Spin-Clean cost about $80, a wet-dry vac costs $20, and the attachment wand another $20 from various vendors. So for about $120, you have a system that is 90% as good as the BEST cleaning, which is the much more expensive Ultrasonic method. If you're looking to clean a handful of records, maybe wood glue will work well for you. But if you want to clean several hundreds over time, the Spin-Clean plus wet/dry vac method is vastly more productive/less time consuming than using wood glue. VASTLY.
LOL, People might think I'm crazy for this one but I want to try to put a " Lowly AR tonearm" to the SOTA !!!! I'd need a parts unit for the bearing well and the tonearm. I really think the
simplistic tonearm of the AR is its real secret . And on the SOTA i really think it be awesome !!!
But honestly, if you can find a decent priced SOTA Sapphire jump on it !!!! The Isolation of that Table is just amazing !!!!! And like I said the AR is great but it might be due to the cartridge choice
i have right now. My Shibata re tipped Acutex M312 might be why I like the AR so much , I need to move it to the SOTA and evaluate it and make a more accurate assessment .
Nashou
Tom, the trick is to know when to use the glue. Dirty?? Use a Spin Clean, preferably followed by a shop-vac or some other vac method.
If you have stuff that no cleaning method will improve, try glue. I've had it rescue many records that were headed to the trash. I've also had it gently lift creased vinyl from scratches, eliminating pops and skips.
Like most tools, it has a specific place in the lineup.
mkane
Lunatic Member
I don't have any isolation issues here at all and spending $$ on the vacuum Sota might be a waste. I was looking at the Star/Nova.
Thanks James, I'll still consider it if nothing else works. Though... 2 of the albums I used wood glue on did fit that description. Both had been Spin-Cleaned and vacced. Both are now in the trash. I have a feeling they both were used on a Fisher Close-N-Play level of turntable and were beyond saving.
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superstar19
Member
I agree about the time/cost of the wood glue method being somewhat of a pain. All of my used stuff goes through the spin-clean, and now the only time I’ll wood glue after Spin-Cleaning is with albums where the water beads don’t run off the record quickly and even then I’ll only put the effort in if I consider it an “important” record worth the extra effort. Not sure how much of an improvement to playback this makes, but it seems to be getting the record cleaner because when I give it a second Spin-Clean bath after wood glue, the water flows off quicker than before the wood glue.
As for the glue remnants in the deadwax, I was having similar issues, but I’ve found that if I’m more liberal on applying the glue at the inner and outer rings that seems to significantly reduce loose remnants getting left behind.
High current
New Member
I too was very skeptical of slaughtering a valuable record with a hot mess of wood glue,but I gotta tell you it works! Now my cherished Pat Boone records sing with a clean awesomeness that only Pat can deliver. Shante'!
Yep. Some are simply exhausted, and glue won't fix that, as you know.
I always make a circle inside and outside, then fill. I can apply in 90 seconds. It's technique, ya'll.
chop_sooie
Active Member
I don't want to look through 109 pages to find the answer- how well would regular Elmer's school glue work as opposed to the wood glue? (I only ask because I already have some lying around the house.)
chop_sooie
Active Member
chop_sooie
Active Member
It's all about methodology. Some like this method, some prefer that method. Just like hammers and nails, there is so many different options, pick the one that fits your need. I can't see using a 10 pound splitting maul to hang pictures any more than using a wooden mallet to drive 12" crosstie spikes.
18 oz of Aleenes (for its wonderful elasticity!) and 5 oz of Elmers......hmmmm......
chop_sooie
Active Member
It works. And I mean it WORKS.
That Third Stage album above had all sorts of popping and crackling previously. My method:
I applied a spray of a mixture of water and ISO Alcohol, then dabbed it to where the record was damp but not wet.
Applied the Elmer's School Glue straight out of the bottle (no dilution.) Application procedure same as others: one small ring around the center label, one ring around the perimeter (lead in), then a flower pattern around the middle. Then spread as evenly as possible with a regular 2" paint brush around the record, starting at the center and working outward groove-wise. Then wait and let COMPLETELY dry. The first attempt above I didn't wait quite long enough, most of it came off in one sheet but there were a few areas left over that were not completely dry, trying to remove those areas proved futile so I applied a second coat and waited to dry fully this time (about 6 hours.) If done right, as it dries it becomes a very thin film of glue that "sinks" into the grooves and makes a very cool groove pattern impression in the glue sheet. When I peeled it this time it came off in one solid sheet. I did not apply any other cleaning solution afterward, just took it straight to the record player, and holy crap. It's not just that the pops and crackles are mostly gone, but the music actually does sound richer and fuller (especially in the lower end.) It did not completely eradicate the pops, there are still a few-- but the difference is still quite amazing. Very impressed. I have not tried this with the wood glue, it may be a bit more effective- but for now I'm just going to use up the remainder of the school glue I have since it has proven to me that it works well enough. Trying it again with another few records as we speak--specifically my Yes Big Generator album which is almost unlistenable.
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