What's the best record brush?

[Oldpinkman]

the ONLY way (i.e. there is NONE other) of cleaning records effectively is to use an RCM, in conjunction with a proper record cleaning solution.
Marco.

I presume RCM means "record cleaning machine" and not "Royal College of Midwives" - the result of my quick Google x-ref. But WHICH RCM?????????? And how good are they? I have for years stuck to "let the stylus clean it" - I have recently pushed the dust around with a knackered carbon fibre job, and the new arm is fearful kind to surface noise, but I have some old records I would like to rescue from the days when I wiped stuff on them, and once aerosoled on this muck that had to dry and peel off (I see from googling again that some nutter spreads wood glue on his records, with apparently good results)

http://www.conrad-uk.com/ce/en/produ...FQTHtAodmwQA0A is certainly within my budget, and gets very good things said about it, with the main drawback seeming to be it is smelly messy and slow. I may buy one and have a punt, but I'm going to have to buy a record from a boot fair to try it on before I let it loose on my lot. I presume you have a Mercedes version Marco

[horace]

For me, an RCM is the way to go. Not cheap, but a bargain nevertheless. I've lost count of the secondhand vinyl that's been utterly transformed after a clean (or two, in some cases).

Seriously, if you still do vinyl, get yourself an RCM. You won't regret it. You don't have to fork out for a Loricraft - plenty of very effective and less expensive options out there.

As others have said, use a brush only when absolutely necessary. The Hunt is as good as any IMHO.

For info, my RCM is here:

http://www.kabusa.com/ev1.htm

I ordered mine years ago from the above site. It's a bit more expensive now, but $169 plus delivery and import duty is still good value in my book. I reckon it does as good a job as the more expensive cleaners. It's just rather more basic.

Cheers

Martin

[Audioman]

I presume RCM means "record cleaning machine" and not "Royal College of Midwives" - the result of my quick Google x-ref. But WHICH RCM?????????? And how good are they? I have for years stuck to "let the stylus clean it" - I have recently pushed the dust around with a knackered carbon fibre job, and the new arm is fearful kind to surface noise, but I have some old records I would like to rescue from the days when I wiped stuff on them, and once aerosoled on this muck that had to dry and peel off (I see from googling again that some nutter spreads wood glue on his records, with apparently good results)

http://www.conrad-uk.com/ce/en/produ...FQTHtAodmwQA0A is certainly within my budget, and gets very good things said about it, with the main drawback seeming to be it is smelly messy and slow. I may buy one and have a punt, but I'm going to have to buy a record from a boot fair to try it on before I let it loose on my lot. I presume you have a Mercedes version Marco

Richard.

If you buy a Disco Anistat I strongly recommend you get a bottle of purified water and use this to do a second clean with the supplied bath. The supplied fluid tends to leave a deposit which the stylus picks up as you play. Worse records placed in antistatic sleeves leave a streaky pattern on record and sleeve over time. Also careful handling necessary to avoid fluid running on labels. Used as I recommend with the rinse it does an excellent job with no sleeve deposits or gunk on the stylus.

The 'RCMs' we are referring to are the vacuum jobs such as made by Okki Nokki, VPI and Moth.



Paul.

[walpurgis]

I don't use a record cleaning machine and make my own record brushes using firm pile velvet backed by thin foam and mounted on any convenient holder (a bit of 3/8" hardwood works fine). I find this works better than my carbon fibre brushes on which the bristles flop about a bit too much.

I've considered making an RCM, but haven't attempted it yet.

[julesd68]

I'm using a MOFI (Mobile Fidelity) brush for wet cleaning with my RCM and if I spot any dust on the vinyl when it's on the deck, my Blue Horizon Probrush sorts it out. Seems to be a good combo, and haven't thought about changing them.

[Oldpinkman]

AK's going to lend me a moth. I'll report back. (May be a while before I report back on the FXR - he's just sold out). I'll get me some Nagaoka's as well

[TBL]

+1. It's the best one, if you must use a brush... Quite simply, though, you want to 'disturb' your records as little as possible.

Therefore, the best brush is NO brush! If you use an RCM, together with Nagaoka anti-static sleeves, brushes are unnecessary. Simply slip the record from its sleeve, pop it on the platter, sparkling clean, totally dust and static free, and you're ready to go!

Marco.

Afraid I have to disagree on this one Marco. I own and regularly use a very expensive Nitty Gritty Pro double sided \rcm machine and all my records are kept in anti static sleeves and yet I still see surface dust which needs removing. You may be fortunate in either living in a vacuum or having a very very efficient Philippino houseboy to keep the air borne dust at bay, for the rest of it's permanently there and floating about just waiting to settle on our precious vinyl the moment it leaves the sleeve.

[Marco]

Hi Ian,

Tiny particles of surface dust are irrelevant, and are simply pushed aside by the stylus, during playback. These do not affect sound quality one iota or cause noise, providing that records have been deep-cleaned on an RCM. It's the ingrained DIRT inside grooves that brushes move about (on non-RCM cleaned records), along with the surface dust you mention, and which is impregnated further into said grooves, as a result, that's the problem!

If you've cleaned your records *thoroughly* on your Nitty Gritty (and by that I don't mean simply a quick 2-minute pass. I spend ten minutes cleaning ONE record, with my VPI), and you use Nagaoka anti-static sleeves (and perhaps a quick zap with a Zerostat gun beforehand), then when you pull out records from said sleeves, unless you live in a really dusty environment, they should be in perfect condition to play and require no need for brushing

If you want to remove surface dust, just gently blow it off of the record - that's far better than involving a brush and costs nothing!

Marco.

[TBL]

Hi Ian,

Tiny particles of surface dust are irrelevant, and are simply pushed aside by the stylus, during playback. These do not affect sound quality one iota or cause noise, providing that records have been deep-cleaned on an RCM. It's the ingrained DIRT inside grooves that brushes move about (on non-RCM cleaned records), along with the surface dust you mention, and which is impregnated further into said grooves, as a result, that's the problem!

If you've cleaned your records *thoroughly* on your Nitty Gritty (and by that I don't mean simply a quick 2-minute pass. I spend ten minutes cleaning ONE record, with my VPI), and you use Nagaoka anti-static sleeves (and perhaps a quick zap with a Zerostat gun beforehand), then when you pull out records from said sleeves, unless you live in a really dusty environment, they should be in perfect condition to play and require no need for brushing

If you want to remove surface dust, just gently blow it off of the record - that's far better than involving a brush and costs nothing!

Marco.

Marco, just so were not talking at cross purposes, When you bought the deluxe 45rpm Doors boxset recently, you spent 10 minutes cleaning each disc. Is that correct?

btw, there's no such thing as a free blow job.

[TBL]

Looking back through a recent thread (Sep last year)

The best, beyond question, is one of these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hunt-EDA-Car...item23222291f4

Well-made, durable, and extremely effective!

Marco.

Of course!

It's an important part of my record cleaning regime. After records have been thoroughly cleaned on the RCM, and virtually static free, I gently brush them with the SK-II, to remove any risidual static, before popping them in Nagaoka anti-static sleeves. In that role, it is extremely effective, and no other device I've used removes static so well from records, even a Milty Zerostat gun.

It's the same process later. Once a record has been removed from its sleeve, and placed on the platter, ready to play, I give the surface of the record a quick brush with the Furutech, thus removing any miniscule amount of static, caused by the action of removing the record from its sleeve (no sleeve is 100% anti-static), and also any tiny particles of dust that may be present on the surface of the record.

The result? Utterly silent vinyl replay, in terms of absence of surface noise, almost akin to that when playing a CD, and this shows in the quality of recordings I've been making recently of music played on my turntable.

I insist on that level of resolution with vinyl and wouldn't settle for anything less. The notion that music on records is plagued with clicks and pops is, quite frankly, utter nonsense, provided that one's vinyl 'housekeeping' routine is diligently maintained, and one's records are stored/handled properly and kept in pristine condition!

Marco.

I just wonder what's changed your mind in the last 9 months?