A very fine brush for the frugal vinyl spinner.

[.mus]

I'm always a little irked by the line of very fine dust that remains on the record's surface after using a record brush with the record on the platter - the brush itself is not well suited to removing it, I suppose because the dust is so fine and, as such, deeper in the grooves than the larger bits, and the brush's bristles are just too thick and clunky to clear it completely.

For Christmas last year, I'd bought my partner a range of moderately fancy makeup brushes. Of course, she hasn't used them yet :/ So I thought I'd see how one of the larger ones fared at removing the line of dust, and it does the job perfectly! Now I'm able to ensure that the grooves are completely dust free before playing, and this makes for a very notable absence of unwelcome noise on playback.

Still, I was surprised at the improvement, and thought something else might also be at work. So I did a test: I used my old Stanton felt brush on a record spinning on the platter. The Stanton had hitherto been problematic, since although it's very nice qua brush, it also does a good job of generating a static field on the record. So, I used the Stanton to 'charge up' a record, then got a sense of the extent of the resulting static field, then gave the record a few swipes with the makeup brush, and checked again - static field very much reduced/gone.

So, not only does the makeup brush remove the finest bits of dust, it also removes static. I then read up a little on antistatic brushes (mostly here), and my guess is that the bristles of the makeup brush are made from one of the relevant natural materials - horse hair, perhaps.

Anyway, here's the blighter:

http://www.thebodyshop.co.uk/whats-h...FdMftAodqR8AyA

Not bad for £12! Though I'll have to buy a new one for my partner now...

[Ali Tait]

Cheaper here-

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/THE-BODY-S...item4ad4c973ad

[.mus]

Ah ha! Nice find - that'll reduce the cost of replacing the one I've swiped

[The Barbarian]

I used one of those to gloss the new Radiator pipes the other day, being funny about my painting & would literally climb the wall if i ever had a brush mark in the paint, they are now like perfect finish, like glass, spray gun like finish.. ..

[Barry]

I have used a large squirrel hair artist’s paintbrush for the purpose for years now. However, I think the make-up ‘blusher’ brush might better suit the task.

[.mus]

Good stuff!

But to correct an error: It seems they are synthetic hair - vegetarian status since 2007, apparently (though I'm not sure who's eating them..?) - but in any case, it removes static all the same. Perhaps a non cruelty-free equivalent would be even more effective, though.

(Full disclosure: I worked part time for the body shop when I was an undergraduate, and they were certainly natural hair then, hence my erroneous assumption.)

[Marco]

http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...tech+fk1+brush



Marco.

[.mus]

Now that does look very nice! Still, good that there's a budget alternative - not all enthusiasts have such deep pockets! I'd be interested to compare them someday, though.
Nice to read your review - your remarks about the reduced noise floor/clarity gains very much chime with my experience here

[The Barbarian]

Aye you can buy a blusher brush from the pound shop

[.mus]

The one that Marco linked to looked familiar and I've just realised why - it looks a lot like the brush that my Dad used to use to clean his SLR camera lenses (he was a keen photographer).
I just looked up 'lens brushes' on the off chance and spotted this one:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Matin-M-6329...tin+lens+brush
This is goat hair, similar to the Furutech. I'll probably pick one up, as it's very cheap and it will be interesting to see if there's any gains to be made from going natural.