Spinning Today - What Are You Listening To Right Now? (Part 3)

[Pigmy Pony]

I have that LP, but can't make up my mind if I like it or not.

There's some of it I could live without, but enough to make it worth me having. I honestly couldn't say whether it's Jeff Beck or Jan Hammer that makes it what it is, and I don't have any other recordings by either of them. They seem to be an unlikely combination, but for me it does work.

[Pigmy Pony]

I've had a copy of this since it came out late 70s. It was starting to sound a bit tired so I got a new copy, and a mate took my old one. He put it through his RCM and it came up like new

[Barry]

I've had a copy of this since it came out late 70s. It was starting to sound a bit tired so I got a new copy, and a mate took my old one. He put it through his RCM and it came up like new

That's often the way. In fact I think anyone who has a record collection of 200 or more LPs would do well in investing in an RCM. However I can never understand the high price manufacturers charge for them.

I think there is a DIY RCM described in The Knowledge, for those handy with a few tools.

[Pigmy Pony]

That's often the way. In fact I think anyone who has a record collection of 200 or more LPs would do well in investing in an RCM. However I can never understand the high price manufacturers charge for them.

I think there is a DIY RCM described in The Knowledge, for those handy with a few tools.

Yeah I did "buy" an RCM via that Kickstarter scheme a couple of years ago. They took my money then vanished I borrowed Macca's once and got to clean about 30, so only about 470 to go. Maybe he'll loan it me again if I say pretty please

[spm]

I have a very Heath Robinson RCM which I purchased from this forum a few years back. It uses plastic plumbing pipes and connectors. I think it works very well but have never used another vacuum RCM so am only comparing with a Knosti spin clean. I believe they were made by a guy in Brazil. It's the same one as used in this video. You need to use your own vacuum cleaner which slots in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_vVecWymrk

[Macca]

Yeah I did "buy" an RCM via that Kickstarter scheme a couple of years ago. They took my money then vanished I borrowed Macca's once and got to clean about 30, so only about 470 to go. Maybe he'll loan it me again if I say pretty please

Lots of people have borrowed my RCM over the years, except my mate down the road who brought about dozen albums round, said 'Clean these for me mate' and left.


You can always borrow it again anytime.

I think it cost me £400 but it was well worth the money. Made a lot of records sound like new again.

Wood glue also works but is more expensive if you do a lot of records, and I don't think is quite as effective. If you have just one or two really bad ones it's worth doing it. Doesn't harm the record at all and does lift a lot of the crud out.

[Pigmy Pony]

Lots of people have borrowed my RCM over the years, except my mate down the road who brought about dozen albums round, said 'Clean these for me mate' and left.


You can always borrow it again anytime.

I think it cost me £400 but it was well worth the money. Made a lot of records sound like new again.

Wood glue also works but is more expensive if you do a lot of records, and I don't think is quite as effective. If you have just one or two really bad ones it's worth doing it. Doesn't harm the record at all and does lift a lot of the crud out.

Wood glue? My first thought was to check it's not April 1st! How do you use it? I might just try it out on a manky record (an unplayable copy of "Astral Weeks" that someone gave me should be ideal). PVA (Polyvinyl Alcohol) is widely used in the building trade (I usually have some knocking about) and is what wood glue consists of. It's about 15 quid or so for 5kg of the stuff, which would probably go a long way.

But I think I'd go down the cleaning fluid route. I used some stuff Firebottle gave me (I think it was called "The Right One"), which seemed to work well. I might start a thread elsewhere about it, unless I spot one already here, asking for recommendations.

[Macca]

Wood glue? My first thought was to check it's not April 1st! How do you use it? I might just try it out on a manky record (an unplayable copy of "Astral Weeks" that someone gave me should be ideal). .

Put record on flat surface, cover the whole surface of the record in the PVA. Except for the label obviously. Then cut a rectangle of card or stiff paper about an inch long and set it in the glue on the edge so half is in the glue and half is sticking out over the edge. Let it dry. Once dry take hold of the tab of paper and pull, and the whole thing comes off like a skin (that's the best bit).

Then turn record over and do the other side. It does work, I cleaned half a dozen that way. Just takes time and if you're doing a few at once you need a bit of space to lay them all out to dry.

[Alex_UK]

Martin and Barry might just remember this thread from 15 years ago - (gulp) - quite a few interesting(!) options got tried - but I still never did buy a record cleaning machine!

https://theartofsound.net/forum/show...eaning-Machine

[Barry]

Put record on flat surface, cover the whole surface of the record in the PVA. Except for the label obviously. Then cut a rectangle of card or stiff paper about an inch long and set it in the glue on the edge so half is in the glue and half is sticking out over the edge. Let it dry. Once dry take hold of the tab of paper and pull, and the whole thing comes off like a skin (that's the best bit).

Then turn record over and do the other side. It does work, I cleaned half a dozen that way. Just takes time and if you're doing a few at once you need a bit of space to lay them all out to dry.

Yes, try it out on an old record first. And secondly I would buy some new, fresh PVA, not something that has been knocking about in the back of a cupboard for years. It's not expensive.