Since the recent summer holidays in FM live brought back some LP renaissance, and since the recent stories about the new stereo cartridge, I found myself to play more vinyl lately. It looks like I am about to be out of the fluid for my Record Cleaning Machine. I usually use Nitty Gritty’s Pure 2 and by it 2 gallons that last for some time. However, it is kind of a hassle. It is 75$ per gallon plus shipping. Then the damn fluid is always tends to be dry before the new supply from Nitty Gritty arrives… So, I am thinking to make my own fluid…

I did the records cleaning fluid past. It was good and I did not detect that it was much different from the commercial pros with respect to result. Approximately in 2004 the rate of my buys records dramatically deduced and since the bulk of my records are cleaned  and the rate of the fluid going away is much slower I stopped to make my own fluid and return back to Nitty Gritty’s Pure 2. However, I have bad record cleaning habits. What I buy a new used LP that I tend to put it on my records cleaning machine flood the surface with very excessive amount of fluid and let the fluid to sit on the record, soaking and marinating the dogface dirt. I do not know it is better but it is what I do, the stupid habits are habits as well, I do not do it with clean records that I previously cleaned myself…

So, with this habit the fluid kind of goes away not so slow and I am considering reinstating my home-cooked fluid. I wonder if any of you have any of your own “magic” records cleaning fluid that would be worth to try. I would be interesting in soothing that can artificially erect dirt in a way how Kiehl’s shaving cream is able to raise hair on a face.

When I made my own cleaning fluid I use a combination of bio-degradable cleaning sedatives, fluorochemicals to make the surface more hydrophilic and to reduce the surface Tension, distilled water, de-oiling detergents and alcohol. Alcohol was Isopropyl.  The water softener was Kodak PhotoFlo, Triton X-100 or the “green shit” that I was taking from Somerville’s fireman. The de-oiling detergent was dishwater detergent or “X-0 Plus+”. The X-O thing is amassing. I discover it when some freak at Cat’s show in Phila harassed me and made be to buy the X-O’s pet odor remover.  When I tried it home it was so stunning for killing all smells (staring from cigars and end with you former girlfriend) that I bought a gallon of concentrated X-O (10000:1) and used it everywhere. The X-O turned to be a phenomenal cleaner as well…

So, what I am thinking is if it would be worth to use not regular distilled water but ionized water. It would be very simple to electrolyze distilled water to make positively and negative charged water. Why no to use the charged distilled water as some hydraulic Zerostat? The ions that Zerostat and the similar devises produce are short-living ions – or weak ions. The long-living ions are very different animal what unit I hang above my turntable the Chijevsky’s chandelier…

I never used the Disc Doctor cleaning; in fact I never used anything beside my own cleaning and the Nitty Gritty’s. The Nitty Gritty smells better though… The problem that I see with either Disc Doctor or with Nitty Gritty that it end up to be $70 per gallon and when you need it you do not have it ( I have no space to store them). I washed 5 records this week and I have no fluid anymore in my machine. The Saturdays they are closed and it is a few days to get more. Still, it is not as much money that I do not like spend as rather the comfort that as much fluid I dump on the record it will never deplete it. I for instance like if the record is very old and very dirty then I wash it twice: once with a lot of fluid a lot of marinating, no scabbing and vacuuming and then another wash with scabbing and vacuuming. I am sure that Disc Doctor is good thing. If the Disc Doctor would monitor the fluid in my cleaning machine and send me refill when it is necessary then it would be even greater… The automated cleaning machine refilling? Ok, I need to get some life….

drdna wrote:

When I had a record with a stain on the vinyl NOTHING else would touch, he sent me some "special cleaning mixture" that took it right off and the record played like new.

Not about the Iraq oil but about the minute reissue of oils that are left on surface of record. I have to admit that I have my insecure felling about the situation when an old record starts to play like new after a wash or treatment. In my past I used many different improving liquids that made record to sound very smooth and with very little surface noise.  Eventually I realized that it is not good as it diminished the differences that I was able to get from records. So, what all improving liquids did was an introduction of various levels of oil on the record’s surface that minimized the tension that needle experienced. I agree that in completely de-oil environment the noise is higher, but the sound (tonal differences, dynamic fluctuations and so on…) are also higher…