(Tony steaming one of my records)

We had a superb time yesterday at George’s. Tony and I spent some time learning the technique from George, which proved to be very effective.

I cleaned a series of great Astor Piazzolla’s tango records that my friend Walter brought me recently from Buenos Aires. These are gems for me despite not being of a great press quality these original LPs back from the 70s are superb. Also we cleaned as well “Mingus Mingus”

My first impressions:

1. No doubt that cleaning will remove most of noise as expected.
2. The record clearly comes back to life. Previously it sounded dull, with no presence of  bass, piano and completely lack of brightness
3. Dynamics are of a different dimension now.
4. Bass and high treble are significantly recovered. You can now hear the bass and hi-hat, snares overtones perfectly well.

Simply put, this will be clearly one of my next project to be added to the list!

George’s record steaming method

Here are George’s own words:

“HOW TO TRANFORM VINYL PLAYBACK FOR £20

Thee is a lot more information on a vinyl disc than we have been getting out of it. When an LP is pressed, a blob of molten vinyl is moulded between 2 metal stampers. To make sure the resulting disc does not stick when the stampers are pulled apart, the metal is automatically sprayed with mould release agent – a very fine film of grease. This dulls the sound and provides a layer in which particles become embedded, causing clicks, pops and surface noise. There are lots of machines and fluids on the market which claim to get rid of this problem, and I have tried several. None holds a candle to the method I use now – a mixture of alcohol, distilled water and steam.

After seeing some videos on YouTube and reading some interesting forum threads, I bought a hand held steam cleaner on Ebay for £30. I got a Vax S4 because they also did well on upholstery in the Which? Tests, I see that the Robert Dyas shops are selling a basic steam cleaner for £20 which will do the job required. I use purified water in it for cleaning records.

METHOD

I have a Moth Record Cleaner machine built from a kit years ago. You clamp a record to a 4 inch turntable driven at about 15 rpm by a high torque motor. You apply cleaning fluid with a brush, flip the record over and vacuum it from below using a slotted tube covered with pads of velvety felts (see http://www.britishaudio.co.uk/mothrcm.htm) .

I have added a 12 inch platter and used some B&Q plastic plumbing tube and bends to bring the vacuum tube up to a level where I can vacuum a record from the top. This means I can do several different cleaning runs without having to unclamp and flip it several times. My platter is a circular hardwood varnished chopping board, with a threaded insert in the spindle hole and a slight depression sanded down for the label area. I protect the label with a plastic disc (easily made from a lid. The threaded insert allows me to bolt the record down firmly.

I first spray on (using an atomiser from Boots) a mixture of 30% isopropyl alcohol, 70% distilled water with a drop of photographic wetting agent. This gets worked thoroughly into the grooves of the rotating record, working the brush both against and with the direction of rotation. The amount of liquid used depends on how wet the brush is – the first one needs a double dose to “load” the brush – and how dirty the record is. I do not vacuum it off at this point.

Next I spray the steam at an angle across the rotating record from about 2 inches, moving the nozzle all the time, letting the platter go around twice. |The melting point of vinyl is well above the temperature of the steam and you won’t damage the vinyl provided you keep both vinyl and nozzle moving. I have no qualms about using this on some very valuable collectors’ items.

Then I brush again as before, both with and against the grooves. (At the moment I am waiting for more brushes so I can use a different brush for each stage.) The liquid is then vacuumed off. I then spray it again with steam to rinse it and then vacuum it thoroughly. The velvet material on the vacuum tube is cleaned with a quick blast of steam every few records. I unclamp the record and blot up any water around the label with tissue and afrer doing the other side leave it for few minutes to dry off.

RESULT

Tony Rees came round with some LPs and after I cleaned one said that it was like seeing a painting which has had its old varnish removed so that for the first time you really saw what was there. That about sums it up. I was staggered at the amount of subtle detail I had been missing. Records I have owned for 30+ years including one cleaned on a top-of-the-range Keith Monks machine were transformed. Charity shop mistakes became listenable. Scratches were still there but surface noise was much less. It was like a major cartridge upgrade – and it cleans stains off upholstery.

CONCLUSION

Mould release agent is very persistent and dulls the playing potential of the LP.

The combination of cleaner and steam loosens it and its embedded particles and it can be cleaned off, revealing the vinyl for the first time. I have cleaned old, new and neglected LPs and some previously cleaned in other ways. All were improved, some beyond initial expectations.

Anyone wanting to hear the result on a few of their LPs is welcome to contact me.

Cheers

George”