I finally broke down and bought one of those ultrasonic record cleaners after years of just using a brush and fluid. Spent about $120 on a basic model off eBay, and honestly I was ready to be disappointed. But last Saturday I ran a stack of 40 old thrift store records through it, mostly dollar bin stuff with visible grime. The difference was night and day on about half of them, pops and crackles just gone. One beat up copy of a 70s funk album went from unlistenable to actually enjoyable, which alone was worth the money. I still think the cheap spin cleaners work fine for surface dust, but this thing gets into the grooves way deeper. Has anyone else tried one of these, or do you swear by a different method for really dirty records?
I bought a reissue a few years back and that thing skipped on my turntable around the same spot every time. I blamed the table, blamed my speakers, blamed the room. Then last weekend I was at my parents' house and my dad pulled out his original copy from a milk crate in the garage. Looked beat to hell, scuffed edges, some ring wear. I brought it home half expecting a mess. But it played through the whole album with ZERO issues. The grooves are so much deeper on the old pressings. My reissue was just a thin slab that couldn't track right. Now I'm wondering how many other modern reissues are actually worse than the beat up originals people are selling for $5 at garage sales. Has anyone else compared an old pressing to a new one and found the old one plays better?
So last month I picked up a dusty copy of Rumours at a garage sale for $3. The owner of my local shop told me to just use isopropyl alcohol and a microfiber cloth to clean it. I did that and now the record has this weird haze and sounds kinda muffled on side two, especially around track three. I've been reading online that alcohol can strip the vinyl over time or mess with the grooves. Did that guy steer me wrong or did I just mess up the technique? Anyone else had problems using alcohol on their records?
A guy at a record swap in Austin told me to stop using my Spin Clean and just go with distilled water and a microfiber cloth. I thought he was crazy until I tried it on a noisy copy of Rumours - all that surface noise I blamed on the pressing just vanished. Anyone else ditch their fancy cleaning rig for the simple stuff?
He told me last month that a little lemon juice and water would make my old Beatles records shine like new. Tried it on a copy of Abbey Road I found at a yard sale and it left this weird sticky residue that picked up even more dust. Had to rewash it three times with actual record cleaner to get the gunk off. Has anyone else ever fallen for a weird old timer cleaning trick that backfired?
I was just scrolling last night and caught this random video from some audio engineer guy. He was talking about how a lot of surface noise on records isn't scratches, it's static electricity attracting dust and debris. I never really thought about it that much before. I always just blamed my turntable or the condition of the vinyl itself. So I tried his tip of running a damp microfiber cloth over the record before playing it, just a light wipe. The difference was huge, like 80% fewer pops and crackles on a used copy of Fleetwood Mac I picked up at a flea market last summer. I guess I figured a dry clean with my brush was enough, but that moisture thing really does something. Has anyone else tried the damp cloth trick or do you have another method for killing that static?
I was at a flea market last Saturday and saw two copies of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours. One was near mint for $25, the other had a scratched cover and some visible marks for $10. I bought the cheap one figuring I could clean it up. Spent about an hour with my spin cleaner and a microfiber cloth and it plays almost perfectly, just a few pops on track 3. The seller even threw in a free 45 of Dreams because I bought two other records from him. Has anyone else taken a gamble on a rougher copy and gotten lucky or did you regret it?
I was grabbing a latte yesterday when this dude at the next table told his friend that records are just a hassle compared to streaming. He said stuff about pops and crackles and having to get up every 20 minutes. Honestly, it bugged me at first, but then I realized he's not totally wrong. There is some extra effort, like flipping the record and cleaning it before each play. But for me, that's the fun part, it makes me actually sit and listen instead of just having background noise. I spend maybe 5 bucks a pop at thrift stores and end up with albums I'd never find on Spotify. Has anyone else had a moment where someone's complaint actually made you appreciate the hobby more?
Tbh I used to just grab anything with a cool cover from the dollar bin at thrift stores. Found some gems that way but also wasted money on scratched up copies that sounded like garbage. Last year I picked up a David Bowie record that looked mint but turned out to be a late 80s reissue with super thin vinyl. Spent $5 on that lesson. Now I check the matrix numbers and pressing year before I buy anything over $3. Some folks say I'm overthinking it but man the difference between an OG UK press and a cheap reissue is night and day. Am I the only one who changed their whole approach after getting burned a few times?
I was at the Rose Bowl Flea Market last Saturday and this older dude was selling a stack of 70s rock albums. He swore up and down they were "near mint" and wanted $25 each. I looked closer and saw serious scratches and even some mold on the inner sleeves. When I pointed it out, he just shrugged and said "they still play fine." I walked away and found the same records from a different seller for $8 that were actually clean. Has anyone else run into sellers who can't tell a VG from a NM?
This was last weekend at the St. Paul record fair. I'd been digging through boxes for an hour and came up with nothing special. Then I see this younger guy, probably early 20s, flip through a box marked 'misc 70s pop' and he pulls out a copy of Yesterday and Today with the trunk cover. I saw the price sticker - $1. He paid and left before I could even say anything. I've been hunting for one of those for 5 years now. Has anyone else had a find slip through their fingers like that?
Last Saturday I hit up a random estate sale in the suburbs near Akron and the guy had a whole basement of classic rock and soul. I grabbed a first press of Rumours in VG+ shape for $3, and then I found a clean copy of Fleetwood Mac's Tusk which I never see anywhere. Then I dug deeper and pulled out a near-mint Bowie's Station to Station and a beat up but playable John Prine self-titled. Cost me $14 total and I was shaking the whole time. Has anyone else ever had a single day where you just clean up on your white whale records?
He said to gently run a round wooden toothpick along the record grooves to dislodge deep dirt before wet cleaning. I tried it on a dusty thrift store copy of Rumours and it actually pulled out a ton of gunk I couldn't see. Has anyone else tried this method or is there a better tool for deep groove cleaning?
I was sitting there Friday night, just relaxing with Floyd, and right as Money started the whole thing ground to a halt. The platter just stopped spinning. Got up, checked it out, and sure enough the rubber belt had turned into a sticky mess. Grabbed a replacement kit from a shop downtown for 12 bucks, took about 20 minutes to swap it out, and now it runs fine. Anyone else had a belt just give up after a few years?
I picked up one of those cheap ultrasonic cleaners off Amazon last week, figured it would be a game changer for cleaning up some thrift store finds. Dropped in a Sunny Rollins LP that had bad crackle, ran it for like 8 minutes with distilled water and a drop of dish soap. When I pulled it out, the vinyl felt weirdly rough and the label was starting to peel at the edge. I learned the hard way that those budget cleaners don't have temperature control, so the water was way too hot and it messed with the groove. Now I'm stuck with a record that sounds worse than before, with a warped label and extra noise. Anyone else tried one of these and got burned? What do you use instead that actually works without wrecking your collection?
I dabbed a tiny drop on the seam split with a toothpick, clamped it between two books overnight, and it played clean as a whistle the next morning, has anyone else fixed cracked sleeves this way without wrecking the jacket?
I was just organizing my shelves after picking up a stack from an estate sale and decided to count them. 500 exactly. That number hit different because I never set out to own that many. I started maybe 4 years ago with like 20 records from a guy clearing out his garage in Portland. Now I have a whole wall of shelves and I still buy more every month. The thing is, I don't even listen to half of them regularly. I just like finding them and cleaning them up and knowing they are there. Does anyone else hit a certain number and suddenly feel like you need to slow down or is that just me?
I used to just wipe my records with a dry microfiber cloth before playing them, thinking that was good enough. Last month a guy at Dusty Grooves in Chicago stopped me mid-wipe and said "you're just pushing the static charge deeper into the groove, man." He showed me his method: spray a 50/50 mix of distilled water and isopropyl alcohol onto a carbon fiber brush, then do a slow circular motion for about 20 seconds per side. Now I do that before every play and the pops and crackles dropped by like 80 percent. Has anyone else gotten a harsh tip that turned out to be a game changer?
I picked up a beat-up copy of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours at a garage sale in Nashville for $2, and it had so much surface noise I almost tossed it. After watching a YouTube video from a guy in the UK, I tried a homemade solution of distilled water and a drop of dish soap (no fancy machine, just a sponge and a drying rack). Has anyone else had a cheap record totally come back to life with a basic wet clean, or did I just get lucky?