Re: [ARSCLIST] Audiodisc acetates with the while filmy surface

[Richard Warren <richard.warren@xxxxxxxx>]

Dear Graham,

Thanks for your posting.

I fear I must disagree with your advice on two fronts.

1) Unless it's been reformulated, Windex contains ammonia, which 
should not be used on lacquer-coated discs.

2) The act of cleaning, by any means whatever, may damage the playing 
surface of a lacquer-coated disc, especially if the coating is 
starting to separate from the base. So any type of cleaning may 
remove some or all of the recorded material from the disc. Hence the 
recommendation to make a copy before cleaning and another 
afterwards.  This conflicts with your advice, I realize; but the poor 
archivist faces a bit of a dilemma:

copy before cleaning, risking damage to groove VS cleaning before 
copying, risking loss of the recorded content. Please feel free to comment.

Experience here suggests that copying before cleaning does not always 
damage the recorded groove; in fact, in many cases the discs play 
better after cleaning, or at least play as well after as before. 
Perhaps it's not what can be seen under a microscope that counts, but 
rather the results of playing the disc(s).

Richard Warren

At 06:34 PM 3/25/2008, you wrote:
> Richard Warren wrote:
>
> > 1) Try playing discs as they are -- sometimes the goo doesn't sound 
> > (though it may clog the stylus and cause mis-tracking, in which 
> > case you can play each side in segments).
>
> NEVER try playing the disc without removing the whiteish deposits.
>
> Look at it under a microscope and you will see little crystals of 
> the stuff... YOU DON'T WANT TO TRY PLAYING A DISC WITHOUT GETTING 
> THAT CLEANED OFF THE SURFACE!!!  You risk severely damaging the 
> grooves if you do!
>
>
>
>
> ... Graham Newton
>
> --
> Audio Restoration by Graham Newton, http://www.audio-restoration.com
> World class professional services applied to tape or phonograph records for
> consumers and re-releases, featuring CEDAR's CAMBRIDGE processes.