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Re: [ARSCLIST] Cleaning of grooved discs

Dear Margarida,

At the University of Wisconsin - Madison Mills Music Library, where I used to work, we used a weak solution of tergitol 15-S-7 and 15-S-9. These are mild surfactants, one of them releases water-soluble matter, the other gets the greasy stuff. We used a mix of 1ml to 500ml of distilled water of both (0.5ml of each, total 1:500 ratio). We also used a Keith Monks machine. I would recommend two rinses/vacuums.

The fluid was excellent on 78's, LPs, and stable acetate transcriptions. It was especially good at removing the vinegar syndrome dust that is so common with transcriptions. The transcriptions, of course, need to be handled very delicately in the cleaning machine, or cleaned by hand.

We did not have any shellac transcriptions in our collection, so I can't speak to it's efficacy there, but I would test on a blank side if one is available by hand with a cotton swab to see if it would remove any of the shellac. I would be wary.

The thing that is tricky is that it can leave a residue if you don't rinse properly, or you use too much of the tergitol in the fluid. There's a discussion on an earlier thread about tergitol that includes this issue and a couple of commercial sources. It seems pricey, but it lasts a long time...

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/arsclist/2008/02/msg00200.html

Best,

Garry Kling

On Jan 26, 2009, at 1:52 PM, Larry S Miller wrote:

Dear Margarida,

I have used Keith Monks, Nitty Gritty, and VPI record cleaning
machines going back to the ‘70s in the case of the KMAL. All are good
for varying reasons.
For lacquers, I prefer the Keith Monks because of its controlled
area of suction. However, I find it too slow for vinyl or shellac
discs. Then there is the thread feed. Perhaps that has been improved
in recent years, but I cannot think of the Keith Monks without lamenting
all the problems I’ve had with its thread feed.
I have an old Nitty Gritty 3.5 which is still going after all
these years. Since I actually enjoy scrubbing my LPs myself, it
satisfies my needs. However, in an institutional setting, it’s not
the machine I would choose to clean 10,000 discs.
For archives, I prefer the VPI HW-17F. (I’m awaiting one of
their new HW-27 Typhoons, so I can’t yet comment on it.) The HW-17F
is a rugged, reliable, and fast machine. However, its suction is so
strong, I hesitate to use it on lacquers.
Unfortunately, I do not have a single recommendation that
encompasses all your needs. I cannot comment upon Clearaudio,
AcousTech, Loricraft, Hanni, or any other brand of record cleaning
machine because I haven’t used them.
My personal favorite record cleaning fluid for vinyl is Nitty
Gritty Pure 2. Since I’m not a 78 collector, I won’t comment on
fluids for shellac discs.

	The above are my personal opinions and do not reflect the views
of any company or institution at which I’ve worked, past or present.

Larry Miller


Margarida Ullate Estanyol <mullate@xxxxxxx> 1/22/2009 7:31 AM >>>
Dear Listmembers,



The Biblioteca de Catalunya in Barcelona (Spain) has been using Nitty
Gritty cleaning fluids Pure1 (78 rpm) and Pure2 (vinyls) and machines
for many years, with pretty good results. In addition to our
experience,
our Preservation team is trying to gather all recommendations
regarding
the process of cleaning, and we'd very much appreciate yours.



We are not quite satisfied with Nitty Gritty services in Spain, so we
stopped buying them. Our cleaning machine is now Clearaudio SMART
MATRIX, but we still used Nitty Gritty fluids, applied manually on the
discs surface.



We gathered many information from specialised bibliography. Nitty
Gritty
in the USA kindky sent to us the components of both fluids Pure 1 and
2.
But we would like to ask ARSC members about their experience in
cleaning
old 78's, acetates, lacquer discs and vinyls.



In orther not to bother the list with this, you could send the answers
to the e-mail stated below.



Many thanks in advance,



Margarida Ullate i Estanyol

Fonoteca

Biblioteca de Catalunya

Hospital, 56

08001 Barcelona

+34 93270 2300 (2166)

mullate@xxxxxxx





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