Re: [AV Media Matters] Removing Candle Wax!!

[rwarren@pantheon.yale.edu]

Dear Mr. Jaye,

You may be able to lift or pick off the wax with a clean fingernail,
wooden toothpick, or some other soft, relatively-thin-edged tool
(one colleague swears by bamboo for delicate vinyl record work),
especially if the discs are in warm (85 - 90 F.) conditions or
themselves slightly warmed (best not to go over 110 F. or there is
risk of warping, which is present not far above 90 F). If the tool
edge is kept parallel to the surface of the disc and you proceed
with caution, you should be able to lift some or much of the wax off
without sonic damage to the groove modulations. You might then try
cleaning the residue with one of the commercial cleaners (such as
Disc Doctor fluid) since these act like detergents and should be
able to wash away at least small amounts of wax. Then you might move
to playback attempts alternating with re-washings.

(In the Bad Old Days, some people even used furniture or shoe
polishes containing waxes on their 78-rpm shellac discs to reduce
surface noise: giving us, their successors, fits of horror over what
the other ingredients of the polishes were and what their
consequences might be, besides clogged pickups. I always remember
the dealer who hawked his own mix of polish with the records in his
shop; none of us nearby ever bought records from him for fear that
he'd already used it on his stock).

Good luck with whatever method(s) you choose, Richard Warren

At 02:34 PM 03/06/00 -0800, you wrote:
>Hi Gang
>
>I have here a two disc vinyl LP set where the client (or, more likely, a
>previous owner) has managed to get candle wax in the grooves - one is
>tempted to wonder how he managed to do this ;-)
>
>Whatever, it's down to me to get it out - and I haven't a clue where to
>start.  I can think of a couple approaches, but I thought I'd try the
>collective wisdom of the group before trying to re-invent the wheel
>unnecessarily.
>
>So... anyone had this problem and got a ready-made solution for it?
>
>
>Graeme Jaye
>gjaye@retemail.es
>
>Personal-CD - Affordable Audio Restoration
>
>http://www.personal-cd.com