Agaton Sax
Active member
When most abandoned vinyl records in the 80s I soldiered on, never leaving the medium. I never liked it much and found turntables ugly, records unwieldy and alien but digital, especially early digital was really not for my ears and tastes.
But LP records were noisy and static. Early band aids including a Technics compound and Philips anti-static gun. They were mostly like modern plasters. That is useless. I got my first record cleaner, a manual Nitty Gritty, in the 90s. I very quickly determined that I hated high alcohol content solutions as they sounded harsh and accentuated the hated clicks and pops. The Nitty was replaced by the motor-driven 1.5i and then replaced by a Dr Watson, only to be resurrected later, For fluid a whole plethora of homebrews followed. Considering that I once, in Chemistry 1, managed to concoct a lava-like material that set the lab alight I am maybe not the best person for such self-brews.
Nevertheless, I persisted and ended up with a disastrous run of L' Art Du Son cleaner. Ruinously expensive, this stuff sounded great in the short term but over time muddled and muffled, leaving a residue of sludge in the grooves. Given my total lack of prowess in Chemistry, this may be more operator-induced than the product per se.
I found the Mo-Fi cleaners to be best but the lack of surfactant was a pain as the stuff would pool on a record. Static remained a problem and the ruinously expensive Furutec de Stat did every good job. A $5 plasma lighter did an equally good job.
However, being exposed to ultrasonic cleaners in my day job led to a light bulb when these became available for vinyl. I baulked at the prices and adapted, with the selfless help of a now much-maligned fellow traveller to convert a medical US bath to an LP-friendly rotisserie. This was in 2019. A medical enzyme, surfactant, and US-friendly solution worked well. Too well? I quickly found that records still needed to be vacuumed. The brilliant Watson could not handle a wet on both sides record and the Nitty reappeared. Still, this stuff had to be removed more, so the vacuum with the Nitty was followed by a manual bathing in distilled water and a vacuum with the Watson. Effective yes and sounding WOW. Previously thought unplayable records became stars.
But the Static! Yew, it was bad. The Furutech and/or lighter were only effective for a short period, and by song 2 static was back. $ 1500 for a Japanese hovering de-statter seemed a trifle dear. Amazon to the rescue. A Chinese-made desk de stat, a microphone stand and a bit of fiddling gave excellent results at R 2000. The static problem is permanently solved. The record player is in a separate room from the listening room so the Hovercraft-like noise is not an issue.
But I listened to fewer and fewer records. Cleaning records now was a lot of work and took forever. I am lazzzy.
So entered Ben with an announcement that he is bringing in the Hummin Guru. It also dried a record after cleaning. So my lazzzy eyes flickered. I won't be as good as my laborious process but.... It arrived. Compact and it still makes noise (less) and takes time (less) but it is good for lazy listening? Wrong! In many ways, it is better. Most new or my own LPs are relatively clean. They don't need enzymatic and other stuff. But just distilled water in the HummingGuru and wow. On previously washed records the sound becomes shatteringly good. Static is less. That suction thing I so believed in. Is that the culprit?
Whatever. With the permanent anti-static fan and the Hummin Guru vinyl has now surpassed digital again in my system. It is a very much quieter surface and the combination of the 2 Ultrasonic cleaners can make most records into stars. At this moment the suction cleaners are not necessary. I now believe that these cause more problems than I realised.
I bought the HunninGuru out of laziness but now marvel more at the unexpected sonic advances it brings
But LP records were noisy and static. Early band aids including a Technics compound and Philips anti-static gun. They were mostly like modern plasters. That is useless. I got my first record cleaner, a manual Nitty Gritty, in the 90s. I very quickly determined that I hated high alcohol content solutions as they sounded harsh and accentuated the hated clicks and pops. The Nitty was replaced by the motor-driven 1.5i and then replaced by a Dr Watson, only to be resurrected later, For fluid a whole plethora of homebrews followed. Considering that I once, in Chemistry 1, managed to concoct a lava-like material that set the lab alight I am maybe not the best person for such self-brews.
Nevertheless, I persisted and ended up with a disastrous run of L' Art Du Son cleaner. Ruinously expensive, this stuff sounded great in the short term but over time muddled and muffled, leaving a residue of sludge in the grooves. Given my total lack of prowess in Chemistry, this may be more operator-induced than the product per se.
I found the Mo-Fi cleaners to be best but the lack of surfactant was a pain as the stuff would pool on a record. Static remained a problem and the ruinously expensive Furutec de Stat did every good job. A $5 plasma lighter did an equally good job.
However, being exposed to ultrasonic cleaners in my day job led to a light bulb when these became available for vinyl. I baulked at the prices and adapted, with the selfless help of a now much-maligned fellow traveller to convert a medical US bath to an LP-friendly rotisserie. This was in 2019. A medical enzyme, surfactant, and US-friendly solution worked well. Too well? I quickly found that records still needed to be vacuumed. The brilliant Watson could not handle a wet on both sides record and the Nitty reappeared. Still, this stuff had to be removed more, so the vacuum with the Nitty was followed by a manual bathing in distilled water and a vacuum with the Watson. Effective yes and sounding WOW. Previously thought unplayable records became stars.
But the Static! Yew, it was bad. The Furutech and/or lighter were only effective for a short period, and by song 2 static was back. $ 1500 for a Japanese hovering de-statter seemed a trifle dear. Amazon to the rescue. A Chinese-made desk de stat, a microphone stand and a bit of fiddling gave excellent results at R 2000. The static problem is permanently solved. The record player is in a separate room from the listening room so the Hovercraft-like noise is not an issue.
But I listened to fewer and fewer records. Cleaning records now was a lot of work and took forever. I am lazzzy.
So entered Ben with an announcement that he is bringing in the Hummin Guru. It also dried a record after cleaning. So my lazzzy eyes flickered. I won't be as good as my laborious process but.... It arrived. Compact and it still makes noise (less) and takes time (less) but it is good for lazy listening? Wrong! In many ways, it is better. Most new or my own LPs are relatively clean. They don't need enzymatic and other stuff. But just distilled water in the HummingGuru and wow. On previously washed records the sound becomes shatteringly good. Static is less. That suction thing I so believed in. Is that the culprit?
Whatever. With the permanent anti-static fan and the Hummin Guru vinyl has now surpassed digital again in my system. It is a very much quieter surface and the combination of the 2 Ultrasonic cleaners can make most records into stars. At this moment the suction cleaners are not necessary. I now believe that these cause more problems than I realised.
I bought the HunninGuru out of laziness but now marvel more at the unexpected sonic advances it brings
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