78s are usually dirty, as most weren't cleaned when they were purchased. They were played and set aside, moved to garages and attics, gathering insect poop and thick dust in half moon crescents. I switched from using a turntable set up to running under a warm tap first, because if there's a hidden problem like oil or other goo, you could spread that and the dirt all the way around the grooves. I check the 78 for cracks or chips, then rinse slowly under the tap with luke warm water. This lets the water take away the first layer of grime, then add a drop of mild dish soap or Dawn if there are a lot of fingerprints and grease. (Dawn Powerwash if dried food or tiny insect poops need to be dislodged.) Work the grooves with either my hand or a very soft bristle toothbrush in a circular motion, just never against the grain - this can be done holding the 78 by the left hand with the right able to scrub - just make sure you have control over it - or setting it on the towel. Then hold under the water again (mind the label) and slowly allow the water to thoroughly rinse out the soap - leftover soap will attract dust the way you've done it and also allow soap to build up on your needle and stylus. Once I'm satisfied the soap is gone, I place the 78 on a towel and dry it with a soft cotton rag or a micro fiber cloth in a circular motion. Check it often, as you will be lifting up more dirt than you realize. Make sure the color on the cloth is brown - if it is black, unless there is motor oil on it, you are pressing too hard and some shellac is coming off. Then flip the record and start the process over on the flip side. A little soap will travel from one side to the other so make sure there isn't any on the clean side before you set it down to scrub or dry.
I have watched a few cleaning videos and think yours is the best by far. It's well explained, slow and methodical. The solutions and methods used seem highly practical. Thanks.
I use a standard-size mason jar seal with the lip removed to clean 78s with the Groovmaster label saver device. Originally made for 45/33 only the mason jar seal fits nicely around the 78 label and raises the plates up enough to get a cloth underneath to reach the outer most grooves. Otherwise I clean with a sponge, tap water and Blue Dawn. Final rinse with distilled water. Air-dry one hour.
**The following is all chunks of copied text from various people.** The only 78s that absorb water are the ones made in the World War I and II era (1939-1947) which were made of substitute materials. Cheap binders were mixed with the shellac, and some of them might be water-soluble. I would be very careful even with water if the record was a twenties era Columbia or client label. Those are laminated discs with a paper or cardboard center layers. If water were to seep in there-well you'd get a fat record! Most 78s out there have spent the past several years in basements, garages, and who knows where. Before that they were used mostly in the home. Their condition now depends upon how they were played and treated as a new record....and on what type of machine they were played on....and then how they have been stored. A new record brought home in the early 1900's would have spent some time in a home that was smoked in, cooked in, heated with coal or wood. In the summer windows were open and there would be a daily film of dust covering everything. Immersing 78s is a bad idea - a lot of them are laminated, the core is made of a composition of glue and fine dust, often coal or slate dust. The early ones have a layer of paper below the playing surface, on later discs the paper was eliminated and the shellac went straight onto the core. Prolonged immersion can make the surface blister and flake off. A neutral soap like Ivory or Dawn is your only choices. Shellac does take up water (so does a sponge, and it doesn't dissolve, either) so it is wise to let a 78 dry for 24hr after cleaning. Never play shellac records wet. The material will get soft and the needle plowing through will permanently distoryor ruin the groove. Playing records "wet" increases friction, and the stylus gets hot. Personal experience has shown that playing 78s "wet" immediately after cleaning often results in fragments of shellac welding themselves to the stylus, and they are the very devil to get off.
Thank you so much for this info! My grandpa played and a jazz band and I was just given his 1940s collection of homemade 78s. Many of them the surface is flaking off thank you so much for this info! My grandpa played and a jazz band and I was just given his 1940s collection of homemade 78s. Many of them the surface is flaking off. ! How can I restore them without damaging them so I can listen to him play the piano. :-) p please reply. amelaweisbrod@gmail.com
Try this, it'll work even better. simply dilute some T.S.P. (Trisodium phosphate) with very warm (but not hot) water with mild dish detergent. Place a 78 flat on a table and soak the groove. Just use a cloth to wipe around and rinse in very warm water. 78's can hold embedded dirt very well. Just using soap will remove some but adding T.S.P. will remove the rest. Never use T.S.P. straight up on a 78 as it will remove the shellac coating, always dilute it. It's safe on vinyl as T.S.P. will not deteriorate vinyl. I've experimented with many things to clean records over the last 30 years and this works the best. As an example I left a vinyl record out to expose it to dust and smoke over a long period of time. When it was cleaned with ordinary soap and water and played back it sounded terrible. Then it was cleaned with T.S.P. and it removed all the remaining film and dirt and sounded perfect. Just thought I'd help
I am interested in trying this. How much do you use, what's the water to TSP ratio? Is this your own discovery or was it recommended to you elsewhere. Seems TSP is a good cleaner, including a good stain remover. Thank you.
I've been tooling around with adding vinegar to the mix since it works so well with vinyl and it's not corrosive. What seems to make a real difference is, rather than using a cloth, I use a modified vacuum wand attachment to suck the water and all the dirt away....rather than just moving it around.
thanks for the info! My dad was a big band DJ after WWII and has a ton of 78 stacked in our basement storage room. might take the rest of my life to clean em .... so many!
Love this way! I have a very rare 1923 record of George v and queen mary addressing the nation.it is very dirty and knowing now that it's worth 30 or 40 pounds I want to get it cleaned !
First of all, Great Idea for repurposing of an old Turntable... My recommendation is this. this is what I do 1. Very important. Check for any kind of Stress fractures before you begin. (Even the smallest fracture can cause the record to break just from handling it even lightly) 2. Do not use your finger on the label to drive the record around, (The oil and friction of your fingers can cause wear on the label where you are applying pressure to spin it. Use the outer part of the platter to drive the record around) 3. using a toothbrush works but is very time consuming. Get a medium bristle scrub brush (Walmart sells them in the cleaning supplies area) then take the brush and break it in to soften the bristles (I took mine and used it to clean a 4X4 concrete area) once the bristles are somewhat softened, it is ok to use on a Shellac record 4. if the record is very dirty, don't be afraid to apply pressure (Working the brush around following the grooves) you won't hurt or damage the surface. And sometimes you may need to repeat this process accouple of times Remember: shellac records are very forgiving about light surface marks due to the wide 3 mil groove. So you may see a lot of surface wear on some of these old records. my experience is that it does not affect play that much.
For cleaning 78's, I take a dishwashing sponge (one used ONLY for records, not for dishes or pots and pans) and some dishwashing soap while cleaning along the grooves (Avoid getting the labels wet since they can often be permanently marked from water damage depending on the quality of the label) and then I rinse off the soap while drying the record with a non-abrasive microfibre cleaning cloth. Sometimes, I dry off several records in a dishwashing rack. :)
For years I use Isopropanol alcohol dilute, 1 part solution to approx 100 parts water, just dab all over the disc one side at a time then wipe away using a soft cloth in the direction of the grooves. Gets rid of old smudges etc & appears to restore it's original shine. But never use undiluted this will bleach some labels like Philips making the 78 look whitish. Takes 2 to 3 minutes most, works perfectly & plays like new. For very grimy 78s I generally dump but if rare or valuable just do the same and repeat 2 or 3 times to get the desired result.
I was curious. After scrubbing the record with the soapy toothbrush and wiping it clean, why didn't you have to rinse it off with water? I'm thinking it would have left behind a residue which may have gotten caught in your stylus. It's really cool how it did pull a lot of dirt off of it. Have a great day.
He used a very small amount of liquid detergent compared to the water amount. Plus, it's Ivory soap, designed to be less harsh.I suppose you could do the process a last time with water only.
Easier to just wash it in the sink...not to mention the soap that will be left over! After washing throughly in the sink it is best to not touch the record with anything. You can take your hand and spread out the water droplets and then wave the record around like your fanning the king. Touching the record while wet with any type of cloth will deposit tiny specs of cloth in the grooves. Once the record is dried then you can sort of buff it to a shine with the cloth. My 2 cents.
Interesting. My only suggestion is to rotate disc in the opposite direction, when cleaning center to rim. The brush and grooves will be going in the same direction. What do you think?
I used a Zoom H2. It has four internal mics that can be set is various ways, including four channel surround sound. Didn't want that much ambient sound so I only had the front two mics on. It's a great little portable recorder for the price.
I use Palmolive anti-bacterial dust liquid, works well, you need to make sure the dish liquid has no hand lotion in it, or it will leave a residue on it
Great info. Although I here the music playing because the bristles are in the grooves picking up the wave form and transferring that to the handle. Could anyone here that as he had the brush on the record???🤣
you know something I have been cleaning my 78's for years with Mr Sheen polish and one of those yellow dusting cloths you dust around the house with.I can buff my 78's up so there nice and shiny and they play fab too! Other people have used WD40 and i did not like using that so i tried Mr Sheen polish and i use it all the time for my 78's! Each to there own i suppose:)
Does the DIRECTION of turning make any difference? Apparently, grooves are more (or entirely only so) worn out in one direction, theoretically making a difference as to the ease with which dust particles may be removed....
Quicker , faster, better. 50 / 50 plain Windex and water. Wet the grooves, scrub with a brush. Vac it off with a vacuum. Huge difference as to how the record will play...
Question.....would it not be easier to just get a cheap turntable from goodwill and strip off all the excess on the ends and plug it in and use that so you dont have to keep spinning it manually?
Do you have any evidence that conventional record cleaning solution damages shellac? I've been using that Radio Shack fluid for a quarter century and haven't noticed any problems, but not sure if I would. I find when I use dish soap, all the dust in the air instantly sticks to the record as soon as it's dry.
Cleaners that contain isopropyl alcohol can cause damage to shellac. For instance, if you apply isopropyl alcohol to its surface for a few minutes, you'll be able to see and feel the spot where it ate into the record. I'm guessing the solution you're using is made with tergitol or some similar detergent derivative. I've since switched to a tergitol-based solution and the vacuum method. I haven't yet used it on any 78s but I know it's perfectly safe on all types of records; I found it's also pretty good at fighting against static. Perhaps I should do an updated version to this video.
Jason Mitchell I'm pretty sure there's no alcohol in this stuff. But I really don't know what's in it. I'll have to see if I can find out. I do have a lot of records where there's evidence someone spilled a few drops of their drink (or sprayed champagne) and there are bubbles in the shellac now. At least I always assumed that's what causes them. Soon I hope to build the record cleaning machine that I've been planning to build for three decades. I've planned on using a tank of dish soap or something similar for immersion. But nothing's set in stone yet.
Jason Mitchell the Radio Shack stuff says "DI water and Quatanaryammonium Salt" I hope it doesnt dissolve shellac.. Don't forget about vinyl 78s :) ruclips.net/video/qPdoHMZXAxw/видео.html
4:11 "If you have a record vacuum to suck up all the water off, you can definitely use that. I don't, so.." I thought you were motioning your head down to suck it up yourself. :D
Simple method. I got some very old and vintage records from my grandma and some are very dirty. Way worse then you have shown. One is almost dirt. Hardly and record left because it is covered in so much.
The record I used was flea market fresh yet quite clean considering. 78's are naturally brittle. If stored incorrectly (e.g. I've come along too many collections that's been sitting in a stack one atop another since the 50's.) they will crack and break because the shellac material has no give. As long as it's still intact and treated very gently and given enough time this method can clean the dirtiest record.
I just got some flea market records. They were all stacked up in a pile and a few were broken, the sound is super scratchy and it almost overtakes the music. Is this dirt, or is it just too worn to properly play?
Hannah Batchelder It's impossible to say without seeing them but it can be amazing what a good cleaning can do. I had records that sounded exactly how you described that came to life after getting the decades of dirt out of the groove.
jasonmit I just did this yesterday and man! Do they sound a heck of a lot better! They still have pretty bad surface noise but that's down a whole lot. Thanks! :)
+Langus langus You don't. A 78 requires a needle made specifically for 78's. If you try playing a 78 with a needle intended for vinyl records, you will end up damaging both your record and needle. A lot of low-end turntables made these days say they can play both 33/45 and 78's but unless they have a dual needle stylus, they're lying.
+bobskie321 +ethan eade It may be able to play 78s, but the modern needle will be damaged by the record, so a larger needle is required for the coarse groove of 78s.
Brumley Prunk I’ve heard that method.. but what I use is pledge multi-surface cleaner that stuff works incredibly well then I actually polish the grooves with a polish and it greatly improves the sound and reduces hissing
@@thisoldchevy2371: I have been using the spray-polish method for over forty years on records of all ages from 1896 onwards and have never known it to fail or to do the slightest harm. Its effect on vinyl records (see Ian 123's comment above) is irrelevant, except in the case of certain American 78s of the 1940s which were actually made of a plastic material.This was never used east of the Atlantic.
78s are usually dirty, as most weren't cleaned when they were purchased. They were played and set aside, moved to garages and attics, gathering insect poop and thick dust in half moon crescents. I switched from using a turntable set up to running under a warm tap first, because if there's a hidden problem like oil or other goo, you could spread that and the dirt all the way around the grooves. I check the 78 for cracks or chips, then rinse slowly under the tap with luke warm water. This lets the water take away the first layer of grime, then add a drop of mild dish soap or Dawn if there are a lot of fingerprints and grease. (Dawn Powerwash if dried food or tiny insect poops need to be dislodged.) Work the grooves with either my hand or a very soft bristle toothbrush in a circular motion, just never against the grain - this can be done holding the 78 by the left hand with the right able to scrub - just make sure you have control over it - or setting it on the towel. Then hold under the water again (mind the label) and slowly allow the water to thoroughly rinse out the soap - leftover soap will attract dust the way you've done it and also allow soap to build up on your needle and stylus. Once I'm satisfied the soap is gone, I place the 78 on a towel and dry it with a soft cotton rag or a micro fiber cloth in a circular motion. Check it often, as you will be lifting up more dirt than you realize. Make sure the color on the cloth is brown - if it is black, unless there is motor oil on it, you are pressing too hard and some shellac is coming off. Then flip the record and start the process over on the flip side. A little soap will travel from one side to the other so make sure there isn't any on the clean side before you set it down to scrub or dry.
I have watched a few cleaning videos and think yours is the best by far. It's well explained, slow and methodical. The solutions and methods used seem highly practical. Thanks.
I use a standard-size mason jar seal with the lip removed to clean 78s with the Groovmaster label saver device. Originally made for 45/33 only the mason jar seal fits nicely around the 78 label and raises the plates up enough to get a cloth underneath to reach the outer most grooves. Otherwise I clean with a sponge, tap water and Blue Dawn. Final rinse with distilled water. Air-dry one hour.
These record cleaning videos are so relaxing to watch.
Add two or three cups of water...then he puts in half a cup. I still love the video.
**The following is all chunks of copied text from various people.**
The only 78s that absorb water are the ones made in the World War I and II era (1939-1947) which were made of substitute materials. Cheap binders were mixed with the shellac, and some of them might be water-soluble.
I would be very careful even with water if the record was a twenties era Columbia or client label. Those are laminated discs with a paper or cardboard center layers. If water were to seep in there-well you'd get a fat record!
Most 78s out there have spent the past several years in basements, garages, and who knows where. Before that they were used mostly in the home. Their condition now depends upon how they were played and treated as a new record....and on what type of machine they were played on....and then how they have been stored. A new record brought home in the early 1900's would have spent some time in a home that was smoked in, cooked in, heated with coal or wood. In the summer windows were open and there would be a daily film of dust covering everything.
Immersing 78s is a bad idea - a lot of them are laminated, the core is made of a composition of glue and fine dust, often coal or slate dust. The early ones have a layer of paper below the playing surface, on later discs the paper was eliminated and the shellac went straight onto the core. Prolonged immersion can make the surface blister and flake off. A neutral soap like Ivory or Dawn is your only choices.
Shellac does take up water (so does a sponge, and it doesn't dissolve, either) so it is wise to let a 78 dry for 24hr after cleaning. Never play shellac records wet. The material will get soft and the needle plowing through will permanently distoryor ruin the groove. Playing records "wet" increases friction, and the stylus gets hot. Personal experience has shown that playing 78s "wet" immediately after cleaning often results in fragments of shellac welding themselves to the stylus, and they are the very devil to get off.
Thank you so much for these details!
Thank you so much for this info! My grandpa played and a jazz band and I was just given his 1940s collection of homemade 78s. Many of them the surface is flaking off thank you so much for this info! My grandpa played and a jazz band and I was just given his 1940s collection of homemade 78s. Many of them the surface is flaking off. ! How can I restore them without damaging them so I can listen to him play the piano. :-) p please reply. amelaweisbrod@gmail.com
Try this, it'll work even better. simply dilute some T.S.P. (Trisodium phosphate) with very warm (but not hot) water with mild dish detergent. Place a 78 flat on a table and soak the groove. Just use a cloth to wipe around and rinse in very warm water. 78's can hold embedded dirt very well. Just using soap will remove some but adding T.S.P. will remove the rest. Never use T.S.P. straight up on a 78 as it will remove the shellac coating, always dilute it. It's safe on vinyl as T.S.P. will not deteriorate vinyl. I've experimented with many things to clean records over the last 30 years and this works the best. As an example I left a vinyl record out to expose it to dust and smoke over a long period of time. When it was cleaned with ordinary soap and water and played back it sounded terrible. Then it was cleaned with T.S.P. and it removed all the remaining film and dirt and sounded perfect. Just thought I'd help
I am interested in trying this. How much do you use, what's the water to TSP ratio? Is this your own discovery or was it recommended to you elsewhere. Seems TSP is a good cleaner, including a good stain remover. Thank you.
I've been tooling around with adding vinegar to the mix since it works so well with vinyl and it's not corrosive. What seems to make a real difference is, rather than using a cloth, I use a modified vacuum wand attachment to suck the water and all the dirt away....rather than just moving it around.
i watched a few of these and this looks the best. buy an old record player from a thrift store cheap as your surface
thanks for the info! My dad was a big band DJ after WWII and has a ton of 78 stacked in our basement storage room. might take the rest of my life to clean em .... so many!
Do you sell any?
Love this way! I have a very rare 1923 record of George v and queen mary addressing the nation.it is very dirty and knowing now that it's worth 30 or 40 pounds I want to get it cleaned !
First of all, Great Idea for repurposing of an old Turntable...
My recommendation is this. this is what I do
1. Very important. Check for any kind of Stress fractures before you begin. (Even the smallest fracture can cause the record to break just from handling it even lightly)
2. Do not use your finger on the label to drive the record around, (The oil and friction of your fingers can cause wear on the label where you are applying pressure to spin it. Use the outer part of the platter to drive the record around)
3. using a toothbrush works but is very time consuming. Get a medium bristle scrub brush (Walmart sells them in the cleaning supplies area) then take the brush and break it in to soften the bristles (I took mine and used it to clean a 4X4 concrete area) once the bristles are somewhat softened, it is ok to use on a Shellac record
4. if the record is very dirty, don't be afraid to apply pressure (Working the brush around following the grooves) you won't hurt or damage the surface. And sometimes you may need to repeat this process accouple of times
Remember: shellac records are very forgiving about light surface marks due to the wide 3 mil groove. So you may see a lot of surface wear on some of these old records. my experience is that it does not affect play that much.
For cleaning 78's, I take a dishwashing sponge (one used ONLY for records, not for dishes or pots and pans) and some dishwashing soap while cleaning along the grooves (Avoid getting the labels wet since they can often be permanently marked from water damage depending on the quality of the label) and then I rinse off the soap while drying the record with a non-abrasive microfibre cleaning cloth. Sometimes, I dry off several records in a dishwashing rack. :)
Using a shop vac to suck up the dirty water will make that record very very clean. Brushing the grooves works very well. I do the same.
For years I use Isopropanol alcohol dilute, 1 part solution to approx 100 parts water, just dab all over the disc one side at a time then wipe away using a soft cloth in the direction of the grooves. Gets rid of old smudges etc & appears to restore it's original shine.
But never use undiluted this will bleach some labels like Philips making the 78 look whitish.
Takes 2 to 3 minutes most, works perfectly & plays like new. For very grimy 78s I generally dump but if rare or valuable just do the same and repeat 2 or 3 times to get the desired result.
Nice video. Good tips
I've got to do that. Been putting it off too long. 300 plus records.
I was curious. After scrubbing the record with the soapy toothbrush and wiping it clean, why didn't you have to rinse it off with water? I'm thinking it would have left behind a residue which may have gotten caught in your stylus. It's really cool how it did pull a lot of dirt off of it. Have a great day.
He used a very small amount of liquid detergent compared to the water amount. Plus, it's Ivory soap, designed to be less harsh.I suppose you could do the process a last time with water only.
@@toonman361 Yes - even a small amount of soap that dries could attract more dust to the grooves.
Easier to just wash it in the sink...not to mention the soap that will be left over!
After washing throughly in the sink it is best to not touch the record with anything. You can take your hand and spread out the water droplets and then wave the record around like your fanning the king. Touching the record while wet with any type of cloth will deposit tiny specs of cloth in the grooves. Once the record is dried then you can sort of buff it to a shine with the cloth.
My 2 cents.
I rinse them in a bucket of rain water, rotating them label above water line by hand
Interesting. My only suggestion is to rotate disc in the opposite direction, when cleaning center to rim. The brush and grooves will be going in the same direction. What do you think?
I used a Zoom H2. It has four internal mics that can be set is various ways, including four channel surround sound. Didn't want that much ambient sound so I only had the front two mics on. It's a great little portable recorder for the price.
I use Palmolive anti-bacterial dust liquid, works well, you need to make sure the dish liquid has no hand lotion in it, or it will leave a residue on it
Great info. Although I here the music playing because the bristles are in the grooves picking up the wave form and transferring that to the handle. Could anyone here that as he had the brush on the record???🤣
you know something I have been cleaning my 78's for years with Mr Sheen polish and one of those yellow dusting cloths you dust around the house with.I can buff my 78's up so there nice and shiny and they play fab too! Other people have used WD40 and i did not like using that so i tried Mr Sheen polish and i use it all the time for my 78's! Each to there own i suppose:)
Never use oil or oil products on records.
Does the DIRECTION of turning make any difference? Apparently, grooves are more (or entirely only so) worn out in one direction, theoretically making a difference as to the ease with which dust particles may be removed....
Great video.
Quicker , faster, better. 50 / 50 plain Windex and water. Wet the grooves, scrub with a brush. Vac it off with a vacuum. Huge difference as to how the record will play...
Do not use Windex on your 78s, folks. It might not seem to hurt them at first, but it will ruin them.
Chyba już wiem jaki los spotka Narcyza z Foniki,zrobię z niego myjkę do winyli:)
Question.....would it not be easier to just get a cheap turntable from goodwill and strip off all the excess on the ends and plug it in and use that so you dont have to keep spinning it manually?
MrWolfSnack No. Most turntable motors don't have enough torque and will stall.
Good info. Thank you.
Do you have any evidence that conventional record cleaning solution damages shellac? I've been using that Radio Shack fluid for a quarter century and haven't noticed any problems, but not sure if I would.
I find when I use dish soap, all the dust in the air instantly sticks to the record as soon as it's dry.
Cleaners that contain isopropyl alcohol can cause damage to shellac. For instance, if you apply isopropyl alcohol to its surface for a few minutes, you'll be able to see and feel the spot where it ate into the record.
I'm guessing the solution you're using is made with tergitol or some similar detergent derivative. I've since switched to a tergitol-based solution and the vacuum method. I haven't yet used it on any 78s but I know it's perfectly safe on all types of records; I found it's also pretty good at fighting against static.
Perhaps I should do an updated version to this video.
Jason Mitchell I'm pretty sure there's no alcohol in this stuff. But I really don't know what's in it. I'll have to see if I can find out. I do have a lot of records where there's evidence someone spilled a few drops of their drink (or sprayed champagne) and there are bubbles in the shellac now. At least I always assumed that's what causes them.
Soon I hope to build the record cleaning machine that I've been planning to build for three decades. I've planned on using a tank of dish soap or something similar for immersion. But nothing's set in stone yet.
Jason Mitchell the Radio Shack stuff says "DI water and Quatanaryammonium Salt" I hope it doesnt dissolve shellac..
Don't forget about vinyl 78s :) ruclips.net/video/qPdoHMZXAxw/видео.html
Thanks for simple technique. How to clean 33 & 45 RPM records ?
I use the vacuum method with Tergykleen. ruclips.net/video/wKQxHQBPaC4/видео.html
Micro towel.
4:11 "If you have a record vacuum to suck up all the water off, you can definitely use that. I don't, so.." I thought you were motioning your head down to suck it up yourself. :D
What mic are you using? The sound is great!
Yeah, there's really no need. Plus the Ivory soap acts as a conditioner.
You should rinse all the soap off to not just wipe it.
Turkeydoodlers L. I’m not sure if he knows this but shellac (what 78s are made of) hates water
This is the method I use for cleaning all my records except it is just regular tap water
Me too!
No rinse?
So, what kind of soap do you use? Specific?
Watch the video. Ivory.
Simple method. I got some very old and vintage records from my grandma and some are very dirty. Way worse then you have shown. One is almost dirt. Hardly and record left because it is covered in so much.
The record I used was flea market fresh yet quite clean considering. 78's are naturally brittle. If stored incorrectly (e.g. I've come along too many collections that's been sitting in a stack one atop another since the 50's.) they will crack and break because the shellac material has no give. As long as it's still intact and treated very gently and given enough time this method can clean the dirtiest record.
Well these records were stored in boxes on top of piles and thrown around for 30 years. Some were broken which such but to be expeccted.
I just got some flea market records. They were all stacked up in a pile and a few were broken, the sound is super scratchy and it almost overtakes the music. Is this dirt, or is it just too worn to properly play?
Hannah Batchelder It's impossible to say without seeing them but it can be amazing what a good cleaning can do. I had records that sounded exactly how you described that came to life after getting the decades of dirt out of the groove.
jasonmit I just did this yesterday and man! Do they sound a heck of a lot better! They still have pretty bad surface noise but that's down a whole lot. Thanks! :)
I got a better idea:
Mount the record on your car, have a friend ready with water hose, and FLOOR IT!!
How do you play 78 on a rehular turntable?
+Langus langus You don't. A 78 requires a needle made specifically for 78's. If you try playing a 78 with a needle intended for vinyl records, you will end up damaging both your record and needle.
A lot of low-end turntables made these days say they can play both 33/45 and 78's but unless they have a dual needle stylus, they're lying.
jasonmit good to know, cuz i have some shelac at home and need to know how to play iz
+jasonmit
no I have a record player that has a modern needle on it and it plays 78 discs to
+ethan eade
You can but it has some annoying hiss. Using a 3 mil 78 RPM stylus reduces the hiss.
+bobskie321 +ethan eade It may be able to play 78s, but the modern needle will be damaged by the record, so a larger needle is required for the coarse groove of 78s.
I’d be careful with water. Shellac does not like water
Brumley Prunk I’ve heard that method.. but what I use is pledge multi-surface cleaner that stuff works incredibly well then I actually polish the grooves with a polish and it greatly improves the sound and reduces hissing
@@thisoldchevy2371: I have been using the spray-polish method for over forty years on records of all ages from 1896 onwards and have never known it to fail or to do the slightest harm. Its effect on vinyl records (see Ian 123's comment above) is irrelevant, except in the case of certain American 78s of the 1940s which were actually made of a plastic material.This was never used east of the Atlantic.
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Thanks and you are cute by the way.
when i was a kid in the 1970's we would find those 78" records and throw them at each other they shattered into a million pieces lol
I don't want to be prissy, but I find that really sad--not funny at all.
monelle Yeah I agree it's just destroying antiques
Can I throw some at your face?
You were a destructive little shit. You don’t think like that now that you’ve matured, right?
That was STUPID