Restoring Those Old Records

[moviebuff2]

Hi everyone:

Long long time ago, before the digital age, I used to wet play (completely wet the surface of a record with disc cleaning fluid - not tap water) old records with a device like Watts Dust Bug Record Cleaner (WDBRC) and simultaneously recorded it onto the best tape (cassette or reel-to-reel) with the best noise reduction (dbx, dolby, etc.) I could afford.

Then the records were dried and put away. And, I have to the tapes to listen to for many years.

Now, WDBRC has become almost extinct. My old one has been lost. And, I have a lot of records to restore.

I have seen something called Anti-static Record Cleaning Dust Bug on Ebay (http://cgi.ebay.com/ANTI-STATIC-RECORD-CLEANER-DUST-BUG-TONEARM-LINN-SME_W0QQitemZ1701...QQcmdZViewItem).

The device looks similar to the WDBRC, except it is also said to reduce drastically the static with its ground wirings.

It just sounds too fantastic to me. Is there any truth in the claim? I would like to hear your opinion before spending $30.

Thanks

[redwudz]

Interesting that the only place that seems to be available is on E-Bay.

I haven't seen the dust bug setup for some time. But I had friends that used them. They also had a small 'reportedly' nuclear device that attached to the tone arm to kill static.

But here's a site that seems to have a few record cleaning items and some really nice (And really, really expensive. ) turntables: http://www.needledoctor.com/Online-Store

They also have some fairly expensive record cleaning machines. Likely if a effective record cleaning tool exists they may have it.

[Cornucopia]

I'd steer clear of that ebay item and replace your cleaner with Discwasher setup. It's still around and still very good. Brush + Fluid = ~$20US, Fluid Refill = ~$5US.

Scott

[Des]

This could be promising:
http://www.sleevetown.com/vinyl-cleaning.shtml

Back in 'the day' I would wet play with distilled water sprayed onto the spinning LP with an atomizer. To dry the lp I would let it spin on the turntable while letting a surgical dressing drape onto the disk.

For badly damaged records a friendof mine would spray diluted windex (the vinegar windex) onto the vinyl and then rinse them off later with distilled water.

Memories.

--dES

[shardison]

There IS such a thing as radio-active anti-static devices. They can be purchased as small devices to remove static from whatever.... http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele084.html

I've used them for purposes other than recording, but sounds like a good idea.

[moviebuff2]

Hi everyone and thanks for the replies & humour.

Seriously, I think that device on Ebay is nothing but a brush that will continually dust the surface of a record. The ground wirings that appears in the picture is only there to support their claim; but in reality, it does not do anything. I have known the ground wirings as way to reduce humming, not static. That's why I felt the claim was too fantastic to believe.

The Nitty Gritty machines are simply too expensive for me.

What I have now are an old DiscWasher, an anti-static turntable mat by Omega One, and a carbon fiber brush by Ortofon. I also use - this may shock some of you - the electrostatic cloth that people use to sweep the floor. Of course, I use the clean one each time. For those dirty ol 78 rpms that I found at garage sales, the electrostatic cloth helps clean up lots of dirt.

I hope some day I will find a WDBRC.

[vhs?]

I use the watts.
I don't wet play.
I have found that once I get the record fully clean, I don't usually need to clean it again.
I use a low mass needle.
I am told there are some huge advances in turntables and cartridges.
Do you want my watts if I find a spare?

[moviebuff2]

Do you want my watts if I find a spare?

Sure, how much asre you asking for? Not too expensive, I hope.

I think we should use PM to transact our "little business". Right, Admins?

[moviebuff2]

BTW, everyone, about 15 years ago, when I was planning to transfer my records to digital form with MiniDisc (thank God, I did not), Stereo Review introduced a laser turntable.

Yes, the tone arm used laserbeam, not the needle, to read the grooves of a record. The magazine stated that since no needle would be used, there wouldn't be any pops or clicks.

I remember the name of the maker is Infinion (?) located in Hackenshack, NJ. The machine cost +US$15,000.

I tried to locate the company to get more info at that time but could not find it. Then came computers with all kind of softwares to record/restore/enhance the sound of the old vinyls. So I turned my interest away from laser turntable.

I am curious to hear your opinions on this type of turntable.

[redwudz]

Using a laser in place of a cartridge is an interesting idea. You would probably need would need two for the stereo grooves. On that site I linked to, they had one turntable for $19KUS and a cartridge for $8KUS, so the cost of a laser setup doesn't seem too unusual.

A DVD/CD laser just measures dark and light or reflectivity. For a record groove, you would have to measure distance (Depth of groove) and frequency (space between peaks and valleys) to extract the information, but that doesn't seem too difficult. They use lasers all the time for distance measurements.

The focusing mechanism in a DVD player sort of measures distance, so there is a type of output there that could be used. You could filter out dust 'noise' as not fitting into the profile information from the rest of the readings.

As you mentioned, someone has already done this in some way. One other advantage is that the speed of reading could be increased and the record played at a faster rate, then converted to a slower uniform rate when processed and stored.

[20/20]

For 30$ (wich isnt that much I think, I payed way more on
shipping buying on ebay time and time again), Id try it.
And then post your findings here

Another thingie I came across was called "clear groove"
or soemthing. You camn buy it on Turntablelab.com.
Its supposed to antistaic the record and remove dirt form grooves.
Its not a cleaner set but a cleaning fluid from a bottle
I tried it once, but didnt know how to properly clean a record,
now the label is gone, and it doesnt rellay sound better than first.
what did I do wrong?

May I ask what type of record needle you use?

What I do know is that non-hifi needles like the old (not the new) stanton 1507AL and EL needles and carts,
had a 20-20KHz range wich is prob. sufficient.
Yet due to the needle itself, the ruggedness (its a DJ neelde)
you get less static and have no crackles as when you use a hifi needle. This also helps the sound from your record and this needle introduces no wear.
Mind, do not use needles of today, those are just plein garbage especially some stantons that look like tonar banana or ortofons, they wreck your record at first play.

[edDV]

I have some bridge stock I may sell to the appropriate candidate.

I think you should donate your preserved press stock to a museum and negotiate with tax authorities on appropriate write off. Although the master tape may have superior quality, it doesn't represent the experience of the average audiophile buying an LP in the 19nn's. This experience can't be duplicated by simple remastering the tape in the vault.

[moviebuff2]

Correction: Infinion, not. The name is Finial Technology. I found it at Wikipedia, under laser turntable. The inventors have now joined the Japanese company ELP which produceslaser turntables.

I use Shure needle & cartridge (M91ED & N91ED). Not an expensive one but it does the job.

edDV, that's what my friends have been telling me regarding my 1990 Toyota Tercel EZ 3-door hatchback, too. LOL

[edDV]

I once rented a 1990 Toyota Tercel in Oahu, Hawaii. It was my only visit to Oahu and as such the Tercel preserves my experience of the island. There is no way a Honda or Prius could come close to duplicating that experience.

[Executioner]

I would like to know as well. I just purchased a USB Turntable and recorded a vinyl LP from my stock. Worked great. I also used a device called Milty Zerostat 3 that removes static on insulating surfaces such as records etc.
According to the box, "Zerostat 3 produces negative and positive ions that couple with the postive and negative static charges on an object's surface, effectively neutralizing them."
http://www.musicdirect.com/products/detail.asp?sku=amilty

As for the dust bug, I'm looking for a simple solution that will remove the dust on the record before I begin to play it. Anything out there that you would recommend?

[Dr_Layne]

BTW, everyone, about 15 years ago, when I was planning to transfer my records to digital form with MiniDisc (thank God, I did not), Stereo Review introduced a laser turntable.

Yes, the tone arm used laserbeam, not the needle, to read the grooves of a record. The magazine stated that since no needle would be used, there wouldn't be any pops or clicks.

I remember the name of the maker is Infinion (?) located in Hackenshack, NJ. The machine cost +US$15,000.

I tried to locate the company to get more info at that time but could not find it. Then came computers with all kind of softwares to record/restore/enhance the sound of the old vinyls. So I turned my interest away from laser turntable.

I am curious to hear your opinions on this type of turntable.

ELP now owns the patent to the Laser Turntable and they still produce them.

http://www.elpj.com/

[Alex_ander]

There's a good old method of cleaning a record from small vinyl particles in audio track: using PVA glue (the particles are then removed with the glue film).

[Executioner]

Well, I bought that Anti-static Record Cleaning Dust Bug on Ebay, and it works quite well. I could not believe the amount of dust it removed after I carefully cleaned the record before play. So with this dust bug and my anti-static gun, it has made a huge improvement in recording quality.