Do I need a machine to clean ?

If you don't mind the extra elbow grease and a bit more noise and you're handy, definitely build your own vaccum cleaner.

Now that we have central vaccum I cannibalized my wife's old Hoover upright. Then I used some scrap cabinet plywood and mounted the motor and hose outlet to a platform that is roughly 12" x 16". From there it was easy to build the sides and completely enclose everything. I used my bandsaw to spin some circles out of MDF for the platter and a label cover that is used to spin the record. A trip to Home Depot to get the lazy susan bearing and a dowel for the spindel. Then I modified one of the hose attachements with a slit down the length and lined both sides with velvet. The whole thing cost me about $40.

I do use a VPI replacement brush for a 16.5 cleaner to scrub with, Record Research cleaners and the little disposable VPI brushes as applicators.

I can't say that this works as good as a commercial cleaner but it has made a big improvement in my analog enjoyment.

Question: Are any of these machines practical or versatile anough so as to clean one record at a time or do they make sens, economiquelly or otherwise, only when a series of record need to be clean at one time ?

Phoutin - I generally clean only one LP at a time on the Nitty Gritty. The whole process takes less than a minute, which is the beauty of these machines. Sometimes I clean several LPs at a time, but the machine tends to heat up a bit if used for more than a few LPs per cleaning session.

Rshak- Agreed and neat, yet does'nt the machine required some kind of assistance once your done with it ? I know my juicer can deliver a carrot juice in less than a minute, yet the thing's gona be in a sorry state the next time if I dont devote some time cleaning it afterward, each time that its being used.

I have tried 'em all save the Keith Monks and the other super-high-cost cleaning machines. Without a doubt, the best method is the Disc Doctor System, and I say this not out of user pride, and nor do I enjoy cleaning records this way. But if you really want a clean record, this is the best way save the tooth brush method, which is far more than I am willing to deal with to clean a record. I'd go back to CD before that.

The other day I asked my friend to bring over a recent copy of a record he had purchased specifically to use as a demo disc for various systems. It was used, but upon close inspection, it looked pristine. Nevertheless, as we all know, looks can be deceiving: Rice Krispies.

He had cleaned it thoroughly with a very powerful homemade vac and his own solution, several times over. He is an engineer, and a fastidious one at that, and his DIY cleaner is far more powerful then is the thing NG sells (and which I bought). Anyway, I also gave this LP a crack on my own RCM (Nitty Gritty), just in case the fluid was somehow at fault: Rice Krispies.

That was weeks ago. Fast Forward to earlier this week:

I showed him the simple DDr. method, and in 120 seconds his record was getting a final rinse on my Nitty Gritty. His jaw dropped when we heard the results. Sure there was some noise on the record, but nowhere near its previous state, and now he has an LP that is at least worth what he paid for it, in that it can be enjoyed, and is in excellent condition and near mint on many grooves. In any event, its conditon was transformed from a blight to a light.

Another nice thing about the DD is that once done you only need to store it. A second cleaning is rarely necessary, and usually redundant so long as you use an anti-static brush before and after playing.

The only other solution that comes close is the Record Research Labs, but having used those and all the rest, the Disc Doctor is the best. It is FAR less cumbersome than the directions might lead you to believe, mostly becuase the brushes really take to the grooves. You feel as if your work is going to be worthwhile.

It is so good that any records previously cleaned with anything else get a DD treatment before they are played on my better cartridges.

As an aside, I run a Shure V15VxMR as a budget cartridge and will often not bother cleaning some of my non DD cleaned records, preferring to deal with the few blemishes here and there in the interest of saving time.

But, for ALL critical listenening, the better arm/cart/table is fired up and even new LP's get DD'd. This is the only "absolute truth" in vinyl, at least until somebody can invent and market a RCM that does the DD one better, I state it without equivocation. Wish it weren't so, BTW, b/c I HATE to clean records!