Mofi Cleaners

The reason I ask......

I had a coupon for record cleaning products to use by 12/31....and after the horror of finding white stains on my 45rpm Blue Note re-issues that weren't there when I first got the LP's, I felt compelled to stock up on the cleaning supplies. The SDC and SRW did very little :(

The person at MD steered me away from the Premier cleaner, but then informed me that he ofter uses the following cleaning routine: enzyme-SDC-SRW-rinse, as well as SDC-SRW-rinse. I ended up only buying an extra bottle of rinse (along with replacement pads and VPI pickup tubes)but his suggestion seemed to counter the conventional wisdom previously posted on this forum.

I'm hoping the Enzyme (or perhaps a bit of alchohol)will be effective in removing some of these damn stains....otherwise I'll go back to the idea of trying the Premier :(

Has anyone tried using the Mofi SDC and SRW between the Enzyme and final rinse, or is this totally counter-productive?

Should I be using a different vacuum pick up tube for the SDC/SRW than the Enzyme/Pure?

Yes, especially for the final rinse.

Thanks for the tips, guys. I wish I had more info about the new Mofi washes before I re-ordered the old stuff.

Doug - I'll definitely use fresh brushes for the Enzyme and final rinses.

John - I think that I might try your current method: Use up the old products as a "pre-cleaner" for the Enzyme and Pure Rinse on the used/older LP's. For my newer LP's I can just go to the Enzyme and Rinse.

Should I be using a different vacuum pick up tube for the SDC/SRW than the Enzyme/Pure?

Roblanger-

My cleaning setup is similar-RRL (MoFi) SD and SW, MoFi brushes, VPI 16.5, etc. I also was able to try pre-production samples of the MoFi Enzyme and Pure, and the results were, in many cases, astonishing-and for the better. The bottom line is that I too am re-cleaning the whole damn collection. A lot of work, but believe me, worth it.

My regimen? I start with the SD (for thrift-store specials only), then SW, then Enzyme, then the rinse. I use a kitchen timer (3/4 minutes) for the enzyme so that I don't accidentally let the Enzyme dry on the LP.

Suggestions:

*I use a separate MoFi brush for each fluid, but remember that you can buy replacement pads for 5 bucks the pair to 'convert' your existing brushes.

*I bought 5 gallons of lab-grade reagent water for 60 dollars delivered to my door. This reduces the cost of the rinse cycle from 20.00 quart to 3.00 a quart, and it seems to be the equal of the MoFi.

Anyway, this works for me. Perhaps a bit excessive, but still a long, long way from the wacko Fremer Method outlined on his web site.

Mofi Super Record Wash's immediate predecessor, RRL Super Vinyl Wash, certainly had surfactants - and they're the devil to remove.

Those old RRL solutions did make for very quiet surfaces, but at the cost of reduced dynamics, soft bass and smothered HF's. If you like that kind of effect, it's the kind of effect you'd like!

I've tried beta samples of pure MoFi water, with no additives of any kind. Best water I've ever used. I continue to use it today.

Use a new, dedicated brush for your final rinse solution. If you don't, you're wasting your money.

Thanks for the info!

Unfortuately, I still have almost-full bottles of the Super Deep Cleaner and Super Record Wash and I would hate to waste them. For me, they seemed to work pretty well on mostly all but the troublesome LP's.

Does the old Record Wash also have surfactants? Since I now have 3 brushes I was hoping to use 1 with the Enzyme, 1 with the Deep Cleaner on records that I decide to use that on, and 1 for the Pure Rinse or Super Record Wash. I'm wondering if I should pick up an additional brush?

Good move on ordering the new enzyme solution. It easily outperforms their older products IME. So do the enzyme based solutions from AIVS and Walker.

DO NOT use your old brushes. The old MoFi solutions contained surfactants that left an audible film on the records. The new products don't do that, but if you use a contaminated brush they will.

I threw my old MoFi stuff away. Compared to AIVS it didn't clean very well. Even worse, the film it left needed enzymes to remove. I'm half way through re-cleaning 2,000 records to get that film off. Pain in the neck and the wallet, but sonically worth the trouble.