Record-playing Rituals?

It is quite possible that the vinyl itself is damaged from repeated plays on an improperly aligned phono system. It would not be beyond comprehension that such a system may have been tracking at too high of a force and literally "carved" its' way through the grooves. If that is the case, there is nothing that you can do correct the situation as the vinyl itself is damaged.

Other than that, it sounds as if you purchase lp's that may be in various conditions. You might want to try a trick that Michael Fremer recently investigated and recommends. That is, using a portable hand steamer to loosen the grit followed up by a thorough scrubbing and a rinse.

I also think that Buggtussel's "vinylzyme gold" record cleaner might be worth checking out for such situations. It is enzyme based and may work on some specific "grime" that other alcohol based cleaners can't remove. Sean
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I agree that some sort of manual cleaning, which might include the steam procedure Sean mentions but must include a velvet brush wet scrub, would be in order. I'm a little unclear on this, but since you talk about a 10" side, are these 78's, or another type of record not made of PVC? If they are shellac, I would think the solvents you used in machine cleaning them are probably responsible for any softened condition that might exist at this point. But if they are PVC, or not really softened chemically, then you likely just need to clean them a little more vigoruosly by hand on a flat surface, maybe with a solution that has some detergent component to it. A lot of the surface noise will stay I'm sure, but you should be able to play the records without accumulating gunk on the stylus.

These 10" LPs are not the typical softer vinyl we know but the stiffer, less yielding vinylite. The LPs are remarkably unworn except for the solvent use. Steam cleaning and brushing may be in order after the various VPI cleanings. My friend suggested pure mineral spirits added to water and fotoflo. Thanks for your suggestions.

(P.S. Honest ebay advertising would also have been helpful).

After 10 years of spending hours cleaning and scrubbing dirty garrage sales records, you will have to pay me to clean another. I stopped buying used records also, unless if they are spotless. I got too old to continue to be anal-retentive!

thanks guys