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Compressed Air

I'll start with an update for the people who helped me figure out the problem with my cartridge alignment. It was VTA and after many adjustments it really sounds great! Now for something completely different . Compressed air for cleaning computer key boards etc. After cleaning all my records with a US cleaner , some of my records still had pops and crackles that could be heard (mainly between songs) so just for grins I started using a can of compressed air to blow off the records before using the brush and zero stat 3 and like magic no pops or crackling can be heard on 90% of my records! Some of these records are over 50/60 years old. Even the 10% that are beyond help sound cleaner? Any way I just thought I'd pass this along for anyone who might want to try it. One can will last for several dozen albums so it isn't to expensive either. Spin On!!!
scooby2do
dweller's avatar
dweller
3,786 posts
 
The stuff in the can probably isn't "air" so read the label for safety.
whart's avatar
whart
3,047 posts
 
The accelerant is essentially a refrigerant. You don’t want that on your records. I use canned air to blow water off one of my RCM surfaces (not the platter but the plinth), but for records, I use a manual "puffer" - it’s the large size Giottos Rocket Blaster. About 12 bucks American on Amazon. Once you get it, and play with it a little, you will develop a technique to use it- I tilt the record almost vertical in one hand, and use the ’puffer’ and gravity helps.
In other instances, I just puff the lint or surface detritus to the edge and blast it off. I prefer it to using brushes. This is of course after the record has been thoroughly cleaned using appropriate RCM/US methods, etc. and is not a substitute for deep cleaning. Also I find that a lot of inner sleeves seem to attract and leave lint on the record, even though there is no evident static charge. I’ve started using MA Records inners in the past year- and far less kaka on the records.
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