Di I really need to clean my LP's?

Not entirely new to this.

I’m still using a 45 year old Discwasher I bought new with a B&O Beogram TT.

Lately I’ve been using an ultrasound cleaner (basic 12" inside 3 transducer model from Amazon along with a clamp-on 2-disc spinner gadget) and getting VERY good results considering all the stuff that settles out at the bottom of the tank.

I do this with new records.

Why?

When I use the discwasher on NEW, out of the wrapping - still, oddly, PAPER, especially for 40-50 year old LP’s - I get a YUGE collection of white dust at the outer rim of the disc with less towards the center.

So, yeah, I clean them first, and go over them with a carbon fiber brush very lightly after playing to pick up any subatomic particles (🤨) released by the diamond-vinyl interface van der Waals forces.

I bought a NEW in plastic, Miles Davis live at the Blackhawk LP from 1957 and, upon opening, found there was NO paper liner at all and the disc had FUSED to the outer cardboard (non-returnable purchase).

I FINALLY found one Mint- that’s just fine, but it took me FOUR tries to get that as the other two were damaged by bad styli and had ingrained dust that jsut wouldn’t come off. Some discs are like that.

I put ALL my LP’s in archival quality rice-paper backed liners since around 1980 and again lately at the recommendation of a former patient who worked at the Nat’l library of congress as an audio archivist (he gave me a CD once with the entirety of the Nixon tapes, including the missing 18 minutes which he and many others had attempted to recover to no avail, and White House recordings of Duke Ellington, Johnny and June Cash, others).

I think they’re a good investment as the fewdozen records I kept and filed away 40 years ago have very little to no dust or noise on them.

Clean your records, store them properly, ignore your well-meaning friend.

JMHO.

my recent post was misunderstood, i meant to say that UNLESS one lives in a sterile  room with clean protocols, one NEEDS to ALWAYS clean one's records BEFORE each use. 

Bottom line just clean the damn things....!

@emrofsemanon , I have been doing this since the age of four. My first record was a Howdy Doody song book compilation. I still sign one of the songs to myself once in a while. I have been through all stages of record care from complete destruction (by modern standards) within 10 plays ( remember those ceramic cartridges that track at 5 grams) to records that seem immortal. I have gone through all stages of record care from doing absolutely nothing through the Discwasher/Zerostat days on into conductive sweep arms, a Spin Clean and now a Clearaudio Double Matrix.

As you can tell if you look at my woodworking skill I am an anal perfectionist. You have to be to produce work like that, goes with the territory. 

If your jackets are clean and not a depository for dust (you always have to change them) and you brush any incidental dust off the record before or during and after play. Assuming you are not buying used records and you cartridge is appropriately set up you do not need to go any farther unless you live in a horrendous environment with cigarette smoke, cooking fumes or other pollution. 

What people seen in their dirty water is predominantly surface dust that could easily have been removed by other means.

Having said all this since I have been using the Double Matrix general hygiene around the turntable has been better. My sweep arm hardly ever picks up anything and no dust collects on the mat or table itself which is nice. Am I improving the life span of my records? I do not think so. Is it worth $6500? Absolutely not. Is it worth $3000? I do not think so. I also always play with my dust cover down. I will NEVER buy a turntable without a dust cover. I consider them mandatory. 

As I have said on numerous occasions with good record handling skills, clean anti static sleeves, a dust cover, a pollution free environment and a $30.00 conductive sweep arm, assuming you are not buying used records, you can get away just fine.