Lp cleaning - scrubbing records - any downside?

Eweedhome scrubbing to hard can drive debris further into the grooves if the lp is really in bad shape. After seeing the steaming thread so long here i took the plunge and have to say it works. I just picked up some very grungy lps and was amazed when i steamed and played them. You may want to look into steaming also. Using it in conjunction with Walkers Prelude.

Hello Eweed/All
Like you, I use the Mo-Fi brush pads, and use one for each of either a 3, or 4 step AIVS cleaning process on my VPI 16.5.

The combination of letting th fluids do thier job, and then a very light scrub seems to work perfectly for me.

When I say light scrubbing, I do not apply any downforce to the LP. All I do, is let the weight of the brush pad, and its fibers do the work. I do stop Platter, scrub in a back, and forth motion 6-10 times following the LP grooves, scrub roughly A 1/3rd of the LP's surface, rotate Platter to access easily the following 1/3rd, and so on, until entire LP has been scrubbed, then vacuum, and onto the next step.

In essence, I am only just "guiding" the brush pad on the surface of LP. I think some might resort to hard scrubbing because thier cleaners may be falling short of doing what they are supposed to do.

In my personal experience, with only thrift shop finds, I might resort to an additional application of AIVS Enzymatic Cleaner, and AIVS Super Cleaner before moving onto rinse steps.

Products are getting better, and better all the time.

BTW Doug, nice seeing you back, and posting, hope all is well with you your end. Mark

Have you tried steaming. Often works better then any fluid. I've steamed many records and I have found it much better then just only scrubbing. Many units avialable for about $30.

Mark,

All is fine, thanks for asking. I've been swamped at work and will be for the foreseeable future, so my free time is limited.

Of course there's a silver lining: shorter posts! ;-)

Markd51, nice informative post. I follow exactly the same process except with the Walker Audio Prelude and brushes. The light scribbing with the brushes in the manner you've described has given me far better results in my VPI 17.5 than using the included nylon bristle brush.

One additional thought: be sure the brush or surface of the LP is well wetted before applying brush to LP surface.

Cheers,