Lp cleaning - scrubbing records - any downside?

yep- i wiped out a beautiful near mint chet baker album by leaning too hard on a specfic section where there was a small smudge---you should let the cleaning agent sit for a few minutes and then lightly brush for 30 seconds following the grooves but i learned the hard way, don't keep rubbing a section---now it ticks when it gets to that area

Agree with everyone that recommends only a light scrub, not a heavy scrub. Cleaned a couple of batches yesterday, and so far, they sound great. No damage that I can tell. Very little in the way of pops or ticks. No grunge. In fact, overall, this batch is NM- (after cleaning), and that seems pretty darn good for 30-50 year old records!

I appreciate the references to steaming, and did look up some of those posts. Frankly, I'm just afraid of what would happen if my wife caught me steaming a record...it's hard enough every time a new package of records shows up at the door...

Eweedhome the worst thing that will happen when the wife sees you steaming is you will have to use it for all the other things it does so well. Stains, wrinkles, general cleaning and on and on. No really i was a hold out on steaming and like i said above it works and i wont look back.
Now if i could only find a way to scale back the amount of static developed by my 16.5. I only make one or two passes with the vac but man the static is hair standing. It seems some lps are worse than others in holding a static charge. The thing is the spindle is grounded on a 16.5 so you would think the charge would drain.

I just don't understand this, Siltrains. Maybe it's because I use a Nitty Gritty rather than a VPI, but I have MAJOR static electricity problems and the use of the RCM will alleviate them on any newly cleaned record. Sometimes (in very dry weather), it's the only thing that works.

Static electricity is a science that stymies me, and have a hard time fully understanding just how it works, and why it affects people living in certain areas, and oddly, doesn't substantially affect those in others?

As an example, I now live in the desert southwest, New Mexico. Here, it is a very dusty envoirnment, a car dosn't stay clean for 12 hours, it has a patina of dust. Often very windy as well. Same with the house, it is a 24/7 job of keeping things clean, and within a couple of days, you can take your finger, and write on any piece of furniture.

Realtive Humidity today here was 11%, and weather at times is so dry, that it creates horrible skin problems, itching, dry skin. I've read reports years ago about CD Players getting fried in this type of climate.

Yet, I've never had any major issues with static. Of course after I pull an LP off my 16.5, I'll see a few particles of dust wish to cling to the LP, but nothing major, nor not to the point where it's affecting LP Playback, or getting shocks everytime I touch an Audio Rack, etc.

I had more a problem with static shocks when I lived in Chicago. Usually, in the dead of winter, in extreme cold, with very low relative indoor humidity.

Wish I could explain why some others have greater problems than I?

I used to on occasion have to wet mop an LP when I lived in Chicago, with a small LAST Cleaning Brush Pad, and LAST All Purpose to reduce the static "magnetic" effect of dust quickly clinging to LP on the Platter. Here, it seems I hardly have these issues, and usually just use the Hunt EDA, or AQ Carbon Fiber Brush before play. Mark