Finger Prints on Records

If the fingerprint is not cleaned right away, the skin oils eventually etch the fingerprint into the vinyl. So, in other words, you can't clean it off because what you are really looking at is vinyl that is now gone (in the shape of a fingerprint).

This is my understanding. If somebody can refute it, I've got plenty of used records that could benefit...

Cheers.

My experience hasn't shown that the oil from a fingerprint would cause permanent damage to a record.

for stubborn fingerprints I use 50/50 of non-ammonia glass cleanser/distilled water brushed into the record followed by a steam rinse with a Perfection steamer. Follow this with a steam cleaning as per the steam cleaning thread.

Your record will now be free of fingerprints and sound like new.

A very weak/dilute (few drops) concentration of Shaklee Basic H in distilled water.

I had a terrible issue where all my records got wet and the covers were fused together by mold. After lots of trial an error the thing that worked for me and worked perfectly was glass cleaner (non amonia as noted above). Glass Plus or something similar I believe. It took everything off including the fingerprints and left the albums spotless as they have never been before. Absolutly worked like a charm. Note; All my albums are from late 60's on up which seem to have a softer vinyl than the old albums from eons ago. So I can't vouch for records from the 20's, 30's etc.
Good luck, John

Almandog,
I buy used records, some dollar bins which can have copius fingerprints.

I am new to this type of cleaning, but luckily I started out with something that works well: Mobile Fidelity Super Deep Cleaner. I use a Mofi Record cleaning brush for applying and lightly wiping - I keep one dedicated for dirty records. Usually 2 or 3 washes (the last with their other cleaner: Super Wash) gives me a fingerprint-less record. I bet someones homebrew version of the cleaner would work just as well.

I also use a manual KAB vacuum cleaning machine to remove the cleaning solution. Works for me.

cheers, ed