CLEAN RECORDS WITH WHAT?????

Aren't there smaller bottles of Torumat?

If music direct sells their record cleaning solution in galons than whoever lives next to each other have to cooperate to buy one galon for at least 4 people.

Goliverjr,

The first time I used Torumat I bought a 16oz bottle. I suspect it's still available in that size. It's just cheaper to buy a gallon and keep refilling the smaller bottle. Of course, over the years I've cleaned maybe 3000 records and used several gallons. Someone with a more modest collection certainly would use much less.

Geez: I have gone through a couple gallons of a mix (similar to what Frank uses but sans Photo Flow) in the past two months cleaning 600 or so LP's. I clean them by hand (no machine) and do not reuse the fluid. I also clean the brush with electricians alcohal between each LP and then rinse it as well as the LP. I purchase used/mint vinyl that needs a good bath and am mainly afraid of mold being spread from one LP to another through the cleaning process. If I were using a high ticket solution I would of course use less. I also need a good/cheap source for quality liners.

You know, record cleaning and care tips seem to be all over the board. I even once had an audio dealer tell me NOT to clean old records if they didn't "LOOK" dirty because cleaning them would only make them sound worse! I truly believe that most tips and suggestions, unless the person is overtly trying to sell you something, are offered in good faith and with good intentions.

However, I do have a question with regard to the statement above that alcohol will damage polyvinyl records. While not saying this is WRONG (because I am not an expert chemist), it is contrary to almost everything I have ever read. Of course, it has ALWAYS been held that alcohol is a definite "no-no" on shellac 78's. After searching and viewing about 50 sources, nearly all recommended brews for cleaning records have alcohol as a content ingredient and mention alcohol damage ONLY in the case of shellacs. A couple say that "some" have claimed alcohol damage but that experience has shown that unless the percentage of alcohol used is more than 40% and that alcohol does not come into prolonged or continous contact witht LP, that damage is not an issue. Some sites have mentioned that the BBC and Library of Congress use solutions to clean records that have alcohol as an ingredient.

I have about 2,000 LP's that I have recently resurrected and plan to start cleaning them in batches as I begin to play them again. Does anyone else out there know of any solid evidence to say that one should NOT use alcohol? I certainly don't want to in any way damage my old vinyl.