RRL Cleaner, Vinyl Zyme, and Groove Glide

Sean, until I got the Loricraft with the string that is the only contact with the record groove, I experienced what you mention namely the contamination of the cleaner brushes. I use DD and I do follow-up with distilled water as I can hear the benefit of the additional rinse.

If you can vacuum all that is dissolved in a liquid off the record, I cannot imagine that the Ph matters, but distilled water should remove anything remaining.

Lugnut: You are doing what i would love to do. I was going to check with my local Cal Lab to see if i could work something out with them in terms of inspecting vinyl and documenting the differences in cleaners. I would think that they would have some type of high powered microscope and the ability to record / document before & after photo's. I was interested in doing this myself, but having some type of third party perform the tasks seemed like a better idea. I might "fool myself" into obtaining the results that i wanted to see and this would act as some type of a "control" in the whole testing process. Sean
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I'm working today so I'll put this off until I get some input and more free time. There's no sense in doing this unless others are interested. Perhaps I'll just soak the albums for a month or so, clean them and note any audible differences. But then, maybe my system isn't capable, in the minds of others, to resolve any differences. One last note on this. I'm not trying to be a smart ass or start any barbs between members. I'm genuinely curious as my findings differ from others. Honestly, I think the hardest part will be gaining access to a really high powered microscope without breaking my bank, not to mention a desire to photograph the resultant images. Should this become cost prohibitive I will need some ideas on how to evaluate on the cheap.

I use DD pads, the vac is an old NittyGritty (I think a 2.5 Fi). Operating surface is an orginal rubber mat from a Kenwood TT.

IME, using supermarket sourced, steam distilled water rinse, post RRL was not a good thing.
Post DD cleaning, I *do use the distilled rinse, per the mfgr's instructions, with very good results.

The only area I consider DD products to "win hands down" is in the amount of instruction and guidance provided with the products. The DD is contactable (?) via email, as I recall. The mfgr. of RRL is, AFAIK, invisible. I consider both products nearly equal.

Not being a chemist, but I'd guess the RRL products are a bit more "dilute" with a lot more very HQ distilled water; the DD has a bit more surfactants (more sudsy).

The last job was a 1965 45rpm ("Harlem Nocturne/ The Viscounts)to be given as a gift. Utterly garbage vinyl...the RRL just beaded up, like the record had car wax on it. The DD flowed smooth onto the surface.

Different strokes for different vinyls. It's easy to experiment...

> Using a distilled water rinse *after using RRL is a distinct no-no.

I do not have a cleaning machine yet. But I use RRL.
Should I just leave it on the record after cleaning and not using destilled water ?