Taking Care of Vinyl Records
Vinyl records are a niche market. There is a subculture of record collectors who love vinyl LPs.
I have no particular commitment to vinyl records. I shall now state what I think should be obvious. If digital imagery had been invented in 1850, no one would have invented film. Similarly, if digital recordings had been available in 1880, Edison would not have invented the phonograph record. If the transistor had been available in 1900, nobody would have invented the vacuum tube.
You may own some old albums that you bought in your youth. Or you may have inherited a collection from your parents. I don't recommend throwing them out. At the same time, I much prefer a CD or even a downloaded MP3. I don't like clicks and pops. I never have. So, I am not an aficionado of 50-year-old LPs. But I own a lot of them, and I don't mind listening to them as background entertainment.
Nevertheless, if you happen to go into a thrift store, and you see a bin full of LPs, you might flip through them rapidly. In all likelihood, your time is worth more than any LPs you are going to find, but maybe you'll find something that you would like to listen to, and you don't want to spend $10 or $15 on buying a CD. Maybe you don't even buy CDs anymore. So, you may be willing to spend a dollar to buy an album. Open the album, and take a look at the grooves. If the album is dusty, you may decide to put it back. But if you really like the music, you probably should not put it back. You should take it home and clean it. I am going to tell you how to do this.
From 1956 until 1959, I had a job in a record store. I loved to buy records. I could buy them wholesale: $2.50 instead of $4. LPs were a big part of my life from the mid-1950's until the mid-1970's. I spent a lot of money on LPs, and I spent an outrageous amount of money on a high-fidelity system to play them. I described that system here: https://www.garynorth.com/public/3616.cfm.
I had a great initial advantage. When I worked for the record store, I was taught how to handle records. I learned this: never pick up a record in any way other than to remove the record from the album or sleeve with your middle finger on the hole, and your thumb on the outer edge of the record. Under no circumstances should you ever touch the grooves. Your fingers will leave oil on the grooves, and the oil will catch dust. Here is the correct way.
From the first album I ever bought, I took care of my records. I handled them properly. I had a brush that I would use to brush the record before playing it. I did not play a record that had dust on it. The dust did not get ground into the grooves. I never had a record changer for LPs. I always had a turntable. It was an incredibly expensive turntable. In terms of today's money, it probably cost me about $800. I was an idiot to spend that much, but my records remained unscratched. The cartridge played well at 3 grams of pressure. That was far less than most commercial record players in the late 1950's. Even today, 2 grams is just about it. Cartridges don't play much lighter than this. This meant that the grooves of the records were not damaged. I always used a diamond stylus. It lasted a long time. It retained its curved shape. I occasionally bought a new cartridge, which meant a new stylus.
I have a collection of about 300 LPs. Even the ones I played repeatedly are quite clean. There are very few clicks and pops. I hate the clicks and pops, but I can tolerate them. Also, sad to say, I now have AM radio ears. I just cannot hear most clicks and pops any longer. I cannot hear the high end of the spectrum. No more high fidelity for me. Here is the grim reality of what happens to us, decade by decade.
STATIC
Static attracts dust. There's no way to eliminate static. In dry climates, it is really a problem. Every time you take a record out of its sleeve, you are creating static conditions.
Probably the best way to get rid of static is to use an anti-static brush. There are a lot of them, and they are not expensive. Here is the one I use.
One thing you are almost never told. When you use the brush on one side of the record, the side facing up, this increases static electricity on the other side. I don't know the physics of it, but I know it to be the case. Watch this video for details. It is very informative.
CLEANING
There are lots of videos on this, and there are lots of conflicting opinions. Some of them are amazingly complex. They take a lot of time. The problem with these is not that the techniques don't work. The problem is, most people will not go to the trouble of going through this procedure with every record. The best rule is this: KISS. "Keep it simple, stupid." I think the simplest video out there, and the one that will serve most people best, is this one. It is cheap. It is fast. It will not hurt your records.
This video will outrage purists, but when we are dealing with vinyl, with its inevitable clicks and pops, purism is a wasted obsession. If you want purity, buy a CD.
If you have a record that is really dirty, and you can see that crud is in the grooves even after you follow the simple procedure described in the video, you may want to go the extra mile. A good way to do this is to combine a 30% solution of 91% isopropyl alcohol with 70% distilled water. Add just a little liquid Ivory soap and a few drops of this product: rinse aid or finish aid. Any brand will do. Buy a small bottle.
Mix the liquids, and put the solution in a cheap spray bottle. Spray on a little of the liquid, and then use a paint edger to work the solution into the grooves. Don't press too hard. Here is the brand I use. My wife had a spare. Perfect.
To dry the record, use a lint-free cloth. An old T-shirt that has been washed will do just fine. Or just put the record in a rack for drying dishes.
SLEEVES
Don't use the paper sleeves that the records were in when you bought them. I recommend a plastic sleeve with a round bottom. They are cheap, but they split smoothly, and they don't create static electricity. They also don't leave fibers from paper sleeves. Here is a good brand at a reasonable price: OPount 50 Pieces.
STYLUS
Begin with an inexpensive brush and see if you use it on a regular basis. Some people use the brush every time they play a record. I am not that much of a fanatic. But I can spend about seven dollars for a brush. At the beginning of the day when you start playing records, use the brush once.
I use this one. It's cheap.
CONCLUSION
I am not a member in good standing of the cult of vinyl. I never was. When CDs came onto the market in the early 1980's, I stopped buying vinyl. Getting clicks and pops out of my life was one of the great triumphs. But some of my 60-year-old albums are not available on CDs. Even for the albums that are, I don't listen to music often enough to justify replacing the 20% of my old albums that provided 80% of my listening pleasure. I had them packed in boxes for 20 years. I have not listened to them in over 30 years.
I am enjoying listening to some of the old ones, but this is not a religion for me. My time is precious. I no longer spend much time listening to music, except when I index books. I am coming into a period in which I'm indexing a lot of new books, and I enjoy listening to old favorites while I am indexing. This takes my mind off of the fact that I hate to write indexes.
My attitude is this: as long as you have a record collection, keep the albums clean. Buy a decent turntable, buy a high-quality pair of headphones for $50 or more, and re-live part of your youth. (If you are planning to pay $300 or more, forget about it. That's what you need for CDs, not vinyl.)
I sure wish I had my old ears back.