Hi all *** here are a few ways to improve the look of a tatty record label and vinyl***TRADE SECRETS***
1. Rule is why do you want it looking better? - Ask yourself why did the dealer you bought it from not do what you want to be done? the answer is straight forward.. the Dealer would of charged you a higher price for the record you have!, and of course as I have said before you know that even thought it may be undetectable afterwords you know its a repair job..That's why I always say leave them alone especially if you are going to sell records on, as the most annoying thing going is when you purchess a rare record from a list or ebay you are going of the trust and reputation of the seller, take note of the description in the add, as it has taken the Record Collector mag 30 years to get there GRADEING guide to be the authoritative way to price records?
2. There is a BIG difference of cleaning a record up and doing a restoration on its vinyl and if restored correctly and professionally, i can see no reason why this category should not be listed in the RC grading guide.
3. there are 2 types of repair that fall into rare soul record collecting (a) the Vinyl & ( the Label. I will start with Vinyl/ Styrene,
there are some excellent record cleaning machines on the market ranging from £200 upwards the best one are close to £1K and all have slightly different ways off working, I have seen a Atomic one that Bombards the Vinyl/Styrene with very fine spray and cleans the record and every grove perfectly excellent but who can afford £1K it works on the same principle as a sterilizer, long gone are the slogans use EMITEX are the RONCO Record Cleaner? these m/c are collectible.
© It is also common knowledge that for at least the last 20 years many rare records especially on UK labels have been SKIMMED by certain dealers on behalf of other dealers, The cost of this is about £2 / 5 per record, You can easy spot a skimmed record, Tell tale signs are a rainbow effect on the vinyl in a certain light and very fine spiral marks, Skimming a record works well on records like BLUEBEAT, President Group, B & C labels, nearly all Jamaican Records, KING R&B, and indeed any think plastic this is great news for collectors of SKA & REGGAE 45,s then comes the EMI, Decca, PYE these records can also be skimmed but if done wrongly the record will still play good but the top shine is lost, I have tried my best to get a shine back but its not worth the hard work as I have have only achieved partial success In today's market for rare records most collectors now except that skimming goes on and as the record is rare they will buy it, how times have changed but I think it is wrong and misleading if the dealer sells a record not stating it has been skimmed?.
(d) Cleaning and shining the record< most people understand to get the best soung from a record that you must clean it regular also make sure its free of staic and most inportant the Cartridge AND Stylus are in good condition a stylus should be change evey 100o plays max ( I can remember in 1987 Littel John Weston comeing to my house the day day after DJing and the Decks had knacked Stylesses fitted to them, about 8 of his rarest 45 were F**Cked all played with a 1 sided his, so remember golden rule especialy DJ,s have you own spare heads in your box or at lest check with event organisor on how old are the styluses on the decks, I will never forget the look on Johns Face, and it doesnot matter what you know about restoration if its F**KED you can only stick it to a wall as its useless ALWAYS CHECK THE STYLUS.
A BIT OF IRELAVANT HISTORY ABOUT MYSELF AND RECORDS??? I have been Collecting records for years, my 1st record that i bought was "Tabaco Road" the Nashvileteans, and the WHO "My Generation" by 1968 I was interestested in seeing live music and collecting UK issued records on Blue Horizon and American Blues all sorts from the Delta to Chicargo I was an apprentice and My main music mentor was a fellow apprentice called Ken who came from West Ham, as such I visited the Middle Earth, BLUESVILLE 68/69 Clubs, witch took over from the Ricky - TIC Clubs and with the influances from my elder sister and brother the MOD outlook was in me but it was the sound of Reggae that would be the bigest influance on my life, apart from the new style of mods in 68 was very me and defenatly not my elder brother who was a Named Suit I totaly wrapped my life in my world of Reggae and of cource West Ham, and showed little respect for anyone in authority, my scooter and my records were all i needed to get through life, and for 3 years my record collection grew from about 150 records to over 100 3/4 of it reggae I used to go to buy my records at several specialist places in London with a geezer called Aston Williams he had his own Sound System and run a Shibean Club (a type of gambeling house that on Fri/saturday nights run a ALL NIGHT SESSION for the local Black Community) as a result I first DJed in late 70 to people in letchworth records that know one had herd as not many white people at that time would get into an Allnight Party unless i ws blind? the piont of this section is I speak with some authority on records, as sutch I have also been guilty of defaceing them many of my reggae records I soaked the labels of are felt tipped them, Black man stylee? whats inportant to remember to a blackman from Jamaca or from the US the music is a disposable medium once a record is broken so it was released and they moved on to the next exclusive and so it goes on, Resulting in the late 0,s we all want mint records that dont exsist, Mr John Anderson is proberley the wose example of it must be mint that I no, compleatly nutz turning down impossibly rare Jamacan records because it ain,t in mint condition? he will have a long wait?.
(e) The Basics of cleanig Vinal/Styrene records fist of we proberley have all the equipment at home and what you have not got can be puchessed realy cheaply at a chemist (mmmChemist Shops) All Records can be washed and cleaned like any othe plastic product, However the midle of a record is coverd with a paper circle which has a integrall part of the records value and we must protect this at all costs see (Part 2 LABLE RESTOREATION) over the years iI have cleaned every record that I own when I get them home, Tip play a record through if you cant wait but if you can get one of those 7ts BSR plastic players play it on that remember that to has to have a very good stylus, many time iI get a kitchen bowl and !?$ fill 50/50 with hot water boil a kettle leave for 2 mins make a cuppa tea or coffee and the 2 minutes have gone, add hot water first then the cold, pop your dusty in the water for 30 secs and turn over after a further 30 secs remove the record and put a drop of washing up liqued on it, I then use a shaveing bruch wetted and in the direction that you record plays (clockwise)cleanthe record with the brush (once again an old record player is ideal to own strip the arm of plug all hole use gaffer tape & always remember water and electricity get on in a shocking way?) when you have spent time on that side 50 revalutions 30.45 seconds tourn over and do the other side, the just plonk it backin the bowl 30 secs both sides = 1 minute rince under tap making sure that all detergent has been washed away as stated make shure the labele is ok! it should be as it has not had long anough in the water to caurs damage, however you will get to no your self as you start cleaning records on how long certain records can stay in water, (practice all my recomendations on charity shop records if you by 20 you will be an expert make shure they are in verious conditions) You can pat dry your record and put it in the plate rack leave for 20 minutes when you return to it you can be shure the label is dry enough so you can use a cleanind cloth on it, I find the best cloths for cleaning are those magic cloths you can buy them in alll supermarkey for £1, once this stage is done you are now shure that you have a clean record dirt free. what you do next varies at the start but the end part is always the same for all records old or new?.
Many record collectors have there own way of cleanig a record but this is my way and you do not have to follow evey step as the record may not need it to be done but it wont hurt to follow all steps,
This is what you need to do a complete clean, :- a set of artist brushes these are dirt cheap in certain stores about a £5 "dont get them from a art shop as they wil cost you an arm and a leg" I am always looking at brushes to do certiane restoration jobs shaving brush, electric soft tooth brusk, the big fuffy brush that the girls use for putting the powder on their faces are a must (dont nic the partners as it will have tiny powder on it and it will transfer on to your nice clean record) so a mixture of hard and soft brushes various widths and if you are lucky the old HMV record cleaner bruch & a Dust Bug are a must, Cloths any thing that will not ham the record and gets into the grove and of cours absorbant, I have used sponges but they are of no real use. cleaning products that are a must are :-METHYLATED SPIRIT, filla small spray bottle witch srays a fine mist as you dont need loads of it, Petrolem spirit, a must have and it has many uses safe on plastic/styrene, £1 a tin, there are many purpose made record cleaners I use AM10101 it,s the best and about £3.50 for a 200ml spray bottel (www.am-denmark.com) and the best product to do the job it,s a real must for every one :- Whiteboard Conditioner and Renovator this is and works like magic pixie dust ( all of these products are Highly Flanable and should not be used with kids about or your Budgie) these are the basic cleaners to do 97% of the restoration Job and all you will ever need to cleen a record, other bits and bobs a large magnifying glass, Tooth Pics, & Cotton Buds.
(d)The way to clean your records, you have done Step 1. now its Step 2 Have a good look at you record through the mag glass under a powerful lamp, look for any marks stains faint scratches (minor) any thing that yuo wold prefer not to be there, OK! then use the whiteboard sprat and cover the vinal/styrine with it it,s a foam so just do short quick sprays no more than 3 squirts, if you are doing it by hand use your cleaning cloth a bar towel is a good cloth to use and wipe the record around about 20 times and do the same on the other side with a clean part of the cloth hold the record so you can clean both sides to gether and polish up the record you will no when its done as you realise how good it looks, I do the record in the followong way, by useng a turntable with a 78rpm on it, first of spray the recocord get a stiff bristle brush 1/4" wide sart from the edge start deck at 45rpm and let the records grove do the work and let the brush folow the grove, in the same way the Dust Bug does, when you have done that use a softer brush and repeat, then use the fluffy brush and go left to right liftimng the brush at the middle you can repeat this as long as you want and finally with your HMV brush or the softest 1.1/2" paint brush on 78 rpm keep going with the left to middle operation. Now all the manual steps are in the same as step 1 but use a differant cleanig cloth. Step 2 reinspect your 45 you will see a massive inprovement to the 45 but you may need to repeat the procedure with the petrolium Dust Bugs ready start the deck 45rpmsquirt a dash of fluid on the disc a nd brush it in the same way edge to middle a couple of times repeat on other side, remove45 and with a clean cloth polish the disc. Step 3 inspect the 45 again if your record had a click in it or a jump follow the groves around to the place were the jump was keep you nerve when you are shure you are at the right place gently try and put the tooth pick and try to dislodge the obsticle if its a forion object you should with a little force remove it from the groove, but take it nice and easytry to stay in the right groove and dont dig holes, if its a pressing plant problem you will have to accept it but you should be able to make a vally deep anough so the record does not skip and it should make the 45 enjoyable again, other ways to get rid of clics and jumps and indeed hiss is put more wieght on the pick up start from the middle a run 45 backwards 2 to 3 time it should make a big differance and reduce audible hiss by 2/3 witch is not to bad? for click and jumps put the stylas after the click and do as above but on the spot effected if you do it hip hop style you can go forward and backwards< I hope this one works for you. on a lighter side dont try and get the jump out of the OKEH record of Willliams & Watson 2 for the price of 1 as its apressing fault that is not there its the master tape they used. Step 4 & 5 are done on a regular basis spay meths on both sides manually clean record and record cleaner spray gets rid of any thing that survived this cleaning opperation and is a anti static fluid which protects the record from atracting dirt and always wipe your records before playing especially if you DJ as nothing is worse than a ball of fluff on the stylus, also check before you start your spot? Thats it for the 1st part I no its a read but its the only way I do things if someone wants to edit it thats Fine, and I must say I take no responsibbilites for any permenant damage caused, experiment on old records first, iI have not mentioned warps or chiped a cracked records as this was your basic clean up your 45 section, and the origanal request was about labels,? have ago and give us some feedback on your tips DAVE KIL