I've been talking with a fellow member here about a brush for my records. I have a Spin Clean for a good cleaning of the records after I get them, and I would probably use the brush before and after play. I'm sure some of you are familiar with the Audioquest and Hunt carbon-fiber brushes (the former claiming to be anti-static). I am also looking at this Audio-Technica brush (http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-AT6012-Record-Care/dp/B0009IGAPW/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_0).
 
I'm not really sure whether or not you could say I have static problems, but I do get some from walking between my chair and turntable on the carpet in the winter, where I discharge by touching my receiver. I'm wondering whether you guys think the deeper groove cleaning of the carbon-fiber brushes is more important than the static removing wet (damp really) Audio-Technica velvet brush. If I clean the dust before and after use and put it back in the sleeve (and my mat is clean and I check the down facing side before I put it away) then would the dust really settle in the grooves after one side worth of play? If so, then a Hunt or Audioquest (or another recommended) carbon fiber brush it is, if not then the Audio-Tech velvet surface cleaning brush.
 
I guess having one side touch the mat at all times could be a problem with no dust cover. That would get hard to keep both sides clean before putting the record away. Should I really just Spin Clean each record before play to both get a deep clean (it uses velvet brushes but the solvent/liquid solution supposedly sucks dirt to the bottom and I trust it, I see some dirt at the bottom but only after letting it sit for a night or so lid on FYI not air dirt) and eliminate static and then use a carbon fiber brush for the dust from the mat and from the Spin Clean to the table (there always seems to be stuff on the surface after a Spin Clean, probably from the cloths picking it up from the air, shouldn't be deep down stuff getting in there)?
 
I would be fine with it (I could do 1 or 2 spins each direction and only 3 both ways the first clean of the record, like right after I get it) if it weren't so annoying to dry the records. I have to hold the record with both hands with the cloths, and push with one hand into the other with pressure for quite a while to get all the liquid, and then hold it against me for a surface cleaning of each side to be sure, which can be like 5min just for drying. Maybe better towels/cloths that are more absorbent? The records even drip into the container for a bit, the liquid runs off in a small drip there's so much...
 
So, any advice fellow Head-Fi'ers? Any and all is appreciated.

With the spin clean try not drying the records with the cloth. Just spin the records 4 times in each direction and then get a dish rack and let them drip dry for a few hours. It sounds crazy but for me this worked much easier and didn't inject static in to the records and they still seem to sound fine. I also have a VPI 16.5 vacuum cleaner but using the spin clean this way works well enough for me and takes much less time. I've done needledrops to compare the process and a VPI cleaned record does sound a little better but I was able to clean over 500 records on the spin clean that had been sitting around for years while I dreaded going through the process on the VPI. 
 
Other wise I wet clean a record once and then put it into a fresh antistatic sleeve. If there's a little dust on it when going to play it I'll sometimes use a hunt brush but most of the time I just don't worry about it. Dust falling on the record really isn't that much of an issue, it's the inappropriate handling that many used records are subjected to that really makes a wet cleaning necessary.
 
This process isn't for the ultimate fidelity but it's my good enough compromise so that I don't end up with a huge pile of unplayable records that I dread cleaning. When I started doing this I figured if I got a record I really cared about I'd do a preliminary cleaning this way then throw it on the VPI for more care but so far I've never actually felt the need to do that.
 
Also if you're having problems with static get a zerostat. They work if you use them correctly.
 

Yeah I saw the Zerostat, but $100 is a lot right now for me, but I was considering it for the future if I found I had static problems. And I doubt the cloth drying the liquid was producing static because of the liquid present, but I could be wrong. Does it really introduce static?
 
And what kind of dish rack are we talking? And I don't know where I could put it easily where all of the liquid drippage would be acceptable except outside, which is just a bad idea I'd assume. I don't live alone so my dishwasher is a no I think, but maybe I could work out a dedicated time for this.
 
I have like probably 50 records that I got and my Dad has like 200-300 I'd guess from a glance that he hasn't cleaned since high school I believe and he's going on 57 I think (maybe 56). They were on the floor when his apartment flooded, so many of the covers are somewhat damaged, stuck together, and I think one still had brown residue on it, eww! I thought I could just clean them one at a time as I played them.
 
So I guess a good Spin Clean before the first play and a Hunt brush could be my way to go then if that dust build up isn't that big a deal.

For cleaning brushes, nothing beats a Discwasher, IMHO.

Also, I wanted to ask: Is it ok to use like a regular hand or bath towel to dry records vs the supplied cleaning cloths with my Spin Clean? These towels would be rougher yes but it's still fabric, could it scratch the records??

I would use a Microfiber cloth. The problem with regular towels and what not is their potential to leave some of themselves on the record.
 
Microfiber shouldn't give you that problem and they're very absorbant.
 
Quote:

jtaylor991 said:

Also, I wanted to ask: Is it ok to use like a regular hand or bath towel to dry records vs the supplied cleaning cloths with my Spin Clean? These towels would be rougher yes but it's still fabric, could it scratch the records??

Click to expand...

 
 

OK cool, I'll try to stay on my microfiber cloths (or whatever ones are with the Spin Clean, they are very thin, I can see through them if I stretch, they don't seem like microfiber cloths). Maybe my brush could pick up remnants later if I really needed to use a regular towel.
 
Quote:

morbidtoaster said:

I would use a Microfiber cloth. The problem with regular towels and what not is their potential to leave some of themselves on the record.
 
Microfiber shouldn't give you that problem and they're very absorbant.
 


 
 

Click to expand...