Hi Duane:

Your posting is somewhat cryptic. Are you saying that a Photoflo/distilled water solution will not 
clean mold or are you claiming that it won't "clean" any stamped (moulded) disk, of any material? If 
so, I have found that to be incorrect, operating on the theory that VPI concentrate mixed with 
distilled water is essentially the same as a DIY Photoflo/water product (VPI claims no alcohol is in 
their cleaning solution). I tend to agree with you in that wetting solution itself will not clean 
records, the solution combined with the cleaning/brushing method and vacuum removal of solution and 
residue are a process to clean records, none operating independent of the others.

If you are saying that solutions not containing alcohol will not kill and detach mold in a groove, 
this might be true in and of itself, but the brushing and vacuuming tend to do the job unless 
there's very bad contamination, in my experience.

That said, I don't object to an LP (vinyl) cleaning solution that contains isoprop alcohol, in 
theory. I have long used isoprop in far less dillute solutions to clean various plastic and glass, 
as well as to remove splice glue residue on polyester-backed magnetic media. There are specific 
things that alcohol dissolves (shellac being one of them). Vinyl LP records are not on the list. 
Grease in a vinyl groove may well be best dissolved and removed with an alcohol-containing solution 
in conjunction with a mechanical cleaning and vacuuming system.

By the way, earlier this year I had the opportunity to do some listening on a house-priced LP system 
owned by a well-known audio journalist. He uses the ultrasonic record cleaner made by a Japanese 
company. We both could hear no difference in an LP that I brought played back first as I brought it 
(VPI cleaned) and then after a cycle in the ultrasonic cleaner. It played very quietly both times. 
It's also worth noting that, despite his claims that a "record demagnetizer" had altered the 
playback characteristics of some of his platters, none of mine that we put in the machine sounded 
any different (we tried old "golden era" platters as well as recent-issue platters).

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "H D Goldman" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2014 7:25 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] The guy who cleans his 78s with spit.


> This wetting  solution is incapable of thoroughly cleaning any moulded recording whether shellac, 
> acetate, Diamond Disc or vinyl.  This can be recognized by anyone with a mid-fi system that is 
> properly set up whether you remove fluids by vacuum or with pure cotton terry cloth rags and some 
> micro-fiber fabrics.
>
> When you take the time to learn the history of the Keith-Monks machine & how, in the US, we came 
> to use of alcohol-water blends, most notably isopropyl alcohol/water mixtures with vacuum-based 
> record cleaning machines, you'll understand that it had nothing to do with listening to unclean 
> vs. clean recordings.  In fact our own efforts were the direct result of comments made by a small 
> group of magazine reviewers during listening sessions in the early 1980s.
>
> Duane Goldman
>
> H D Goldman Lagniappe Chemicals Ltd.
> PO Box 37066 St. Louis, MO 63141 USA
> v/f 314 205 1388 [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
> On Jun 26, 2014, at 5:03 PM, DAVID BURNHAM <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Photo flow and distilled water are the ingrediants used the the Keith Monks record cleaning 
>> machine.  This machine doesn't seem agressive enough to remove the thick waxy crud on some 78s.
>>
>> db
>>
>>
>> On Thursday, June 26, 2014 12:29:09 PM, Roger Kulp <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>>> The Photo-Flo looks like something I want to try.Would it work on 78s with thick layers of crud 
>>> on them? Roger > Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2014 23:02:45 -0600> From: [log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: 
>>> [ARSCLIST] The guy who cleans his 78s with spit.> To: [log in to unmask]> > On 6/24/2014 
>>> 3:25 PM, Christopher Whiteman wrote:> > I've seen so many different methods and opinions on 
>>> cleaning them that I am> > unsure what method is best.  Is there any sort of consensus that 
>>> Tergitol> > 15-s-7 is the best way to clean LPs?   If so, are there vendors who will> > sell it 
>>> to someone without a business license? I've seen some people use> > original Dawn as a 
>>> surfactant. If someone uses a vacuum system, would using> > Dawn be an issue since the vacuum 
>>> should suck up all of the liquid and not> > leave residue?> >> > Mr. Goldman mentioned 
>>> mould-release compounds.  Will Tergitol or Dawn> > remove these? If I play a new LP without wet 
>>> cleaning it first with some> >
>> kind of surfactant, will it damage the stylus or permanently affect the> > LP's sound quality? 
>> FWIW, I'm running a budget setup (meaning less than> > $500).  Any advice would be appreciated.> 
>>  > Bottled distilled water with a couple drops of Kodak Photo-Flo has > worked for me. The fancier 
>> stuff seems to be about the same > effectiveness, and I worry about anything containing alcohol.> 
>>  > Peace,> Paul
>>>
>
>