Hi Tom;
I purchased a couple of 16" lacquers a few years ago with heavy white deposits. These were recordings of Bing Crosby's first radio show for Philco in late 1946. Apparently they had never been played, because they sure sounded great after cleaning!
Anyway, I bought a large plastic tray, the kind that goes under a hot water heater to collect water in case of a leak, and I put a single disc in the tray. I used odorless paint thinner and a velvet pad to clean the discs, protecting the labels. I just wet the pad, I didn't immerse the discs.
That removed the white stuff. Then I rinsed them with distilled water and a bit of dishwashing liquid, then I rinsed them again with plain distilled water, and dried them gently.
Worked fine for me. I transferred the discs to CD. Unbelievable sound! Totally unblemished discs!
Good luck,
Ron Roscoe
-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tom Fine
Sent: Friday, April 17, 2015 8:07 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [ARSCLIST] lacquer disks with the white stuff on them
I have some lacquers with the sticky white stuff on them. Substances have been mentioned here on how to clean it off, but could someone who has actual experience doing this please write up a "for dummies" process, including exactly what substances need to be acquired and where to acquire them?
Much appreciated!
Previous discussions remind me a bit of talk on the Ampex list about cleaning gooey splices. Lots of chemical names were bandied about, with no references as to what it's actually called in the marketplace or where to buy it. Finally, I asked an expert (John Chester), hey what are you using nowadays since we can't get the old kind of "freon" anymore? Naptha, called exactly that and sold at most hardware stores. John further sent me links to the lab/medical bottles, syring-type applicator and other tools he uses to successfully clean and spool splices without ripping oxide. Now THAT was helpful. Would love the same kind of info about how to deal with lacquers with the sticky white stuff on them.
-- Tom Fine
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