Hello all, I've just bought a copy of Robert Wyatt's Rock Bottom that's very noisy (crackly, no pops or ticks) throughout. Grooves seem fine, but deadwax looks like this : Would I be wrong to think the record's previous owner messed up his cleaning and put gunk all over the record ? If that is indeed the case, is the record salvageable ?
You wouldn't be wrong. It looks like a poor job of cleaning. Find someone with a good record cleaning machine and that record will sound 100 times better when you are done.
In my experience I've haven't had good luck cleaning records that are crackly. Tried using Spin Clean, Wood Glue, and vacuum wand. Good luck to the OP.
I swear by 91% isopropyl (NOT RUBBING) alcohol as a first wipe with clean cotton pads when I clean really dirty records. Wipes away a significant amount of that gunk (you can see it on the pads), which you can follow up with and enzyme cleaner, distilled water and a wet vacuum. Always works a charm for me. Despite the hysteria by some, I'm a firm believer that 91% isopropyl will not harm your records.
Yep. With a little experience it's easy to see a record that's been subjected to a poor cleaning job and really is in nice condition underneath.
My vacuum strip on my KAB EV-1 ( Nitty Gritty clone) doesn't vacuum up the deadwax area, so when I use too much fluid some of my records look like this in the deadwax, BUT the grooves are dead clean !
I'd recommend a thorough cleaning using Bugtussell Vinylzyme (concentrate in distilled water) followed by a rinse with Distilled Water on a vacuum type RCM. Thereafter, I think cleaning on an Ultrasonic Cleaner (Klaudio or Audiodesk Systeme) would go a long towards restoring the record, unless there are signs of rough/careless handling? Repeat cleaning as necessary.
I had the same issue with my KAB EV-1 with certain cleaning solutions leaving a residue in the dead wax even after a final rinse and spin with water so I would just wipe it off with a microfiber cloth. Haven't had this problem since I switched to Audio Intelligence No 15 cleaning fluid.