Vinyl Microscopy!

I really need to find a wife like yours.

 

On the last picture, the pink one, what is all the 'icicle' looking crude stuck to the stylus??
Just looks bizarre, but cool nonetheless.
the beave

 

Especially a half naked one!
Niiiiiiiiice.
I'm jealous.
the beave

 

Make sure no one lets his wife know that a large component of dust is dead skin cells.

 

Back to the OP's topic, here is a youtube of reconstructing a scratched LP groove using a microscope. I've bought a USB scope to explore this, and to see if I can fix some records where the needle jumps. Have just got an old autochanger tt to use as a workstation.

 

I was going to raise this myself. The truth is clouds and clouds of skin come off our bodies everyday. This is what sniffer dogs rely on to track down escaped convicts.

 

maybe you should upload a video of the process.
just kidding.

 

No, we don't want to see that!

 

wow! if I had a hot chick, that would be a practice I would encourage, strolling around in underwear around a turntable....
Rhhhhrrrrraaaaaaahhhhhhh

 

This is true. A major source of contamination is ourselves. Well scrubbed moisturized skin has a very low shed rate. This is very much outside of the normal awareness of the average consumer, since it is reasonable to go about our business without such concerns.

I must emphasize this one point though, record cleaning! One of my major improvements in record cleaning was by wearing nitrilite gloves. Record cleaning and drying with bare hands is less successful, and by a very audible margin. The skin shed is a significant factor, and will definitely degrade your record cleaning process by large margin. I will be the first to recommend nitrilite gloves, if this has not already been mentioned. The gloves are common in industry, so in our own industrious cleaning the gloves are cool. Think of it as sexy, not geeky and we all should be ok with it.. but don't tell anyone?

 

The consumer's 5 point guide to a more gratifying vinyl experience:

1) a dedicated music room with environmental controls, no shag rugs from the 70's, polyester, leather, and satin clothing encouraged
2) no pets allowed in the music room
3) a well controlled record cleaning process with employment of nitrilite gloves
4) take a shower before listening to records
5) Marry an amicable wife willing to listen to records together with you in her skivvies

These five points are for your entertainment, point 4 is very important

 

Re: contamination and vinyl hygiene.

I don't think there is any reason to go overboard here.
Let's keep things in perspective, and look at what University research has demonstrated...

1. If records are kept and cleaned and played in an environment like this, there should be little cause for concern:


2. Further vinyl hygiene can be obtained if we listen to the music dressed appropriately, as below. See, it is also a fashionable statement. Notice how it is enhancing the audio fidelity and musical experience for this person - he/she is really getting into it!

 

lol. We can only do so much. I guess the next thing would be to go in the music room with hazmat suit. That would cut out any potential dead skin that shed.

 

So much this - dragging a pretty shaped rock through a tiny groove, with the rock attached to a fancy stick. After EQ and amplification music comes out. Truly amazing that Edison (??) - thought it up and it actually worked.

 

Dragging that pretty rock through a groove is mechanical system. Being that playing a record is a mechanical operation, that operation is subject to the laws of physics, mass, acceleration, inertia, friction. The worst enemies of any two moving parts are friction and heat, a product of any combination of contamination and/or lack of lubricant and/or cooling. Records suffer greatly from contamination! For a record to sound its best, it has to be clean, microscopically clean. All the same, the longevity of the record may surpass 100 plays without any audible degradation under ideal conditions.

Vinyl microscopy is perhaps one of the most important topics posted on this forum. The reality of groove cleanliness can not be over-emphasized. Our eyes deceive us. To the unassisted eye, a record may appear clean, but still sound noisy. So, is that noisy record really clean? Fidelity loss is also associated with background noise.

Speaking for myself, the fun and joy of records is on multiple levels. I own a vintage RCA SHF-9 suitcase record player. Its upgraded compliant GE cartridge does not chew up the records, but you certainly wouldn't want to play Telarc's 1812 overture on it. It's a charming record player. Its small natural sounding 5 inch speaker is free of crossovers, and does produce a loud, robust sound from its pair of 50C5 output tubes. I could play just about any record on it, and not worry about contamination. Even a moderately worn record sounds good.

On a higher level (proper term, as a higher level of listening exists) critical listening is synonymous to critical thinking. The critical listener hears stuff the casual listener doesn't. And this can bring immense joy into the lives of the music lover. Any noise or distortion interferes with that, and thus record cleanliness becomes more of an issue.

How exactly does dust and debris damage a record groove? It may be more than we imagine. I think most record owners tend to visualize larger particles, such as lint and dust on and in a record groove. But there are micro-particles as numerous as the stars. The micro-particles can do more damage than the visible ones. The stylus, under friction and heat grinds up some of the larger particles into smaller ones. Then on the next playing the many un-removed particles held fast to the groove by a static charge, get ground up again into smaller particles. The record then, not only produces ticks and crackles, but also begins to produce hiss and that faint background crackle. Fidelity loss accompanies the increase in noise.

Not all is doom and gloom with the knowledge of vinyl microscopy. I realize some people just don't want to know. Speaking for myself, I want to know. Then knowing the reality of what's in the groove, and reality of what happens. I can then take the right steps to improve my record care, and my listening experience.

I tend to listen more critically, and most of my listening time more critically. I love music. I love most a great presentation of music, much like one can appreciate a talented chef's presentation of a memorable dining experience. But that's not to issue an indictment on woofing down a Nathan's hot dog at the ball park, also a great experience. But on any level, I can enjoy music, even on the little record player.
rock on,
Steve VK

 

So am I doing it right?

 

ahahahaha!!!

 

Some pics I took through a Nikon microscope of groove damage and what dropping a needle does to the lead-in area:

 

Very cool photos! I've never really thought about the abuse the lead-in area takes.

 

Wow! Thank you for sharing that.

 

You're welcome. They seem to really drop the hell out of it. Makes me wonder how violent, or not, it is when I put the needle on the record with a cueing arm.

 

I would guess that it would look like after the second bounce in the video.

 

The video that appears after the needledrop video is interesting as well. A scanning electron microscope is used - an extremely high-magnification microscope which uses electrons rather than light. First, it shows a styli tracking a record groove. Then he shows different optical media (incl. CD and DVD) under the microscope.

 

Facsinating, however the guy thinks that's a cheap cartridge he chopped up for the test. It's a Signet TK3E, not exactly cheap, and what appears to be a tapered cantilever, oh well !!