Your Thoughts And Experience With Last Record Preservative.

Maybe it's just age but I only have records worth preserving anymore. The rest were sold or donated. If you like the record do you mean that you would have refused it if the price was $1 higher? (And by my calculations it's closer to 65c to Last a record.)

 

Would be interesting if someone could test if the friction is actually lowered when using Last on records.

 

One dollar a record isn't the issue. It's $1 times the 3,000 records which I would consider not treasures that's the question. You and I have different collections.

Since I buy LAST in the 16 oz. bottle, it's even less for me. $1 is just a nice, round number and easier for my poor head to handle. It also accounts for spillage and for evaporation from not putting the cap back on the jar right away.

 

Glad To See So Many Responses To My Thread. Well After Treating About 40 Records All I Can Say Is Wow. I Agree With Most People Here About Only Treating Certain Records. I have A Large Collection And Can't Imagine Treating Every Record! So Far Every Record I Have Treated Definitely Sounds Better And A Major Reduction In Snap/Crackle And Pop. I Know This Product Is Pricey But Still Seems Worth It. I Have A little More Than Half A bottle Left And Will Definitely Buy More. So Far My Application Procedure Has Been To Clean On VPI Record Cleaner And While Its Still On The Machine I Apply The Last Record Product. You Apply Product To Applicator And Let Record Spin 2 Revolutions Per Side. Slap It On The Turntable And I Am Blown Away At How Much Better It Sounds.

 

I remember getting a free bottle from a rep in the 1980s, and my memory is that it was identical to Freon, the substance formerly used in air conditioners and radiators. Smelled exactly the same. The company never did admit exactly what chemical composition it was. Reviewers in the 1980s did electron microscope photos of record grooves and confirmed that it left no residue. My guess is that the cold temperature of the fluid temporarily hardened the vinyl a little more, but I dunno about leaving a residue on the groove walls or the stylus. I think it was kind of a shuck & jive... but I did use it for a couple of years, at least on marginal pressings, just in a desperate attempt to get them to sound 10% better.

Man, fix your caps key!

 

I wonder if you can still buy Freon. I'd try it on some records. If it works, and is cheaper, it may be a more viable alternative.

 

I seem to recall that they made Freon illegal, or at least very, very hard to buy legally because it ate up the ozone layer. And I'm still dubious that it did anything to records, positive or negative.

 

R-12 or Freon boils at -21.6F ! How does one transfer it from bottle to record? Seems it would boil off in an instant when loosening the bottle cap.

 

I thought this stuff had fallen out of favor (years ago I head about residue), but apparently that isn't the case. Now I think I would like to try a bottle. Thanks to those in this thread who says it's a positive experience.

EDIT: Wait a minute. Maybe it was build-up on the stylus. Anyone encounter that?

 

Nope, but then I clean my stylus every 2-3 plays anyway. It seems like it's always dirty, whether the record has been treated with LAST or not.

If you take one thing away from this thread, it should be this:

It can't hurt.

 

When I was using Last in the 1980s, I never encountered any build-up. That was one thing that made me come to the conclusion that what was in the bottle was liquid Freon, which completely evaporates and has no residue.

As long as you keep the cap on (tightly), it does not evaporate immediately. It is still liquid when it hits the record surface, but there's not much left to wipe off 10 seconds later.

 

My pop SWEARS it's absolutely essential.

 

I bought a few records that had the Last sticker on cover. Played them and some sounded a little noisy but looked brand new - really nice! Cleaned them on my VPI 16.5 and noise went away.

Pat

 

Well it's not often that a product line of vinyl care products lasts for 30 years through vinyl Armageddon and Revival. We can believe either it is due to a long lasting hallucination spanning decades of new listeners or the products basically work as advertised without harm to records or cartridges. They are useful maintenance products in my view. The Last #2 is claimed to bond with the vinyl which some of it could do and the rest could evaporate. It is also claimed to reduce friction which is consistent with the many similar observations of its sonic effects by independent listeners. I think buying one bottle is not a risky investment. Their stylus cleaner is very good as well.

 

Oh, I don't think it harms vinyl at all. I've said many times there's no residue in my experience, and I recall very well in the 1980s the manufacturer showing electron microscope photographs before and after application, and there was essentially no difference.

Where I draw the line is people ascribing gigantic and unsubtle differences between an untreated (clean) record and a treated record. I actually did record the output of both, and they're just as noisy, have the same overall sound, and even cancel each other out (for the post part) when you invert and sum the two files. I think the benefits of Last are illusory, at least for me.

To me, all you can do is just find a good pressing and then clean the hell out of it with a wet vacuum system and hope for the best. There is no magic bullet that fixes vinyl.

 

What about preservative qualities that you can't hear? By that I mean the chemical reaction that supposedly makes the vinyl surface more impervious to friction and wear from stylus contact? That by itself would be worth it to me for application on my most-played or most valuable records. And, does it have anti-static properties? That also would be worthwhile, IMO.

 

Show me your proof for this. My experience is that it makes no difference.

Note that this is a 30-year-old argument that goes back to the 1980s. Even then, people were confused and divided as to whether Last made any difference. I think it's silly.

 

I don't have any proof, since I've never used it, let alone tested it and measured the results. Just raising the question, considering whether to bother with it or not.

 

I think if it really worked, disc pressing plants would've been using it in the plants as a final step before wrapping up the record.

 

Yeah, maybe. But you could also say that sort of thing about nearly any aftermarket product or accessory in audio! Perhaps you do, re: cables, power conditioning, resonance control and vibration isolation, etc. Of course all of these things would add to the expense of manufacturing.

 

Not even a penny. But the record plants I used to deal with were unbelievably cheap. Heck, I think 80% of the press operators were illegal aliens. (Not kidding.)

 

One other thingis some 'other' sort of application which leaves the Lp 'slippery'.
I have used a CD shine product on some LPs and love them with it.
They stay static free, dust free...
Some claim the idea ruins the sound and claim they would never buy a used record with any such product on it. I did not find any worse sound on mine. though Ido not havea way to double blind test it all.
(though with the huge variety of compounds possible to use from WD-40 to expensive tweak for CDs..I doubt anyone could tell visually which had been applied.. Whether some junk or a quality product.)

Anyway. something to be said about a silicone product.It would be far less expensive than LAST.

 

Even if there is no magic bullet that totally take vinyl to a different level, reducing friction is a very good thing. Cleaning the hell out of it can have the opposite effect, it can increase friction.
I am not saying that Last reduces friction, but reducing friction as a whole is something to strive for, really.

 

Oh, I dunno. Friction can be fun; it just depends on the circumstances.

 

The ultimate friction, not too much, not too little, maybe. But groove/needle friction should be low.