Your Thoughts And Experience With Last Record Preservative.

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Douglas Souders, Apr 1, 2014.

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  1. tim185

    tim185 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    Huh?
     
  2. royzak2000

    royzak2000 Senior Member

    Location:
    London,England
    People tried too many magic formulas because they cared, they did not in retrospect all work, so many records where ruined by people who thought they were doing the right thing.
    Remember wet playing.
     
  3. tim185

    tim185 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    LAST is not wet playing. LAST does not ruin records.
    In fact youd have to try damn hard and still probably fail to do damage with LAST.
    I dont get the negativity. Its simple, it works....in my world. Maybe Im unusual I dunno, but this attitude is surprising.
     
  4. royzak2000

    royzak2000 Senior Member

    Location:
    London,England
    Keep telling yourself that, just try and peel those stickers off if you try to sell them.
     
  5. tim185

    tim185 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    lol. OK.
    So Im Wrong, tell me the damage that LAST does....
     
  6. tim185

    tim185 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    You put the sticker on the back of the cover, not the actual record.
     
  7. bru87tr

    bru87tr 80’s rule

    Location:
    MA
    My only experience is a record I bought with a Last sticker on it. I will say, it is dead quiet.

    I have many first pressing Japan albums, they are decent but not dead quiet. This Last treated Doobies Minute by Minute is really nice and really quiet. Not sure if Last improved it, but always wondered and wanted to try it. A bit expensive though.
     
    sebalberico and The FRiNgE like this.
  8. The FRiNgE

    The FRiNgE Forum Resident

    Every thrift store record find with a LAST sticker on it has played superbly, most of them dead quiet. LAST is the most effective record care product I have ever encountered. (I think the only one) Most other products fail miserably.
     
    showtaper likes this.
  9. honestabe316

    honestabe316 Analog Rebel

    How many lp's will a bottle of last coat?
     
  10. Douglas Souders

    Douglas Souders Forum Resident Thread Starter

    my last bottle of it did 50 lp's
     
    ggergm likes this.
  11. honestabe316

    honestabe316 Analog Rebel

    That's reasonable...
     
  12. unidyn

    unidyn New Member

    Location:
    Tiffin, OH USA
    Read the entire thread and I'd estimate probably only 12-15 posts leaning towards dismissal or negativity. The rest are positive and majority in very high praise. LAST isn't a gimmick, and though it's an interesting concept to contemplate (after all each of us want the best for our LPs), it isn't myseterious either. The results when properly applied are real and 90% of the 138 or so posts rightfully say so with quite a bit of enthusiasm and dedication. So overwhelmingly do it overrides a need for scientific substantiation to curb skeptics (a euphemism) except for those that like to research to gain understanding, not debunk or make excuses for feeling left out of the party.

    Glad to see the love for LAST as I've aldo used it since 1984. I'd like to add my experiences with it to the thread by since so many have stopped by over the last 2-3 years looking for that.

    Like some others reported, using a high-torque platter i.e. RCM like a VPI is infinitely better than manually applying the sectional rotation by hand technique. Granted, not everyone can do this so LAST cant be faulted for their instructions, as it does work but is inefficient In the application. Once the fluid is applied to the brush it can be gently and evenly distributed across the rotating LP. Several revolutions on the platter will allow you to hold the brush horizontally across the LP while rotating the roll of the brush towards you to distribute the fluid and provide a buffing action for finer distribution into the groove walls. It becomes quite a good technique that will save time and aggravation while getting the most out of the fluid over the largest area of contact. It can be done on a turntable that uses a platter weight so an less than flat LP doesn't slip under pressure.

    +1000 on ensuring the LP is as clean as can be prior to treatment. Seems that should go without saying! I use LAST Extra-Strength Cleaner (no longer svai
     
    Last edited: Jan 10, 2017
  13. unidyn

    unidyn New Member

    Location:
    Tiffin, OH USA
    +1000 on ensuring the LP is as clean as can be prior to treatment. Seems that should go without saying! I use LAST Extra-Strength Cleaner (Step 1, and no longer available) which was also highly evaporative and applied the same way as the Preservative (Step 2). That product has since been replaced with Power Cleaner and I swear by it as well. For new LPs I use both, and just cringe at the thought of allowing the stylus to contact virgin grooves of a new LP without them. Once you know things, you just can't unknow them :)

    Of all the products of questionable results aimed at improvement, rest assured this not one of them. No, I don't work for or know anyone associated with LAST. I'm simply a dedicated user that believes in the Step 1 / Step 2 processes 110% and has come to appreciate the benefits a record cleaning machine provides to the application of them. Kind of pricy but unlike a stylus that wears out, 20 years from now you'll still be enjoying the benefits of the LAST investment. It can be tricky to apply if done so by the well-meant instructions because it's success is significantly technique-based, but anyone can do it after gaining a little experience with it.

    I don't use it in every LP I own, but I would if I could afford to, even well-played ones. Yes, I apply the stickers on the back of the LP cover and spend time locating and aligning it. It becomes a badge of honor for that LP and I agree it adds to my perception of worth to used LPs, especially when someone took the time to carefully locate and tastefully apply the sticker. When I see bumper stickers on cars I loathe most of them, but when they're not centered or even crooked, I draw a very accurate stereotypical appraisal of the slapdash that put it there. It's called pride and that has value too (or used to). Oh yes, I have knocked over a bottle before. I still want to throw up just thinking about it :)
     
    Last edited: Jan 10, 2017
    iloveguitars likes this.
  14. I had experience with a bunch of "LAST" preserved LP's that when I played them they all exhibited some white fluffy build up on the stylus. I tried a few stylus' just to be sure.
    I was given these LP's and he told me it was applied over 30 years ago. Late 70s . When I observed the 'white fluff' through my magnifier that was collecting on
    my stylus, it appeared to look like fibreglass strands.. white and longish but broken segments.like a hardened chemical matrix. obviously long forms that were the shape of the groove.
    It did not SEEM to cause a problem with the audio, but it appears the LAST treatment is not permanent and pulls up over time as is this case.
    I was shocked at first as I thought my stylus was broken and ripping apart my vinyl. Never seen this phenomena - i've seen dust and grime come off and collect but
    this was dramatic and one side would end in scattered remenants of the white fluff and a large amount on the stylus. But one pass and it was not repeated, therefore
    it un-applied the stuff. I don't like LAST. I notice on their website they recommend using old stock LAST as well. Just thought to put that out there as I'm dealing with the last of that batch of LAST treated Records.
     
    Leonthepro likes this.
  15. Do you sell your last treated records online? If so, do some of us a favor and post your seller / store ID here so we can avoid them. Last is terrible.

     
  16. Last sucks. Marketing crap.
     
  17. Or you could simply try cleaing records.
     
  18. I don't know if it's damage, but see my comment here about it 'coming up' when playing. Potential stylus murder? Not sure.. It looks like shards of fibreglass.
     
  19. ggergm

    ggergm another spring another baseball season

    Location:
    Minnesota
    @freqazoidiac, I don't know what the problem is with your records but it isn't LAST. I have hundreds of records that have been treated with LAST over the past four decades and have never experienced anything like you describe here.

    You obviously got these records used. How can you be sure that it wasn't other factors, like a dirty environment, that caused these particles to get on these LPs?

    OK, you don't like LAST. I don't like people who live in a forest. Maybe I'll post my opinion five times in a row in a vain attempt to make it seem more valid. Or maybe I won't.
     
    Leonthepro and The FRiNgE like this.
  20. Warren Jarrett

    Warren Jarrett Audio Note (UK) dealer in SoCal/LA-OC In Memoriam

    Location:
    Fullerton, CA
    You are WAY too dramatic about some soft, white, fuzzy build-up of LAST lubricant on your stylus, that you admit you "don't know" if it causes a problem, and you are "not sure" if it is "stylus murder". In my experience, if I remember correctly, the occasional, tiny bit of white deposit on my stylus occurred only the first, and maybe also the second, time I played the record. This excess LAST was probably due to over-application, and was removed from the record by the stylus, then it was also easily removed from the stylus with a simple brush stroke. No "murder", no "crap".

    The LAST that I applied VERY lightly to some of my records about 30 years ago, obviously did protect the records. They still play absolutely like new: no wear, no increase in surface noise, and less dust attraction even after all these years. It seems to have done its job very well. No drama at all.
     
    The FRiNgE and ggergm like this.
  21. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    Love it when people use anecdotal evidence to jump to ill-conceived conclusions.

    So let me get this straight. LPs *you* didn't use LAST on but were told they had that stuff used by somebody, and we don't know how, were played on your turntable and have gunk on them and that's the fault of a product you never tried that is successful and benefits from a vast satisfied audience?

    You make a wildly logical argument there. :rolleyes:
     
    Leonthepro, The FRiNgE and ggergm like this.
  22. showtaper

    showtaper Concert Hoarding Bastard

    I never worry about what will happen to my records when I'm gone. That is my son's problem.

    I've used LAST on quite a number of records including a copy of Thick As A Brick that has 2000+
    plays. Still a very good play copy with little to no surface noise........
     
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  23. Paully

    Paully De gustibus non est disputandum

    Location:
    Tennessee
    I decided to start using Last a couple of years ago when a few of records I had bought had been treated with it and they were crystal clear, clean, almost no surface noise.

    But I decided to do an experiment as I had accidentally bought a duplicate of two different newly issued records. So I treated one and didn't treat the other. My wife and I were both able to pick out the treated record. My wife didn't know which record had been treated. The two treated sounded off, maybe a little rough and a tad unpleasant. Hard to describe but enough to notice. But we both could pick out the Last record by sound alone and, as I said, my wife didn't know which one had actually been treated. That decided me against using it going forward.
     
    Leonthepro likes this.
  24. ggergm

    ggergm another spring another baseball season

    Location:
    Minnesota
    :love: :love: :love:

    My favorite post in many months.
     
    unidyn and Strat-Mangler like this.
  25. quicksilverbudie

    quicksilverbudie quicksilverbudie

    Location:
    Ontario
    I've lost a friendship with a fella that builds his own tube amps because he is against LAST Record Preservative, not because he has used it but because he doesn't believe in the associated literature. :sigh:
    BTW I have been using it for 20+ years with nothing but positive results. :righton:

    sean
     
    The FRiNgE likes this.
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