LAST record preservation is garbage

Then what should I use to clean my stylus with and how often?

 

I have had great success with Zerodust. Many also report great results using a piece of unused Magic Eraser.
A stylus brush also works but some gunk can take a while to brush off.

 

Still no word back from the OP on how to 'de-last' a record. We also need to keep in mind:
1. The OP has never used Last
2. No evidence has been provided on a direct link between the gunk in the picture and the use of Last. Perhaps in the OP's observation there is some correlation but correlation doesn't equal causation.
3. Nobody else here has experienced the same phenomenon, myself included .
4. If it were possible to 'de-last', how would you know if you had achieved it or not?

 

Yeah he is a member since 2007 and planning his post very carefully to degrade and insult LAST all through the years. I believe him and wouldn't use LAST.

 

Karma16 (sparky) had interesting results (hope it's OK to post links to another forum)

LAST Record Preservative re-visted

LAST is Amazing, Wonderful, A Miracle!!

I've never had anything like the OP's issue happen to me, I also contacted Walt @ Last a few times years ago, not sure if he's still around though.

 

I used LAST PRESERVATIVE during the late 1990s and early years of 2000 and found it to work extremely well. It certainly seems to keep records in top condition if my experience is typical? The reason I stopped using it was due to difficulty in getting it and the cost, which is not inconsiderable for a 'decent' quantity. I have never come across anything like what is shown on your photo. I know there are two distinct camps on this. Some people hate the stuff and claim it compromises HF information/performance and others who hold it in very high regard. I remember being in the Phoenix area of AZ. in the late 1990s and happening across a used copy of MICHAEL FRANKS' 'Passion Fruit' album on the first WB U.S. pressing. It had one of those little white circular Last stickers on the labels so I bought it, without hesitation. It turned out to a very good purchase too, even though I already had the EU pressing. I can't correlate any of my experience with LAST PRESERVATIVE though, with yours.

 

I've used Zerodust, I'm currently using Vinyl Passion that is the same principle, a sticky polymer you let the stylus lay on and gets the dirt from the tip of the stylus, that's why I also use the Audio Technica liquid cleaner, but if you say this may harm my stylus I'll use it less often.

 

Not me, many cart manufactures are against wet cleaning....can lessen the bonding....especially on bonded designs.

 

He's very much still around and I'm sure could be reached by email. I'll warn you, he's not much for chit-chat.

Recently, Walt did sell the company to a new, younger owner, Jeff Kaskey, to ensure the long term survival of The Last Factory. Walter Davis is now listed as the technical wizard. That fits. He has that wizard look going big time with his bushy, white beard.

[email protected]

 

It's ok to wet clean your stylus occasionally, but it's probably not a good idea to do it regularly. The glue that most manufacturers use to bond the stylus to the cantilever is hygroscopic. The constant wetting and drying will eventually break down the glue, possibly loosening the stylus, or having it fall out of the cantilever.

jeff

 

I used Last on a couple lps. Most were older,(20+ years old) and they still sound and look fine today. A jewelers loupe showed nothing strange hiding in the grooves. If I remember correctly, you're only supposed to use two or three drops on the applicator and it seems like it's already evaporating before you get the applicator on the record. Spreading it over miles, (okay, maybe a slight exaggeration) of grooves wouldn't seem to be a disaster.

 

Zerodust, Vinyl Passion, Audio Techica liquid cleaner, Stylast, LAST....... do you have a dedicated shelf / cabinet for all the various magic potions, sprays and perfumes?

I feel naked sitting here with my LP's with no coatings, styli with no special cleaners, no anti dust or static sprays, no RCM's, no special high dollar cleaning solutions, no special alignment tools, no LAST..... yet don't have any issues and would stack up my LP cleanliness, setup accuracy and SQ squeezed out of my system to anyone's. Sometimes feel alone here on the forum, but don't feel any of it is required, in fact I think it gets in the way and adds an unnecessary level of complexity. Doo dads....

But to each his own, I am not right, nor saying anyone else is wrong...... and understand the power of marketing these days and how we can get hooked into buying something we never even thought we needed yesterday!

And we wonder why so many come on the board, ask about vinyl, and are never heard from again. It's because their head starts spinning - they come in thinking they want to buy a TT, then are overwhelmed when they find out they need protractors, RCMs, special cleaners, sprays, perfumes, $500 cartridges etc and it cost 5x what they thought it would just to enjoy spinning some tunes......

 

Thought I am an admitted overly obsessed cleanophile with my records, ultimately the only thing I want on my record is the label (maybe a record weight) and then the needle. Anything else is superfluous flapdoodle ; )

 

As a matter of fact I DO HAVE A SHELF for all my vinyl related stuff. I have all these stuff: MoFi record cleaning brush, MoFi ONE Cleaning Solution, Audio Technica wet cleaning brush+fluid (AT6102), Audio Technica stylus brush included with the AT VM540ML cart, Audio Technica Stylus Cleaner (AT607), LAST Stylast stylus treatment, LAST Record Preservative, Vinyl Passion Stylus Cleaner, a microfiber record brush (one of those Audioquest clones) and a microfiber stylus brush.
The face cream and Glycolic Acid serum (works miracles on very oily skin like mine) are on a different shelf in the bathroom...

 

You know, that was one of the most refreshing responses I have read in a long time --- honest, funny, it is what it is........ I bow to you.

Different strokes.......

 

Thank you .
Beware, I don't use the Glycolic Acid serum because its anti-wrinkles properties (it does have anti-wrinkles properties),it was prescripted by a dermatologist as very oily skin is very annoying and disturbing, face sking itches, sometimes I felt it burn more that itching, with Glycolic Acid, problem solved.

 

If the OP returns to this thread I would like to offer to mail him a Last treated record for evaluation on the condition that he posts his findings in this thread with photos to verify the result.
But the LP has to be shipped back!

 

If the idea is that an RCM or Ultrasonic cleaner led to this - then even more of a reason not to use this stuff. Records need to be cleaned once in a while - you don't just clean them once and never again (my experience.)

Anyhow - I don't see the point - my 20+ year old records sound just fine and even better after a proper cleaning.

 

My oldest LP that I bought is 46 years old, and it is just fine too.... a couple of nicks and pops, but that was my fault!

 

I think it's inevitable with use and handling to to get some pops and clicks on LP records.Mine have very little of them, I handle them with the utmost care, I clean them once a year with MoFi brush, MoFi ONE Cleaning solution and dry them with an Audio Technica brush and they get spotless and noise free. I also have most of my records treated with LAST Record Treatment and I've never seen any strange residue on the brushes, nothing that wouldn't come out from non treated records.

 

The A-T cleaner is fine, I’d maybe just do it less often. Obviously Audio-Technica does recommend its use (by selling it), at least on their own styli, but I still feel more comfortable using it only when it seems necessary (which is not often at all playing clean records). I just dry brush for regular cleaning, and that seems to do the trick. Personally, I don’t like how Zerodust might affect the cantilever/suspension when the stylus is pulled out, and the dry brush works well enough that I don’t really feel a need to figure out how I’m going to keep a piece of Blu-tack or Magic Eraser handy by my turntable (I have enough junk laying around that area as it is...).

However, getting back to (sort of) the topic of the thread, I’d want some confirmation there’s no issue using both Stylast and the A-T fluid. I don’t know much about the chemistry of either product, but it’s a question I would have before I start using two different liquid chemical products on a stylus.

 

Thought I’d pop in to see if the OP continued the thread and responded to other posters. No sign. Interesting.

 

I haven't read all of the replies above. I'm assuming Last just neutralises static charge on your records, meaning the stylus will pick up any dust or fluff that's on them. Normally, static charge would hold this lint onto the record. It can't have just created this, as if by magic.

 

No! I can tell you straight out that Ultrasonic Cleaning does nothing of the kind with LAST treated records. I should know as I have ultrasonically cleaned hundreds of my own records without any problem whatsoever and they play beautifully! I think that the OP must be mistaken as to what was used on the records he acquired, surely? LAST Record Preservative, in my experience, is a great product and does what it says it will do. I just wonder why I haven't used it in a long, long time. But .. the cost is rather high and importing a decent quantity, say the 8 ozs. bottle ($205), would be prohibitively expensive before you even factor in the shipping costs and the import taxes (EU). Well, once the U.S.A. gets past its current difficulties with the Corona Virus etc., maybe I'll be able to visit the country again and pick up a supply of LAST. I would certainly use it again.

 

I haven’t read past the first post but I highly doubt that’s from LAST. I’ve treated hundreds of records and have NEVER seen anything like the picture posted. It’s something else.