Record Cleaning Brushes

Hello All

I am looking for members' experiences and recommendations on record cleaning brushes. I have an original AT 6012 brush that I use. I am looking at getting a second brush. I am thinking that I will use one for when I want to do a quick clean using something like Groove Washer solution and the other one for a rinse with distilled water. I am considering another (old style) directional AT 6012 or the Groove Washer brush or possibly the Mobile Fidelity Brush. Not sure if there is any real difference or advantage in the Groove Washer brush versus just using something like a micro fibre cloth or spin clean cloth. I would love to hear your experiences, especially if you have used and of the above and can offer a comparison!

Thanks!

 

I have the MOFI brush. I use it in my wet cleaning procedures to spread the fluid around and scrub the grooves. For dry brushing, I use whatever the cheap carbon fiber brush my girlfriend had when she moved in, it works great and usually gets all the dust in one or two rotations. The first time I used the MOFI brush was at the record store I used to work at. Being used to the AT brush, I found the MOFI brush to be a bit counter intuitive at first as a dry brush, it doesn't sweep as the AT brush does, it more kind of just pushes the dust, but once I got the hang of it it worked great.
I also have an old goats hair brush from my dad but the fibers feel kind of rough and so I haven't used it, kind of scared of it truthfully.

I used to use the AT brush as a dry brush (the SONIC BROOM!!) until my girl moved in. Until I got the MOFI brush, I used it as a wet brush. Definitely a better wet brush than the one that came with my Record Doctor V, although I use the RDV brush for applying the distilled water rinse after letting the L'Art Du Son sit on the record for at least 5 minutes.

Sometimes I still use the AT brush for super dirty records, like thrift store ones that have sustained water damage and get flecks of the outer sleeve (no inner on a lot of these) embedded in the grooves. Works great.

 

Try posting in the Hardware forum! You may get a better response.

 

Thanks so much for your response. The Sonic Broom is the brush that I have, as well as a carbon fibre brush simply called "The Brush." I use it for a quick pre-play dusting and use the sonic broom for a wet clean when I am too lazy to set up my spin clean. Used as a wet brush, how do you find the Mofi Brush compares to the Sonic Broom? Not sure which to get as a second wet brush. I like the fact that the sonic broom sits in its own little tray, has directional fibres and is also a bit cheaper and easier for me to buy than the mofi. But if the mofi is better I would probably get it. nice that it can also be used as a dry brush and I am not sure if that is advisable with the Sonic Broom.?

 

I just bought a new AT 6012, and the little guy works great!

 

Just to add, a friend of mine has the groove washer brush and I have used it at his house as a dry brush. It's good too, similar in feel to the MOFI brush but it sorta floats, compared to how the MOFI brush just sorta sits. I like the feeling of the MOFI brush for scrubbing but I think the groove washer brush would be good for scrubbing as well. That being said, I really like the solid feeling of the MOFI brush, and the way it sits securely in the grooves, rather than the floating feeling of the groove washer. I'm a little clumsy sometimes (shaky hands) and the MOFI feels solid.

 

Will do! Thanks for the tip!

 

I was using the Sonic Broom as a dry brush for years, on the recommendation of my father, but I can't say if that was a great idea or not. My dad took good care of his vinyl but he had some weird ideas, like for example, instead of using a microfiber cloth to wipe off the dust after brushing, he taught me to use my shirt. I never do that anymore.

I feel like the MOFI works better as a wet brush (scrubbing feels better) than the AT but I can't say by how much.

 

I also use the MOFI to spread the wetness prior to drying it up on the Record Doctor. But for a quick dry, dust swipe I use a separate MOFI brush which I turn on its edge and gently run across the surface as the album’s spinning.

 

Hi:

On my cleaned, stored vinyl, before play; I use the Audio Quest antistatic brush to start. I finish with the AT 6012 system. I use a minimal amount of the AT cleaning fluid.

I have two other brushes I use, one in wet cleaning and the other I keep clean for anything else that that might come up. These two have very thin bristles and are supposedly designed for record use. I got one from Turntable Lab and the other from Crutchfield. They seem to be effective.

 

MOFI brush with AIS #6 one step and then use the Boundless anti-static brush for dry brush

 

I use the AT 6012 for quick pre-play wipes when necessary. I also just ordered one of these Hunt EDA brushes which is still in transit.
If you want to get your records "clean", you'll have to get a little more involved than just brushing and wiping. A wet-vac style record cleaner works wonders to actually extract the gunk from the grooves. If your records aren't very clean to begin with there is a strong likelihood that using a wipe is actually embedding more dust and debris within the grooves, not removing it.

 

Record brushes I find redundant and potentially harmful:
Record Cleaning Brush Scratching

 

This^

 

I like the brush provided with my Record Doctor VI record cleaning brush.

 

Mofi brush on my VPI 16.5. I think the brush VPI sells with the unit is still in the box.

 

My opinion, worth what you've paid for it, is that there is far too much scrubbing, ultrasonic drilling, wet vacuuming, washing and brushing going on.

My rules are:
- never use a brush on records
- do use a Zerostat
- do scrape your stylus with abrasive
- only clean records with PVA
- use paper+polyester sleeves

 

I'm a big fan of the AT 6012. I don't even bother with the carbon fibre brush any more, it just leaves neat pile of dust. It also leaves very fine micro-scratches if you sweep perpendicular to the tracks.

 

Ditto. I just received my first carbon brush and it seems destined for the junk drawer, or returned. The AT 6012 works great for a pre-play dusting. Get records up to a point of being properly cleaned and they rarely need more than an occasional light swipe from there on.

 

I've been misting my CF brushes with distilled water, about three pumps from a good atomizer.

Works amazingly well.

 

Just mist the tips of the bristles with about three pumps of distilled water from a quality atomizer. Now lower the brush onto the record for no more than 1.5 revolutions, and lift the brush straight up.

NOW, inspect the bristles and you will see quite a line of dust. The moisture allows the bristles to hold onto the stuff that would normally just get lined-up/pushed-around.

In addition, the moisture kills any static.

The beauty is, by the time you're done playing that side, the brush is completely dry. Flip the album, knock the bristles a few times (I use an old credit card, easier than trying to flip the handle on the brush), mist the bristles again, spin on album for 1.5 revolutions, drop needle.

I've actually added a 2nd brush so I can clean the side I just played, and then use a fresh brush to clean the next side.

I have and like the Audio Technica 6012, I have maybe eighteen different brushes and pads, I feel like I've tried them all.

Once I figured out the misting of the bristles on the carbon fiber brush, there was no looking back.

This method also works great to brush an album that has just been glue-masked. If you've ever used the glue method, you know the amazing amount of static that can be generated, and the amount of dust that is sucked into the album as a result.

But using the misted carbon fiber brush after the peel, all that very fine dust is collected, the static is killed, it works great.

 

I mist my 6012 w/ a 3:1 (distilled water:99% isopropyl) and that does great for lifting the dust off and killing any static. I tried a light mist of the same on my new carbon brush but must not have effectively wetted the bristles as it left a fine line of uncaptured lint/dust on the LP. I just tried again with a heavier misting to see if it'd lift the fine debris and it did. Admittedly I am not using a quality atomizer. I guess at this point it comes down to convenience (and long term cleanliness?). Both the 6012 and the carbon brush can remove the dust and dispel static. I imagine that the carbon brush is likely to stay cleaner than the pad through continued use but I'm used to the 6012 and feel like it's less likely to scuff or scratch the vinyl than the carbon brush (if the pad doesn't pick up a damaging piece of debris).
Other than one potentially staying cleaner than the other, are there other pro's and con's to consider in carbon brush vs. pad? I suppose the pad could also shed thread or lint of it's own material?

 

I think the misted carbon fibers are better at lifting stuff out of the groove, compared to the 6012.

I get quieter vinyl with the carbon fiber brush.

And yeah, the brush does stay cleaner (than the fabric on the 6012). I'd have originally thought the slight amount of moisture would make a mess. But after repeated misting and knocking the bristles between use, I'd say the bristles are actually cleaner than they were before I was adding water. The key is not to overdo it on the moisture.

You need a good atomizer, as well. Not talking about an old Windex bottle. I use one of the small atomizers that came with an eyeglass cleaning kit, it makes a very fine mist.

 

@Phil Thien - what is the liquid you are atomizing? And do you hear the effects of it on replay if played without re-wetting?
My big concern, running as an undercurrent behind all "cleaning" and LP preparation steps, is residue left from whatever is applied. Thus, I probably spend as much energy focused on how to remove stuff from the LP as applying it.
Not meant as a criticism, but an honest inquiry.
TIA>

 

Distilled water, nothing else.

In fact, now that I feel I have mastered the use of the CF brush by adding miniscule amounts of distilled water, this is pretty much all I do to clean albums, even used.

If I feel it still needs more, I glue mask it.

I had stopped glue masking because of all the static, and the way the charged vinyl sucked all the dust in a two foot radius onto it immediately after the peel.

But the carbon fiber brushes misted with distilled water pickup all that dust and kill the static.