Interested in starting a vinyl collection..advice?

[leggo rocker]

Rob

The vinyl looks amazing!

Not sure where the mixed reports come from. Smeary? Never!

It comes with acetone based cleaning fluid. Don't use this, hold it back for records that have glue or snot on them. It strong stuff and very toxic.

Use L'art Du Son biodegradable cleaning fluid instead, easy to get from eBay, I buy the concentrate and dilute it with distilled water from halfords. This stuff does the job just as well and means you don't get high (or cancer) from the noxious fumes produced by the acetone.

The thing is very noisy, it has an industrial vacuum cleaner in it. So get a pair of wireless headphones so you can listen to music while cleaning.

An important modification I use is I put a small CD (the mini ones that come with some devices as driver discs) under the record securing puck to protect the labels, Moths own label protection kit is a stupid price.

Some records, particularly heavy but warped ones (old Studio One etc!), can be tough to clean as they don't want to stay down and in proper contact with the suction nozzle. I just wear cotton gloves and press the record down from the top, this does the trick. I even can clean 7s and 10s without the 'adapter kit' Moth supply. I just put my thumb over the open suction area not covered by the vinyl, does the trick. I plan to cut a small inner tube into a seal to fit this job, sometime...

There is an knack to using the Moth, once you get the hang of it, you'll race through records at one every 5 minutes, or less. I reckon I have it down to 2 minutes per record if they aren't too dirty.

ALWAYS use brand new poly lined inner sleeves afterwards - you can HEAR the difference as you slide the newly cleaned record back into the sleeve, NO sandpapery noise!

I have bought many records that have graded VG due to surface noise. A good clean on the Moth and the surface noise is greatly reduced or even removed entirely.

I would never be without my Moth, which has now cleaned at least 3,000 LPs and 12 inch 45s.

Got valuable vinyl? Then get a record cleaner, it's a no brainer!

[Rob Strictly-Rockers]

Leggo,

Thanks for the info and the tip on the solution.

Regards

Rob

[Crisp Biscuit]

A good site I've found recently is:

http://www.juno.co.uk

You can search by many options including format and listen to mp3's of everything.

if you want Scientist dub versions, checkout Greensleeves:

www.greensleeves.net

They've just updated their site, everything can be heard before you buy, and they've got some great albums and artwork!