How to clean your used records

Make sure you don’t play dirty records – any with fingerprints, spills, fuzzy spots (fungus), pizza topping, etc, because the dirt will cake around the stylus and cause distortion.

Wash any records that have foreign matter stuck to them before you play them.

Any records bought from Real Groovy with the orange Ultrasonically Cleaned sticker will have already been washed.

You should always wash secondhand records that you acquire. Especially those more than ten or twenty years old. In the 50s to 70s over 60% of homes had at least one smoker, so many records are covered in a fine film of tar, because they electrostatically attracted smoke particles.

It’s not the best way, but you can get a lot of alcohol and dust off with a tissue and alcohol (not beer). Don’t use tissues that are scented or Eucalyptus or Aloe Vera impregnated. Use Isopropyl alcohol, you can also put a couple of drops of water on the tissue, and wipe the record with a rotary movement following the groove. This won’t clean them properly, but in most cases will make them playable.

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