Cleaning vintage records

[marie3]

Hi guys, I am hoping someone can give me some advice. My neighbor just gave me a trunkload of very old records. They seem to date from 1906 until the early 40's. Many are one sided. I'd like to sell them on ebay but I would like to clean them up first. Any suggestions? I was going to just use some soapy water and dry them with a soft cotton cloth. I'd appreciate any help.

[eight6]

[quote]Originally posted by marie3
[br]Hi guys, I am hoping someone can give me some advice. My neighbor just gave me a trunkload of very old records. They seem to date from 1906 until the early 40's. Many are one sided. I'd like to sell them on ebay but I would like to clean them up first. Any suggestions? I was going to just use some soapy water and dry them with a soft cotton cloth. I'd appreciate any help.
[/quote]


Don't damage the labels...record collectors are picky about such things. Don't use anything alcohol based because of the age (some items may be shellac, which will dissolve in alcohol). What are you trying to clean up, dust/dirt, or mold?

A good cleaning system for older records is the Disc Doctor cleaning system. Not sure if you're willing to put the time and effort into the cleaning routine, but if you are, here's the link:

http://discdoc.com/

If selling on eBay, try putting "Minimal Synth" or "Northern Soul" in the auction title, you'll triple the sale price of the item.

[marie3]

I just want to clean up the dust and dirt. There is no mold but the records are pretty musty smelling.
I am willing to check out the disc doctor if the records are worth it. I have some more investigating to do. It's just very time consuming, with the amount of records I have.

I will be sure to "Minimal Synth" or "Northern Soul" on the auction title. [:D]

Thanks for the info.

[eight6]

[quote][i]Originally posted by marie3[/i]
<br>I just want to clean up the dust and dirt. There is no mold but the records are pretty musty smelling.
I am willing to check out the disc doctor if the records are worth it. I have some more investigating to do. It's just very time consuming, with the amount of records I have.

I will be sure to "Minimal Synth" or "Northern Soul" on the auction title. [:D]

Thanks for the info.
[/quote]


Marie:

you might even be able to sell them minus the cleaning. If you do have anything that is of value I'm guessing most collectors would rather clean it themselves than let somebody else do it. You should just tell the story of how you acquired them when you post them on eBay, and mention that they look as though they could use a good clean. Let them decide on how best to handle the cleaning process.

[coop41]

[quote][i]Originally posted by eight6[/i]
<br>[quote][i]Originally posted by marie3[/i]
<br>I just want to clean up the dust and dirt. There is no mold but the records are pretty musty smelling.
I am willing to check out the disc doctor if the records are worth it. I have some more investigating to do. It's just very time consuming, with the amount of records I have.

I will be sure to "Minimal Synth" or "Northern Soul" on the auction title. [:D]

Thanks for the info.
[/quote]


Marie:

you might even be able to sell them minus the cleaning. If you do have anything that is of value I'm guessing most collectors would rather clean it themselves than let somebody else do it. You should just tell the story of how you acquired them when you post them on eBay, and mention that they look as though they could use a good clean. Let them decide on how best to handle the cleaning process.



[/quote]


This is the best idea. Let them clean it and by posting how you obtained them will make them even more attractive I'm guessing.

[marie3]

Well, that certainly would be a lot easier. I figured people would be asking about the condition, but since they are so old, I was thinking, bidders wouldn't expecting a mint condition item. I am afriad to put the records on my turntable to see if they play. They are not that bad for 100 years old, but I don't want to mess up my player!
Thanks for your help guys.
[:)]

[eight6]

[quote][i]Originally posted by marie3[/i]
<br>Well, that certainly would be a lot easier. I figured people would be asking about the condition, but since they are so old, I was thinking, bidders wouldn't expecting a mint condition item. I am afriad to put the records on my turntable to see if they play. They are not that bad for 100 years old, but I don't want to mess up my player!
Thanks for your help guys.
[:)]
[/quote]

They will most likely be fairly brittle, not like a modern (if that's the right word) vinyl lp.

Most of the 78s would play like shit regardless of their condition...I'm sure you need a different stylus size (larger) to properly play a 78.

Any idea what type of music they might be?

Any early AFTC?

See if you have any of these...


http://www.tefteller.com/html/78s_page1.html


Apparently, lots of blind guys (probably from Mississippi) sang the blues...I guess if I couldn't see I'd be blue too.

[marie3]

Thank you for the link! I have many of those labels on the website. Now I have to drag those smelly things in the house and go through them all. There is all different types of music. (no Northern Soul though)[;)] Many of them are very thick and pretty heavy for an record.

[Ollie Stench]

and check here to see if/what other copies have sold for:

www.popsike.com

[SomebodySomewhere]

[quote][i]Originally posted by eight6[/i]
If selling on eBay, try putting "Minimal Synth" or "Northern Soul" in the auction title, you'll triple the sale price of the item.[/quote]

Snirk!

As eight6 said, never, ever use rubbing alcohol on 78s. That's the surest way to have a ruined record. When in doubt, just use water. Although if you want my honest advice, worry more about getting them through the evil postal system than cleaning them. 78s are of course very breakable, and you should take a lot of care in protecting them for when in transit. I would not use anything but double-corrugated boxes for them. A 78 collector will probably be very forgiving if they receive a dirty record. Not so much if they receive a clean record that's shattered into a thousand pieces.

--
[b]YouTube Music Video of the Week[/b]

The Sports - "How Come"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6gVYp4BdAg

[eight6]

[quote][i]Originally posted by SomebodySomewhere[/i]
<br>[quote][i]Originally posted by eight6[/i]
If selling on eBay, try putting "Minimal Synth" or "Northern Soul" in the auction title, you'll triple the sale price of the item.[/quote]

Snirk!

As eight6 said, never, ever use rubbing alcohol on 78s. That's the surest way to have a ruined record. When in doubt, just use water. Although if you want my honest advice, worry more about getting them through the evil postal system than cleaning them. 78s are of course very breakable, and you should take a lot of care in protecting them for when in transit. I would not use anything but double-corrugated boxes for them. A 78 collector will probably be very forgiving if they receive a dirty record. Not so much if they receive a clean record that's shattered into a thousand pieces.

--
[b]YouTube Music Video of the Week[/b]

The Sports - "How Come"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6gVYp4BdAg
[/quote]


LOL...that reminds me, I once got a record folded in half in order to fit it in the mail box. This, despite it having "FRAGILE" written on it no less than 4 times. I took it to the postal station it came from and showed them...the explanation was laughable [i]"you know, these guys handle a lot of mail every day, they're bound to make the odd mistake"[/i]. My response:[i] " I guess the ability to read isn't a big priority at the Post Office".[/i] For some reason, I now have to pick up all oversize boxes at the station.

Marie, what you need to ship 78s are those Craig Moerer boxes...best ones I've seen by far.

[SomebodySomewhere]

Although I hear the Greeks are in to records shattered into a thousand pieces...

While a decidedly tacky response from the post office, any record that can be folded in half to stuff into a mailbox has NOT been properly packaged! This is one of the major reasons I don't buy high-dollar vinyl online. (The other being that I don't make very much.) Out of every 10 packages I receive of stuff I bought online, I'd say, oh, 1 meets my packaging approval. I do get more than my share of ruined jackets/picture sleeves thanks to people who have no business packaging records. You should've seen the box I got in the mail today. It was a mix of 12" and 7". Of course the 7" ones were all just floating around in there loose. Meanwhile, they couldn't be bothered finding a box that was actually an appropriate size for what they put into it, giving the package a nice molehill shaped appearance. I'm amazed nothing broke. But all the LP sleeves got nice and creased from being shoved into a box that didn't even have dimensions of 12" x 12", so all was well.

Also get my share of vinyl shoved between two pieces of cardboard. That's it. And not good cardboard, either. Plus a few dingbats who put them into bubble mailers or Australia post bags with NO other protection. Those people are immediately blacklisted. I don't need the aggravation. Most of the pieces of shit I've dealt with on ePay take it as a personal insult if you try to tell them how you want your stuff packed, anyway.

I did take the plunge and buy a couple things from Records by Mail when they started offering lower S&H rates (when your records are already overpriced, get real if you think I'm going to shell out $9 for the first LP + $2 each additional -- never mind that that's highway robbery to anyone who actually lives in Oregon -- from a U.S. seller). And I have to agree. While it doesn't change the fact that they're overpriced, their mailers are much higher-quality than the garbage most bozos stick records into. I'm still not sure if I'd use them for 78s -- unless they come in wider sizes.

--
[b]YouTube Music Video of the Week[/b]

The Sports - "How Come"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6gVYp4BdAg

[eight6]

You're right, the packaging of the record was sub par for sure, but the mind boggles at the stupidity of folding what obviously looks as though it ought not to be folded. I've seen it all as far as packaging methods as well. Leaving the record in the jacket for shipment is one of the most common offences, perhaps only second to lack of proper cardboard support for package contents.

I've had a few 7 " records arrive in envelopes...all arrived intact. The only 7" I received that was broken was well packaged, so I'm at a loss to figure out what happened to that one.

Records By Mail does charge a lot for shipping, no doubt. Too bad they didn't opt to make extra money by teaching other vendors how to package records, instead of raping and pillaging it's customers with outrageous packing/shipping charges.

How big is a 78 anyway? I've always assumed it was slightly smaller than an lp...about the size of a 10" piece of vinyl.

[SynthesizerMan]

Compared to other periods, records prior to WWII are not very valuable though there are some BIG exceptions. Before putting them online it would be good to see if you have any of those exceptions.

A couple of resources to check are www.gemm.com and http://www.popsike.com .

Gemm is a resale site. popsike follows record auctions. As an aside, I found a record through popsike that I made in 1980 that sold for $105.

Btw, as a record collector I agree with others that you shouldn't wash them except to run your record brush on the surface (while running on the turntable) 5 or 10 times to remove surface material.

world of noise

[marie3]

Thanks for all the excellent ideas. I have a lot of research to do.