Moldy Vinyl Records Sound Good !

Do you have some vinyl records with mold on them?

Do you have a moist or wet basement and you forgot you had some records in there? WAIT ! Don't throw them out. Well, you might have to throw the jackets away, but don't throw away the records. With just a simple cleaning you can have records that sound as good as they did when they were new. All you need is some distilled water, lysol and a microfiber cloth.

Mold Eats Dust From Grooves

When vinyl records get mold on them, the mold actually eats away the dust inside the grooves of the record. This, inadvertently, cleans the record better than any machine can. The mold itself is very easy to clean off, and doesn't leave any residue. Obviously, if you have any mold allergies you would not want to do this. If you dont, you can clean them and they will sound great.

Record Cleaning Steps:

1. Take the record out of the sleeve. f the sleeve can be, and is worth cleaning, by all means, get some lysol and carefully clean the mold off of it, inside and out.

2. Get a microfiber cloth, lysol, distilled water and a bowl. (you can find a cheap microfiber cloth at dollar tree, or most dollar stores).

3. Fill the bowl with some water and just spray a tiny amount of lysol in it. This is to disinfect the record when you clean it. In our experiences it does not harm the record, but use it very sparingly and never without diluted in water.

4. Position the record against the inside of your knuckles of your fingers (with your thumb on the label) and the front of your shoulder (or top front of your arm).

5. Wet the cloth and squeeze out most of the water. You may need a wetter cloth for dirtier records.

6. Wipe the record in a circular motion, lifting the cloth at et every 1/4 of the record. Be sure to try not to get any water on the labels. Some labels it will hurt, other it will not. After every 1/4, either move to a different part of the cloth or clean and re-wet it in the bowl. Keep doing this until you have cleaned both sides of the record.

7. Place the record on a record rack or fashion something that wont scratch record, but will allow it to stay in a vertical position to dry.

8. Put it on your turntable and hear how good it sounds.

Hope this helps anyone that has come across some moldy records. If you have any comments, or some tips or tricks of your own, feel free to post them in the comments below. Happy Listening !

James RecordsAlbums.com