Did You Score Great Vinyl on Record Store Day? Here’s How to Clean & Protect Your Finds

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How was your Record Store Day? This year I spent about an hour and a half and $150 picking up some great vinyl at two stores in Berlin, where I live. (Shout-outs to Soultrade and Dussman.) Every year seems to bring more music fans into stores, along with more releases in more genres. I personally picked up reissues of the Passengers album and Emmylou Harris’ Spyboy, plus archival live releases from Ry Cooder and Talking Heads, and a split 7” single from Goat and Graveyard. While I was at Soultrade, I also found a used album I’ve wanted forever – a 1973 copy of This Is Amon Düül, which is hard to find and even harder to wrap your head around.

That record was in great shape for 1973, but it needed to be cleaned — as do many old records. These days, some new ones do, too: A combination of falling quality control and a tendency to use paper sleeves means that many new records come with some grit in the grooves. So, in the Record Store Day spirit, I wanted to share some tips on the various ways to clean records and keep them free from dirt and scratches — and sounding great for as long as possible. There’s some science to this, but it’s pretty easy. You’ll need to buy accessories, and I’ve shared my favorites here, but like everything in audio, the equipment costs as much as you want it to. My advice, as always: Start with the basics and work your way up.

The first thing any vinyl fan needs is an anti-static brush. It’s the easiest to use — you just hold it perpendicular to the record as it spins, and it lifts out dust and eliminates static electricity that causes snaps, crackles and pops. Serious vinyl nerds call this “dry cleaning.” As opposed to wet cleaning that eliminates serious dirt, this just targets basic dust. It couldn’t be easier, though. Just press down very gently as the record rotates, and you’re good. I have an Audio-Technica AT6011a Anti-Static Record Brush, which has served me well for years, but the Boundless Record Cleaner Brush is just as good. Both are about $15, and buying one of them, or something similar, is a no-brainer. There’s no way to get a bigger boost in quality for less money.

The other inexpensive way to improve sound quality is to make sure your turntable stylus is clean. This is also inexpensive, but it’s a bit trickier! The styli on good turntables are delicate and expensive, so you need to be careful. Start with the right tool for the job — a small carbon-fiber brush. Then follow the instructions carefully — brush very gently back to front, only when necessary. For about $14, the Boundless Stylus Cleaner Brush is solid. You can also buy a record brush and a stylus brush together — this $20 package from Fluance is great.

The next thing you’ll want is plastic sleeves — “inners,” as collectors call them, because they protect vinyl in an album, as opposed to “outers” that protect the sleeve itself. These don’t need to be fancy — the only goal here is to avoid the paper sleeves that can cause minor scratches over time. It’s hard to go wrong here, but for years I used Collector Protector sleeves (50 for $24). Recently I switched to Big Fudge sleeves (50 for $25), which look a bit nicer, although I haven’t noticed any real difference. The kind of people who buy $200 records have a preference, but it probably just makes sense to buy whatever’s cheapest. Right now, that looks like Hudson sleeves (100 for $29) or the round-bottomed Invest in Vinyl sleeves (50 for $14). I haven’t tried either of them, but only the most serious collectors can tell the difference.

If you have valuable records, you’ll also want outer sleeves. This doesn’t touch the vinyl itself — it just protects the album. In some cases, with valuable albums or gimmick covers, that’s great to have. In a decade and a half of seriously collecting vinyl, I haven’t noticed so much difference between different brands, but some are sturdier. Big Fudge is solid and reliably good (50 for $20) and Invest in Vinyl (100 for $23) is currently a better buy.

If you have a good system, you’ll want to get more serious about cleaning. That means “wet cleaning” records, which means buying some special supplies. Under no circumstances should you attempt to clean records with stuff you have lying around the house. It’s no fun and it can damage records. Vinyl is delicate, so it demands its own routine. To start, it’s easiest to buy a cleaning kit with a microfiber cloth, some specialized vinyl cleaner and perhaps a brush. Big Fudge sells a $23 Vinyl Record Cleaning Kit that comes with a stylus brush and a styling storage pouch. Boundless has a $60 package that has all of that, plus a record brush and a nicer case, and Amazon now offers it with a $5 coupon discount. Eveo has one for $20 that’s not so different. The real difference comes in what you do with them — and you should use only specialized cleaning fluid, distilled water and either special brushes or microfiber cloths.

That will get you started. Remember, though, the idea isn’t to clean the surface of the vinyl — it’s to get the dirt out of the grooves. At some point, though, you might want a machine that will really get into the grooves. For between $50 and $100, you can get a spin-cleaner, a kind of hand-powered car wash for vinyl that rotates records against brushes and in and out of a bath of water and cleaning solution. One of the best is the $80 Spin-Clean Record Washer Kit. You fill a small tub with water and a cleaning solution, then turn the records against brushes, in and out of it — then dry them. This is easier than it sounds, and it’s far more effective than doing it by hand. The Spin-Clean Deluxe Kit, for $125, includes more fluid and drying cloths, although you can buy those separately, too. There are a bunch of machines built on this basic model: The $63 Big Fudge model gets positive reviews, and at $50 the Studebaker is the bargain of the bunch.

If you are really, truly serious about great sound, you might also want to consider an ultrasonic record cleaning machine. Right now, the machine of choice is the German-made HumminGuru Ultrasonic Vinyl Record Cleaner, a fully automatic machine that attacks dirt with sound, then dries records after cleaning them. It’s $600 but, if you’re tempted, Amazon is now selling it with a coupon that’s good for $100 off. Think of all the money you’ll save.