Martin Winfree’s Record Cleaning Guide

Under Appreciated

MARTIN WINFREE’S RECORD CLEANING GUIDE
 
 
MARTIN WINFREE’S RECORD CLEANING GUIDE
 
 
 
(First of all, it was Facebook who changed up the format of the Notes; I don’t like this much at all.  But it’s their show, so what can I do.) 
This article is not designed for people who can clean up their record albums by following the instructions given above. To paraphrase Truman Capote’s dismissive quote about Jack Kerouac: “That’s not cleaning, that’s dusting.”
 
* * *
What I was faced with was a little more involved – the devastation from Hurricane Katrina that happened 10 years ago. A photograph showing the sodden album covers after I (and our housekeeper who helped us out) had pulled all of the discs out is given above.
 
I have written of this before and won’t repeat everything I said, but I figured it was a lost cause: There were albums everywhere, strewn across the lawn of our home and in the bushes and in the former garage and crawl space and in the bayou and simply everywhere it seemed like (along with the house itself and the rest of our possessions); I didn’t even know where to begin. After a day or two, one of my neighbors said that she could see many of my record albums through the windows in part of the wreckage from the house. She had previously fished out some of our glasses and even several pieces of crystal that had somehow survived the storm and had that sitting out in her kitchen for us to take.
I had my albums (around 2,600 at that point in time) on several nice wooden racks that I had found on the Internet. Record albums are very heavy, and almost all bookshelves are not really designed to hold them. I had the wooden racks set up along the two outer walls of a small room that my wife Peggy called her sewing room, which was between the breakfast room and the laundry room. We had only been married not quite two years, and I had sold my house in Ocean Springs and moved into hers in Gulf Hills about our year earlier. She had previously been renting her home to a top executive at the Beau Rivage Casino; when we fell in love, she was living in a “penthouse” in the Pelican Cay oceanfront condo building in Biloxi.
 
During Hurricane Katrina, we stayed at Peggy’s niece’s home in Mobile; the winds were terrific, but otherwise, it didn’t seem so bad – it didn’t even rain that much. On television, the storm seemed to fill the entire Gulf of Mexico, but I was still hopeful. Driving back there the first day, the damage viewed from I-10 was beginning to get worrisome (parts of the Pascagoula River Bridges were damaged and closed off to traffic); but it wasn’t until we turned off onto Shore Drive (the main route through Gulf Hills) that I began to sense the true scope of the devastation: The road leading back to our section of the development was completely cut off by downed trees.
 
* * *
 
A few days later, we were at the historic Gulf Hills Hotel, where we could use the bathroom and get the local newspaper (the Sun Herald published every single day through the catastrophe) and escape the heat a little. I was in the lobby and wandered up to the front desk and asked the woman there: “I don’t suppose you have a room available by any chance, do you?” When she said, “Yes, we do actually”, I just about collapsed on the floor. I knew that many people had ridden out the storm at the hotel, so I had no hope at all of finding anywhere to stay. As it turned out, Jim Cantore from the Weather Channel had just checked out that morning, so we got his room. I never get tired of telling that story!
 
We had a hotel room but not much else, early on. There was no electricity (and thus no air conditioning except maybe in the lobby from backup generators), no telephones, no running water, no cable TV – even cell phones barely worked at all (that is assuming that you could somehow charge them up). The toilets were still usable; management had bailed out water from the swimming pool and filled up large plastic garbage cans along the hotel’s exterior corridors. What you would do is take the small trashcan from the room and fill that up, and then use the water to fill up the toilet tank after you flushed. When the water was finally turned on, that first cold shower in our room was one of the best I have ever had in my life. 
But we did have food, and that was a major plus. Friends of Peggy who operated a popular Ocean Springs restaurant, Bayview Gourmet were staying at the Gulf Hills Hotel also; and they brought over food from their freezers and used the hotel’s kitchen to cook up some fine meals for us – while most people after the storm were eating out of cans and subsisting on MRE’s.
 
Eventually, one of the telephone companies (Sprint maybe) set up operations in the hotel’s meeting rooms; and they brought in big trucks with diesel generators on them in order to provide electricity for the entire hotel. That got us hot water and air conditioning. When we lucked out again and moved into a tiny garage apartment about a month after the storm (our housekeeper’s sister had stayed there while her house was under construction), we still had never had phones or cable TV in our hotel room; and as I recall, the bill from our stay was only a nominal charge. Then, just before Thanksgiving, Providence shone on us once again; and we ended up renting (and then buying) the home of one of the employees at Global Valuation Services who had moved back to Texas.
 
* * *
Some items that we retrieved from the debris I was able to bring back to the hotel (we could at least lock up our room); but clearly, only a fraction of the record albums would have fit there. I arranged with my next door neighbors to stack up my albums in the carport under their house until I could figure out what to do. Once I took out what albums I could from the former sewing room – one wall was basically intact, while another burst open during the storm, so away they went – I returned to the site dozens of times and spent hours there and in the surrounding yards looking for my albums – most of the records that I could see were definitely mine, but there are a few that I gathered which were not. I had previously cleaned up and stacked my 45’s in two large pasteboard boxes which I ordered on line a couple of years previously; those sank to the yard basically unchanged (one even had its lid), but I still haven’t done anything with them.
One night, I selected two of the albums and took them to the hotel room to see what I could do with them. One was practically the very first album that I picked up in the yard – a 12” single by Katrina and the Waves called Do You Want Crying (I never get tired of telling that story either). I washed the mud off the disks, and they didn’t look too bad; but the album covers were a lost cause: Even the handful that could potentially be cleaned up would no longer be usable for storing the albums in after they dried. 
* * *
 
My other collections – videotapes, books, CD’s (most of the CD’s were actually at my Gulfport office, where there was no damage to speak of), and a few cassette tapes and DVD’s – also went through the storm; but I was mostly worried about the LP’s, since I had put the most energy into that collection. It doesn’t take much water to ruin a book or a tape, so those were hopeless. Gulfport had its main library a couple of blocks from the beach, and that turned out to be a really bad idea. Similarly, some of the County Courthouses in the three coastal counties where I often went to research property records and deeds were flooded; and cleaning up and recreating those records was a major undertaking as might be imagined. There were makeshift records rooms set up for both Hancock County and Jackson County for several years afterwards; although the records for Harrison County were in much better shape, and those records were available in the original locations after a fairly short period. The CSX Railroad tracks were often (though not always) the extent of the major flooding from the Gulf; the two (!) courthouses for Harrison County were both located north of the tracks and were not flooded as I remember.
 
Anyway, I was able to retrieve some papers and old tax returns; but the smell was terrible, so I didn’t do too much of that. I did gather up the CD’s that I found also, but those were lighter, and most of them probably floated away in the storm. (I didn’t find a single DVD, but I didn’t have that many to start with at that time).
 
* * *
 
As it turned out, the corner of the house with the sewing room had floated off the foundation and came to rest in the yard relatively intact – those outer walls had collapsed somewhat, but sure enough, I could see row after row of albums through the windows. A lot of them didn’t even seem to have moved off the wooden racks. Prior to the storm (that is what we call it around here: the storm; everyone knows what you mean), I had run sheets of plastic from the back and across the top and then down the front. I was worried about rainwater basically, but actually, the plastic helped to keep a lot of the albums in place.
 
Seeing that got me energized. I pried off the window frame and started reaching in and grabbing handfuls of albums. It was blazing hot that day, and the stench from the bayou mud was almost unbearable; but once I got going, I hardly noticed the privations.
 
* * *
 
Anyway, back to business. Both vinyl records and CD’s are pretty durable and can survive a lot of abuse from a storm. Just in case (God forbid) you are ever faced with a natural disaster or other catastrophe that scatters your record collection to the four winds or the seven seas, here is what you can do about it based upon my own experiences in cleaning up my albums from Hurricane Katrina.
 
First of all, try to gather the albums up as they lie as quickly as you can and get them to a safe place. Heat is a big enemy of vinyl (probably not so much for CD’s), but just getting them to some sort of shelter out of the Sun is probably going to be enough. As it turned out, the bayou mud and the wet covers evidently provided a considerable amount of protection for my albums; but if they are dry, this is all the more important. There might be others buried in the debris, so if you can, hang around while it is moved to the curb and pull out what you can. However, be sure that you put the albums somewhere away from the machinery, or you might lose them anyway.
 
Secondly, the album covers – even plastic sleeves – are not going to be any good, so don’t try to save them (other than some souvenirs). Also, as soon as possible, remove the vinyl disks themselves from the covers and sleeves. The bare disks will be vulnerable to damage, so take care with them as you are working through the album covers. But work quickly: If the wet covers are allowed to dry before you can get the disks out, you are much more likely to damage the albums as you remove them. This step is not really necessary for CD’s.
 
Thirdly, for temporary storage, I used liquor store boxes; however, most liquor and wine boxes are not large enough to accommodate albums. You can take along an undamaged album to use as a template to see if you can use a particular box; if an album in its cover fits easily inside a box, then it is safe for the bare disks, but you definitely do not want them to be a tight fit inside a liquor box – they have been through enough without chancing additional damage unnecessarily. Some boxes might be wide enough but not tall enough, and you can use those boxes; but obviously, you don’t want to stack anything else on top of them. As temporary sleeves, I used small garbage bags; but again, you will need to get the size right on those. Some that I found were the right size, but for a lot of the albums, I wound up getting the large bags and then folding them around two albums. You can also stack albums with no sleeves between those that have them. The idea is to keep the albums separated. Once you have the boxes filled, the uncleaned albums can stay that way indefinitely.
 
All record albums and 45’s – whether clean or dirty, in or not in covers and sleeves – should be stored vertically.
 
* * *
 
As to the actual cleaning, again, this is for albums that have been through a disaster like a storm or a fire – you won’t need to do all this for albums that have never left your shelves. For starters, get the idea out of your head that you have to handle the albums and CD’s only by the edges; you are never going to get them clean that way if they are really dirty. Also, metal is an enemy, so take off your rings and bracelets whenever working on the albums. Most nozzles are metal also, and you will need to watch yourself around them in order to avoid adding new scratches to the albums.
 
Next, assemble your tools. Needless to say, any kind of metal brush is out of the question; but any type of fiber or plastic brush is okay – just make sure that there isn’t any metal anywhere exposed, like rivets or staples. A foam brush that is formed around a metal ring, say, is not a good idea; since the foam can wear away. After trying out several types of brushes, I settled on a basic shoe brush; it has held up during a lot of album cleanings without any substantial wear. I got the brush in a shoe polishing kit that I paid $5 or $10 for.
 
For the initial cleaning, I used basic dishwasher liquid; I found the cheap brands easier to deal with, rather than the “ultra” type or name brands like Dawn, because I had to add so much water to use those detergents.
 
Then I needed a place to put the albums after cleaning so that they could dry. I found a plastic dish rack with narrow slots that worked real well. There were little ribs between the dish dividers that allowed me to sit the albums more or less upright so that they would not touch each other or too much of the dish rack either. This is often easier said than done; if the albums are warped at all, you might have to spin them around in the rack or even move them to other slots in the rack in order to get them to sit right. The drainboard beneath allowed the water to drip off the albums into a drain. I usually had them on a bench in the tub, but a sink would work also. The rack needs to be on as flat a surface as possible so that the disks will stay in place and not flop into one another. Once the bulk of the water has drained off the disks, the rack can be placed anywhere to air dry; I would allow 24 hours or more between cleaning episodes (there will be several per disk). 
* * *
 
To begin, take a short stack of dirty albums out of their box and put them in a pile near the sink (say, on the toilet lid). Before actually starting the cleaning, and if you can still read the labels, it is a good idea to write down a list of what the albums are, in order, in case the cleaning process damages the record label to the point that it is no longer readable. Once you know how many albums your rack will hold, then you can just count out that many every time. If you want to have several racks going at once, that is a possibility; just make sure you have a level place to put them all so that the water will go into a drain.
 
Although a kitchen sink is physically better for cleaning a dirty record album, I didn’t use mine, since I didn’t know what sort of nastiness was on some of those disks. A tub isn’t a bad idea either, but I am not as flexible as I used to be, so I passed on that as well. Thus, I wound up at the bathroom lavatory; though it was a little messy, it worked out pretty good.
 
For albums with caked on dirt and grime, or with paper and cardboard stuck to them, you could first try to knock off as much of that as possible and dispose of it in a trash can or something. Then wet the album on both sides; getting the label wet is unavoidable, and they can take a lot of abuse, but try not the hold the label directly under the stream of water. Some additional material should easily come off once the album is wet, such as dirt or pieces of album cover that might be stuck to it, so try to remove as much as you can before putting on the detergent. You can run your hand along the album grooves to loosen other pieces; if a little paper stays put, that’s all right at this point, but try to get all of the larger stuff off the album first.
 
* * *
 
Then run a thin stream of detergent around the entire album and use your hand to work the detergent into the disk. Once everything gets pretty soapy, you can probably get by with less, but the idea is to get a decent pile of suds on the album. Again, loosen what you can – in most cases, you should be able to get just about everything off the disk. A lot of my albums looked pretty good from the beginning, but I still did the detergent step to make sure that they were clean – at the very least, they had spent a lot of time soaking in bayou water.
 
Take your brush and, using a circular motion, run it along the edge of the disk, avoiding the label area. Depending upon how dirty the album is, you might need to clean the album in three or four or five sections. Then flip the album over and do the same on the other side. In a few cases for really dirty albums, I did the detergent step twice.
 
Rinse the album thoroughly on both sides, loosening any other material that remains at the time until the water runs clear. Let the water drip off, and then briefly examine the album to see if there is any dirt or paper that is still stuck to it. Then put the album in the rack and get started on the next one.
 
After the albums have dried, look them over again – that will be easier now that they are dry. Again, if there are remaining dirty areas on them, then put them aside for re-cleaning – usually just cleaning the small areas that are still dirty is enough. If mud has gotten on them, some of the dirt is going to remain behind, though it really amounts to little more than a stain. What I would usually do is to run my hand along both sides of the albums – as long as they felt smooth to the touch, I could be assured that it really was a stain and not more mud that needed cleaning off. If I felt little ridges, then I would usually clean them again.
 
* * *
 
 
 
At this point, the use of regular record cleaning fluid would complete the process. Several companies have that fluid available for sale, and you can just follow the directions for that. But basically, you spray on a goodly portion of fluid and work into the grooves with a brush. Wait briefly (it dries pretty quickly, since it is alcohol-based, but you do want to wait until the fluid soaks through everything. I usually used old undershirts to wipe off the fluid; if a lot of mud comes off, then I will often put the cleaning fluid on a second time. Then you can put the cleaned albums in the rack and let them dry for at least 24 to 36 hours before putting the albums into album covers again.
 
The kind that I get is called Groovy Cleaner and comes from Bags Unlimited: www.bagsunlimited.com/ . There are kits and also larger bottles of cleaning fluid. Bags Unlimited I think started mainly to provide supplies for record albums, but they have expanded into every form of collectible out there it seems like; every time I go to their website, they have more kinds of stuff available.
 
After you are finished, your albums will be back in circulation again, more or less. Many will play just as well as they did before, some will have a warp or even a puncture that will keep some of the album from being playable, and some records will be hopelessly scratched on one side. The warp can be so bad that only a couple of songs on one side and none at all on the other are actually playable. But it sure beats throwing them out. I still regret throwing out some albums that I had not even tried to clean up first.
 
* * *
 
Speaking of stuff, Bags Unlimited also has blank album covers (including double-album covers), record sleeves (plastic as well as paper, both with and without plastic inside), and sleeves for covers also.
 
Even if your record collection hasn’t gone through a disaster, they have a lot of supplies that can help keep your record collection in good condition. Cleaning the albums with their record fluid is a good idea from time to time, but if you don’t leave them lying around outside their covers, they are not going to get too dirty. Each disk should have its own sleeve; I use plain paper sleeves for the ones that went through Katrina, but a lot of people swear by the plastic. Also, plastic album cover sleeves are a good thing to get for a record collection, since the albums rubbing together can cause a lot of damage. You won’t need those for the blank album covers of course.
 
Then after I have the disks back into sleeves and covers again, I look around on the Internet for the album covers and print them (as big as possible to fit onto a piece of paper). I then tape them onto the covers. When I first started doing this a decade or so ago, about the only place you could find album cover photos was Amazon.com listings and such as that. Some of the front covers that I found for my more obscure albums were tiny, and after blowing them up, they were practically illegible. Nowadays though, artist websites and other sites like Flickr and Discogs have both front and back covers and even shots of the record labels (though I haven’t tried to mess with those). You don’t have to use the boring back covers if you don’t want to; often I will use alternate album covers or even a cover from a different album by the same artist.
 
Additionally, I will type out the basic info on the album – artist, album name, record label, catalogue # – and then cut out the strip of paper and tape it along the spine of the album. I typically put the artist and album name near the top of the album and then the record label and catalogue # in the lower part of the spine. What I am trying to do is to recreate the album cover to the extent possible.
 
As a final step, I try to identify the albums where the record label is completely or mostly gone. Sometimes there is enough left to at least identify the record company, or part of the artist’s or album’s name. As I play back through the albums as I clean them up, I can usually pick up what album it is from recognizing the songs. In a collection as big as mine though, I still have a handful of records marked “[Unknown Album]”.
 
© Copyright 2015 by Martin Winfree.  All Rights Reserved.   
 
Last edited: March 22, 2021