Is light wet cleaning before playing bad for record?

[kelvinMunson]

I read the 20 page thread and it was very helpful... some thoughts:

1. ..........a wet played record MUST thereafter be played wet.

Well that is simply not a fact, although you are entitled to your opinion of course. This idea is often quoted with regard to general wet playing but it was originally attributed to the use Lenco-Clean wet play system,which leaves a residue on the vinyl.

[jnjansen]

Yes, hezagenius, I usually do let it dry for at least 5-10 minutes (which is probably not enough) but to speed things up I put it on the table and let it "spin" dry on 45rpm for a few minutes. Most of the water seems to build up in the lead in groove.

[megatrends]

I don't think it is necessary to play a record wet. Mine are quiet and play nicely on a mediocre price ranged turntable because I deep clean mine by hand.

Virtually all noise is from dirt and dust in the grooves to begin with and making them wet gives the illusion of being clean and quiet when the liquid is just lubricating the dirt and dust.

Just clean the dirt and dust.

I am listening to Nazareth's double live LP 'Snaz and it sounds new and you can't hear any noise. I bought it yesterday at Goodwill and it was filthy and full of fingerprints and sounded bad. I triple cleaned it by hand and it sounds MINT.

Once you have a clean record that has been deep cleaned you really never have to again if you handle a record properly and use a Discwasher or equivalent record cleaner for each use with a light Discwasher dry brush or damp regular record dust clean up.

Just my opinion.

This wet playing method to me sounds like people who put leak fix in their cars instead of fixing the damned leak.

[triphop]

kelvinMunson,
Perhaps my sentence structure was not clear: My "a wet played record MUST thereafter be played wet" was intended to be the second part of "it has been said"; it is NOT a theory I agree with, so you and I are in agreement as I know that wet record debate is not fact proven.

I was merely making the point that IF people believe that all wet played records must be played that way thereafter, then the logical conclusion for those of that school of thought should be the realization that ALL records they did not personally open the shrinkwrap on should be played wet; if one fears damage to records dry playing after wet played, to be on the safe side, assume previous owners wet played them. That was my attempted tie-in with the "it aint clean unless YOU cleaned it" advice.

Make sense?

[kelvinMunson]

Absolutely.... best to clarify these things though as it might have been misleading to a newbie