Oh,
I forgot to mention: For really dirty records, like those that have been through my many unfortunate basement floods or those that I've picked up from the flea market on 17th Street, I've developed a two-part cleaning process.
First, I hit them with the MoFi Super Deep Cleaner, which the company recommends as a pre-cleaner for extra-dirty records. It's said to be made of a mild detergent and an "exclusive Quad-Distilled, hyper-pure water base." I don't even know what that means, but I'll trust them on it. A 16-oz bottle of the stuff costs $25. It's hyper-pure, brohams. I like to spread the Super Deep Cleaner with the MoFi brush ($20). The MoFi brush has a way of really getting into the grooves, like Madonna. It seems to almost
grip the vinyl, creating a suction-like bond.
After vacuuming up the Super Deep Cleaner, I hit the records with the MoFi Super Record Wash. This fluid is not as powerful as the aforementioned. It doesn't go as
deep. Like John DeVore, the Super Record Wash is totally alcohol-free. No, seriously: It is. John DeVore is not. The Super Record Wash is said to incorporate non-toxic, natural degreasers and dirt solvents along with more of that Quad-Distilled, hyper-pure stuff. A 32-oz bottle costs $25. I like to scrub it into the grooves using the VPI brush ($36).
That's it—a one-two punch that leaves my dirty records looking good and sounding better. Sometimes, when I feel like preserving my bottle of MoFi Super Record Wash, I'll turn to VPI's own fluid. This seems to work equally well, but doesn't spread quite as neatly as the MoFi stuff. It seems ever so slightly
thinner than MoFi's cleaner and has a tendency to shoot out of its bottle in a more
free-spirited manner. The MoFi stuff beads up nicely, while the VPI fluid is more apt to spill. So, just be a little more careful with the VPI stuff. An 8-oz bottle of VPI's fluid costs $10.
One side of a very dirty record that has been treated with both the MoFi Super Deep Cleaner and either the Super Record Wash
or VPI fluid is, in my experience, invariably cleaner than the other side of the same very dirty record that has been treated with either the MoFi Super Record Wash or VPI fluid alone. Using the MoFi Super Deep Cleaner as a pre-treatment even seems to be more effective than doubling up on treatments of either the Super Record Wash or VPI fluid. Don't for one second, however, confuse these tests as being scientific or fun. They were neither.
Of course, now that I've got my super-awesome record-cleaning process down, I find that MoFi is pimping out their PURE Record Rinse and PLUS Enzyme Cleaning Fluid as a "revelation," a "revolution" in record cleaning. The PURE Rinse is just like the Super Deep Cleaner, minus the mild detergent, while the PLUS is supposed to be MoFi's most potent cleanser. "PURE is ultra-pure water that has gone through four stages of deionization, after which it is triple-distilled, then treated with high intensity ultraviolet light to kill all bacteria and microbiological particles." So,
that's what it means. Damn, yo. A 32-oz bottle of PLUS costs $30, while a 32-oz bottle of PURE goes for $25.
I have not tried them yet, but they do sound tantalizing. Oh yes, they do.
