It's usually a mixed blessing when someone walks into the shop with a Bag For Life full of records and hands them over saying,
“These have been in our shed for years, we don't want anything for them, thought you might like them”
On the one hand – yay! free records, and who knows what rare and esoteric titles there might be in that bulging bag of vinyl. On the other hand “been in our shed for years” does not bode well for the condition of said vinyl goodies.
Here's a Top Tip from someone who's seen their fair share of damaged records over the years – do not keep your precious vinyl in a shed. I know you know this already, but perhaps it's time to nip round to Mum and Dad's and retrieve their Beatles records from the outhouse if you don't want them to completely moulder away into a musty pile of platters that aren't even fit for turning into plant pots. Because damp and dust are not happy bedfellows for records and that is why keeping them in a garage or a loft or a shed is a big no-no.
That's not to say that records that have been stored in this way for a long time can't be restored to some semblance of their former glory. Records that have been stored in damp conditions will often develop mould spots on them but these can be removed with an effective record cleaner which can be sprayed on to the surface and wiped off with a lint free anti-static cloth. This will also help remove dust and finger prints that might have accumulated over the years. For a deeper clean you can use something like the Spincare cleaning system which is effectively a little bath for records and which has gentle brushes in it that really get into the grooves as you spin the record through the cleaning fluid. You'd be amazed how much better old records sound once they've had a good deep clean.
Once your records are back to their glossy, shiny best you should keep them dust free with an anti-static brush, pad or cloth before each play and always return them to their inner and outer sleeves before storing upright in a storage box or on a shelf in your home, ideally next to your record player for easy access. As for the sleeves themselves, a long stint in the shed is really bad news for them as they may very well begin to go mouldy and start sticking to each other. There's not much you can do once the damage is done, but to prevent further sticking and disintegration it's a good idea to house them in a polythene or PVC sleeve (provided you keep these well away from extremes of temeperature as chemicals from the sleeves can leach into the vinyl causing a weird mottled effect on the surface of the record).
You'll be pleased to know that we have a wide range of cleaning products and storage solutions for all your vinyl care needs on sale in the shop. We also clean every second hand record we have before putting them out in the racks and in the case of extremely filthy records (no, I don't mean the Judge Dread ones) we use our Oki-Noki cleaning machine which has a powerful vacuum on it to really suck up all the grit and dirt from the grooves. Ask us about our cleaning service next time you're in the shop.
One point to note however – no amount of spraying, wiping, bathing or Oki-Nokki-ing will help get rid of scratches, fag burns, cracks, chips and blemishes, so another Top Tip for you – treat your records as if they were your very own flesh and blood and always handle with extreme reverence and care! You know they're worth it....
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