TERGIKLEEN - Manual Record Cleaning Instructions

THIS IS OUR OLD ORIGINAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT WANT TO BUY A RECORD CLEANING MACHINE. IF YOU WANT TO PROTECT YOUR LABEL, PLEASE VISIT EBAY AND BUY A LABEL PROTECTOR. This is the manual cleaning instructions for use with TERGIKLEEN™ record cleaner. Using simple inexpensive tools, one is able to get pro-quality cleaning results on all your old and new vinyl records. Our product is incapable of doing any harm to your records, it contains Tergitol™ which has been used for decades by the Library of Congress, the Canadian Archival Institute, DJ’s, and record collectors.
There are many record cleaning products out there, but none of them is going to restore groove damage in vinyl recordings. There is no “magic” cleaner that can do that. What you DO want, is a cleaning solution that is going to do a superior job of removing dust, dirt, cigarette smoke residue, oils, waxes, fingerprints etc. TERGIKLEEN does precisely that with no questionable additives, no alcohol, no ammonia or glass cleaners or dish washing detergents. These things can and WILL damage your records forever.
If you are just using an old “record player” with heavy tone arm and low quality stereo you may not hear the damage you are doing thru these kinds of systems, with "do-it-yourself" cleaning fluids. These old machines and the cheap Chinese machines now flooding the market will not produce audiophile level sound, and they will damage your records thru heavy cartridges and tone arms with cheap, and worn stylus needles. TERGIKLEEN is for those who want the best and most safe cleaning product, with modern, maintained turntables and good quality stereo systems.
Great sounds from classic recordings can best be enjoyed by properly set up turntables, with light weight cartridges and tone arms that won’t damage audio information in delicate grooves. Alcohol, and dish detergents and the other crazy substances you read about on the internet will produce audible damage to your records, particularly in the high frequencies such as cymbals and vocal “s” sounds, turning them into harsh sand paper noise. TERGIKLEEN is incapable of doing this kind of damage, and we make no “miracle” claims other than it will remove pretty much everything from your record surface that should not be there.
Record cleaning machines are a godsend for those who want to clean alot of records quicker than this manual method, and we have videos on each type of machine, with tips and instructions how to use all of them. Thanks for watching and enjoy your music!
Turgikleen Team
Rhodesia by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
Artist: www.twinmusicom.org/

[@jamiemccort8388]

Does soaking the whole record in that solution not do any damage to the centre label? 🤔 I’m just wondering. Thanks

[@davestephens8033]

I've cleaned hundreds of records and only ONE label from the 1940's had a red label that bled a little bit. These days in 2023 Amazon and Ebay sell label protectors, kinda expensive but they are easy to get now. I don't clean records like this, and on Ebay and Amazon you can buy a fully ultrasonic record cleaning machine for $165. I will probably be taking this video down by summer, it was just an attempt to show that with a little thought you can clean records really well, but tediously.

[@NobodyWhatsoever]

"Shake well, and get the dog to help you" I was sitting here disappointed, thinking, "Where's the dog?!" Then suddenly ...

[@ktor538]

I have a similar method, I put mine on a microfiber cloth. And use a spray bottle solution and, use the same pad to go in a circular motion to deep clean grooves. , Then wipe clean with a damp microfiber cloth with distilled water only to wipe the surface clean then dry with another microfiber cloth. Cheers!

[@jwglista]

Record looks very clean. I personally wouldn't want to get my labels soaked like that though. Water tends to make them warp and peel off in my experience.

[@davestephens8033]

Yes, I have heard that modern records the labels are poorly applied. I've only bought 4 modern records, mainly I buy thrift shop records for $3 each, now I have way too many records, but some awesome music. These old records are incredibly dirty! I do a pre-wash on the Spin-Clean (see our other video on that), a couple spins then into ultrasonic. The Spin-Clean ends up with brown muck at the bottom of the tank and the utrasonic is good for maybe 20-30 records and the tank gets junk on the bottom too. In the ultrasonic the motor that spins the record has label protectors for the holders so they don't get wet, but I still spray them with distilled water and disregard the labels, I'm not a "collector" I'm a player and have only see 3 or 4 out of hundreds that showed any water marks at all, but these are all OLD records, the labels were melted into the vinyl on the pressing machine, I don't think they do that anymore.

[@dwoodog]

I would add some rubber shelf mats on the bottom of the pans. The tergikleen looks like it does a awesome job. My only issue with this whole thing is its tedious and not quick. You just wanna clean one record and play it, setting up all that would be a hassle.

[@davestephens8033]

Definitely. For $165 on Ebay and Amazon you get an ultraonic all-in-one cleaning machine, very cheap and the only real professional way to clean vinyl records.

[@TheAgeOfAnalog]

This stuff works. NOTHING else I've used, pre-made or DIY comes close. I first clean with Tergikleen on a DIY platter with label cover hold-down, wipe with lint free cloth, rinse in SpinCleen with distilled water, wipe again with another lint free cloth, then air dry. A vacuum, like the Record Dr or VPI would do a little better I'd imagine, but this works very well.

[@davestephens8033]

I don't like the vaccuum machines. They don't clean very well, the felt pad over the vacuum wand gets contaminated with cleaner. Ultrasonic is the ultimate method and no matter what you do, cleaning records is WORK.

[@jmbwithcats]

That dog really did help!

[@davestephens8033]

Yeah, he helps us with EVERYTHING, whether we want him to or not, LOL ;-)

[@jmbwithcats]

Seems to me it might be best to use this in a spin clean and not cake pans so you don't damage the labels on the record, no? That is if you have a spin clean... but two 15" cake pans will run you $40 on Amazon, the paint pad another $10, you might as well just buy a Spin Clean.

[@davestephens8033]

Please watch our video on how to use the product with the Spin-Clean ;-) There are 2 videos we did so far. This one is for people who have no gear to work with, and don't want to buy an RCM. I played this record and it was really well cleaned, KZbin wouldn't let me include the audio samples for copyright reasons.

[@SDPickups]

Someone asked about the labels but left no way to reply. You honestly do not need to cover the labels, but if you feel you want to go on Ebay and look for vinyl album label protectors, they are there and they work well. But, after having washed over 400 albums this last year, not a single one of them was damaged. 2 did lose some red ink but not even noticeable. Labels are not glued on, they are pressed into the vinyl in the hot pressing machine, so they can't come off and because they are embedded, the paper doesn't wrinkle when wet. So, I don't protect them, but some do.

[@SDPickups]

Tergikleen works with ALL record cleaning machines. The purpose of this video is to show those who can't afford a machine how to do it manually. Please watch our 2nd video showing how the Spin-Clean type machines work with Tergikleen. A third video is in the works showing you how to use it with ultrasonic machines, which are the BEST method for cleaning vinyl records, period. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oGKyk3qNa9B6rdU

[@sidvicious3129]

I have heard of the Tergi Kleen and will try it, but you need to add the pre-text that you can't do what you are doing with all labels. If you do what you are doing with a Blue Note label, that label will bubble up, fade and peel. All record labels don't, but if you are a record collector and seller or eventually try and sell your records, the risk of water damage to labels is very great and ruins the value. The Tergi Kleen, however I have heard it is great. There are some manual record cleaners that do cover the labels, if you use your method, but cover the labels, I think you will be fine.

[@davestephens8033]

I"ve since learned that modern pressings, reissues, do need label protectors, but I am buying only vintage albums myself. My ultrasonic that I use now uses a rotating mechanism from Vinyl Stack on Ebay and it does have label protectors with it, though the label is never actually IN the tank, but I still spray distilled water and don't protect the labels and have yet to see any damage on old labels, except one or two that bled a little red ink onto my dry wipe towel, but once dry there's no visible damage that I saw.

[@rxonmymind8362]

Excellent video. I use my sink with Dawn dish soap then rinse with​ high pressure spray. The records labels are protected by the original Groove master label saver. I then transfer it over to the Keith Monk record cleaning machine using just as you did Tergitol( distilled water mix) then a double distilled water rinse with a wee bit alcohol solution. What I learned from this video is to buy mofi type plastic/static resistance sleeves and do a light dusting prior to play even after they've been thoroughly cleaned. Thank you for the dusting tip. I was wondering why I'm still getting static & pops after a marathon cleaning I do. Great video.

[@davestephens8033]

Dawn is very BAD to use. It has alcohol and all kinds of chemicals in it that are NOT good to use on PVC vinyl albums. You don't need anything else other than Tergitol. I also used it and the one thing it taught me is that anything with alcohol is bad and that Dawn is bad. Glad you're getting good sleeves, its important. Static is always a problem, you should get an antistatic gun and use it before you play, it will cause any dust on the record to be easily brushed off. But even so, as you are playing the album the record is spinning in open air, and most of the time by the end of the album it has sucked static charge out of the air. The Milty Zerostat is the gun to get. You have to use it right though. You slowly pull the trigger so it doesn't click and release it slowly, works great.

[@tinypizzas]

Could we get links to everything that is needed through Amazon?

[@davestephens8033]

Ummm, the cake pans are from Fred Meyer, they are really common, Walmart and other places. The paint pads are at any hardware store, I use the ones with dark blue plastic holder already built into the unit. The Spin-Clean is on Amazon and where I bought mine, just search there, very good machines.

[@llllcryptxllll]

Damn, that's a lot of distilled water, how many records can you wash with one gallon of solution and how many can you rinse with a gallon of water ?

[@davestephens8033]

This video was just to give people who don't want to buy a record cleaning machine a simple method to use with no specialized gear. Please watch our Spin-Clean video and you'll see the pressure tank method that I personally use. I'm also using ultrasonic now, its a faultless perfect method of cleaning compared to anything else.

[@davestephens8033]

Its not a very good cleaning method, it was just something I came up quickly four years ago. I'll be taking this down by summer. A fully utrasonic record cleaning machine here in 2023 is only $65 on Amazon and Ebay, its the only truly professional way to clean, but I use the pump up pressure garden sprayers for $13, that beat every other way to rinse the Tergitol fully OFF.

[@tinypizzas]

The paint pad won't get down into the grooves would it? Wouldn't a brush be better?

[@davestephens8033]

Oh yes the paint pads DO get down in the grooves, you have to let the pad follow the grooves around the record and not just wipe the record across the grooves. They clean better than any brush you can buy at any price, for wet cleaning only.

[@theman36]

Can you use this product using a vacuum record cleaner?

[@davestephens8033]

Yes you can, one of the machines I bought was the Okki Nokki, overall I don't like the vacuum machines, they really do not remove ALL the liquid and they warn you no more than 3 vacumm spins or you can damage your records, and then how do you really tell when the velvet pads are worn out, except when they start abrading and ruining your records. You can use vacuum, but you'll need to do several rinse cycles or use the pressure distilled water rinse I show in our other video on the Spin-Clean method, thats personally what I use. Must be really well rinsed off.

[@eddiel70]

I think you're overstating the issues. I've used vacuum based RCMs for quite some time. You can easily work out when to replace the velvet pads by checking them. You don't need to wait until they damage anything to work out when they need to be replaced. You also don't need to do several rinse cycles. One should be sufficient unless you are using a formula that needs multiple cycles due to it's chemical make up. Fair enough you haven't had success with them and prefer a different method but I think some of your facts are incorrect.

[@davestephens8033]

You will notice that all the cleaning solutions supplied with vacuum machines are alcohol based. they want a single vacuum pass to quickly DRY the record, thats why people use alcohol. Tergitol, is an unbelievable surfactant, its not going to come off in one rinse, your velvet pads are also going to be contaminated with it and will need to be rinsed as well. I get that stuff on my fingers when I fill bottles and I have to rinse with alot of water to get the slippery stuff off my hands. And this is why its such a great cleaning solution, it is incredibly wetting and grease cutting as well.

[@CovertCulvert]

This looks like it would work very well. It's GOT to be better than the video I watched using wood glue!! OMFG! It was like a bad accident; I couldn't bear to watch, but I couldn't click away either.

[@davestephens8033]

On the contrary, the wood glue method works incredibly well. But its messy, and extremely SLOW. The only other cleaning method that works as well or better is ultrasonic cleaning. The Spin-Clean also works really well, but not as good as wood glue or ultrasonic.

[@richardriley4415]

What about the labels ?

[@davestephens8033]

As I just posted above, out of over 500 vintage albums I've experience no damage except slight red ink loss on 2 albums. But these are all vintage albums, I am told that modern albums can damage from water, so best to protect those.

[@davestephens8033]

See message above.

[@NickG-of5wd]

Wow... I don't think I want to submerge my records, wetting the labels. Using this with my RCM-III (record cleaning machine) makes more sense!?!?!

[@davestephens8033]

Using this method I've only seen 2 or 3 albums out of about 600 that showed any water marks at all, if you feel you need label protectors USE THEM ;-) You still need to completely rinse the cleaning solution off the records. Watch my Spin-Clean video to see how I rinse mine using a pressure tank spray, it works better than any other methods, because its always fresh clean distilled water, no chance of leaving any residue behind. I currently use ultrasonic myself, I tried all the other methods and found them all lacking, except the glue method but ultrasonic works as good as glue does.

[@NickG-of5wd]

No thanks! A record cleaning machine just makes more sense as the vac pulls everything off the record...whereas soaking them means other records go into the same bath and interact with the “dirty water.” It takes way longer and overall is just not the quickest and most effective way to do the records. It’s like telling people that doing dishes without a dishwasher is better. Like going back to an archaic way of doing things. Not to mention the cost. My system costs around $150 and I love it!!! Anyone else interested in the RCM III let me know and I’ll steer you to the developer. "Guaranteed to blow your mind"...everytime. Plus I can tell you where to get this Tergikleen stuff as the original product from a major chemical company with a supply that will last you for like 30,000 lps cleaned for like under $75...

[@davestephens8033]

The video is show newbies a basic simple method without buying anything expensive. I did a video on using the Spin-Wash machine, I also have an Okki Nokki vacuum machine, and ultrasonic. Ultrasonic beats everything else hands down, its all I use now. At some point I'll do a video on how to do ultrasonic correctly.

[@sebastianspatafore5117]

very nice way to DESTROY the labels! thumbs down.

[@davestephens8033]

I've cleaned over 500 vintage albums this year, from the 40's up til early 80's. Out of all those only 2 bled a small amount of red ink onto my drying towels. I am told that modern pressings the labels CAN be damaged, I still haven't experienced that but I don't own but a couple modern albums anyway, since most of the are CD tracks burned to vinyl. So, if you feel you need label protection, do it.