Getting the Bugs Out
Record cleaning is one of the dirty undersides of being an analogphile: You're bound to find stuff on your LPs that needs to be removed at least occasionally. My own collection of LP cleaning solutions looks like an EPA Superfund site. Great controversy swirls around the question of the best record cleaner. While there does seem to be general agreement that alcoholbased solutions are risky for the safety of vinyl, that is the end of any consensus. Conversations can quickly become unfriendly when the matter is discussed; you'd be safer discussing religion or politics.
LPs are not unlike your carpet: No single cleaner will remove every type of stain. You'll probably need a variety of cleaners, because a variety of contaminants will plague you.
Enter Buggtussel Vinyl-Zyme Gold, an enzyme-based cleaner derived from plants by Kevin L. Blair. It's available in two strengths. The extra-strength version is intended for first-time cleaning, and that's what is under test here. There is also a regular strength product intended for maintaining cleanliness. It's easy to useÑjust spray on and vacuum off.
I tried the cleaner on LPs of varying conditions. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that it's possible to conduct a scientific evaluation of record cleaners. After all, it's difficult to maintain a control unless the records are intentionally soiled with a known entity; even then, the assumption would be that the records were the same at the outset. So any results have to be interpreted as unscientific.
Buggtussel did indeed help remove severe soiling. However, it had no success at all with the apparent fingerprint that mars a classic Paul Butterfield album of mine which is a "worst case" subject, and it also failed at removing dirt from a yard-sale Shaded Dog find. Of course, I don't know exactly what that dirt is, or if anything else could do better.
What Buggtussel did do was remove stains from a handful of discs where n-o-t-h-i-n-g I had used before - including most of the well-known cleaners and even the devil's own dreaded alcohol - had been successful. So, Buggtussel might work for you if you find yourself in the possession of a few, uh, dirty dogs. In no case did it appear to inflict any damage, and the manufacturer claims that it is completely safe and non-toxic.
Most records are not visibly dirty on casual inspection, and that includes most new records. Nevertheless, most of these, too, will benefit from a thorough cleaning. They will play quieter when clean, and it's common to hear not only cleaner highs and a purer midrange, but an improvement in imaging and soundstage that is not at all subtle - the degree of improvement is commonly of the same order as making an upgrade of your preamplifier. The difference is immediately obvious. The only truly clean records are those you have personally cleaned yourself.
I also re-cleaned a few Buggtussel-washed discs with my regular fluid just to see if there was any audible difference that might suggest that Buggtussel left a residue. I honestly couldn't tell the difference between the two. Since the cost of admission to the Buggtussel cure is low enough to justify the risk, I suggest you experiment with a bottle.
- Curtis Leeds
- Ultimate Audio, Winter 2000