Wet Playing Vinyl

Check out this experiment with a play test included.

Wet playing vinyl.

Never wet play your vinyl records. With thousands of records in our music collections the last thing one wants to do is ruin them. Instead using a record with moisture on it can damage the grooves and create an even bigger mess to clean. Doing so only causes the stylus to spread the abrasive sludge deeper into the grooves possibly doing irreversible damage.

Thoroughly clean and dry them before playing. Make sure that you fully wipe down your records with a microfiber cloth or let them air dry on a cleaning mat. Cleaning records with glue vinyl gong groove burn wet play and more. This makes the record sound even worse as the crud dries.

Wet playing sounds like an ideal solution at first but is not. Never wet play a vinyl record does wet playing a record help reduce noise. Do not do this. Just properly clean your records and you will be better off in the long run.

A kieth monks style record vacuum may be required to remove washed dirt from the groove bottom. Playing wet records does not get rid of dust or lint it will only move it around. The stylus life will last forever because wet play does for a stylus what oil does for an engine. Have you ever tried playing your records sopping wet.

Never play or store a wet record. The solution you use to wet play also evaporates and causes other problems including not allowing the heated vinyl from the stylus to heat and cool as it does from normal air play. Never spritz water or wet play a vinyl record in an attempt to quiet the crackle and pops. It is a myth that playing a wet record will reduce static build up.