Recently when I finished recording a mixtape, all the records were completely covered in grease from fingers and dust. The records didnt sound perticulary good anymore, the cracles from the dust seemed to have taken over and were as high in volume as the music. I didnt have any special cleaning at home.
So I first tried to just wipe off the grease with a cleaningcloth.
This perhaps made the vinyl look clean, but most of the dust were still in the grooves.
So I started to use a moistered cloth and when that didnt do, I eventually progressed to clean the records with water. First with soap, but that didnt do much of a difference. So insteasd just water.
This had some drawbacks however. The paperlabel on the records are made out of paper so when pooring water over the label can ruin it. Mine didnt get so much water on the label so I manage to dry it and the water stains isnt visable. Then its important to not poor to hot water over the record, because it can warp the record. Try using lukewarm water and poor water outwards on the vinylrecord.
So now as good as new?
This did clean the worst dust off the record, but there are still some pop and crackles left, but much better than before.
How about the static issue when using water?
Water can attract static to the records, but as long as the records are clean and dry when starting to play them again there shouldnt be a problem.
1 thing to have in mind when cleaning with water is to be aware that the paperlabel can get ruined.
Dry the first side before starting to clean the next side. This is to stop water from going over the paperlabels.