5 Things To Stop Doing To Your Vinyl Records

Young and old collect vinyl records these days, but here are 5 things (oh, there are more) that no one should do to their precious vinyl babies:

1. Never stack your records. Unless you prefer your vinyl warped. If the stack is big and weighs a lot, it could even crack your vinyl. Think of your record as a book, and place it on a shelf or heck use your floor and a wall if you have to. Just keep them vertical.
2. Only used approved record cleaners on your vinyl. It is pretty easy to Google how to clean your records, but do not believe everything you read. Never use things like baby oil, wood glue, lighter fluid, tap water (distilled yes), Windex, or any lubricant or solvent. Use an approved record cleaner and a soft carbon fiber brush.
3. When changing records, let the platter come to a complete stop before removing the record. If you try to pick it up while the platter is moving you stand the risk of scratching against the slip-mat causing a scuff or scratch.
4. Keep your fingers off the record (hold the edges). If you handle a record where the grooves are you will leave moisture and body oil which will attract dust. Think of your record grooves as a river and your fingers are beavers. The oil from your fingers and dust that sticks to it will create a dam, causing your stylus to skip or at least sound bad. Yes, I just used beavers to illustrate a point...
5. Your cool Radiohead T-shirt is NOT a record cleaner. It's tempting I know. You see some dust on the record and you are dying to use your shirt to wipe it off. What will happen are two things - First you add more dust and possibly a part of your lunch that was on your shirt. Second you create static and that is the kryptonite to vinyl's power. Static also attracts??? Yep you got it- DUST!

Those are a few of the many bad things you can do to your vinyl records. We will share more later, but feel free to share some of yours below!