I bought a lot of 78s at a farm auction saturday for $15. My grandma is kooky for them and I thought she’d appreciate a few new records in her collection.
I got about 80 discs in the lot. :eek: Maybe about 1/4 were obviously too damaged to play (large chips, cracks, etc.) The rest are just dirty and a bit scratched up.
Question 1: What is the most appropriate way to clean these off?
Question 2: How scratched up can 78s be and still be playable?
Question 3: I was thinking of sorting through to find the 10 or 20 Grandma is most likely to enjoy and selling the rest. Do they have any value? Most are foxtrots, a few jazz, waltz, etc. Not many names that I recognize but I’m not exactly big on the 1930s foxtrot scene. 
Most notable is a copy of Der Fuehrer’s Face (an anti-Hitler Donald Duck cartoon, apparently) that has got to be worth something.
There used to be lots of record cleaners out there, as I recall the best was to use distilled water and a very soft cloth.
The scratches can cause the record to continously play the same groove if it is bad enough, a little more tracking force and it might be ok, I used to rub the damaged spot with candle wax to repair them.
The value is up to the beholder, its doubtfull you will get more than you paid for them.
The most important thing is to keep alcohol-based cleaners away from your records. Most 78s are made of shellac, not vinyl, and shellac is soluble in alcohol.
You can do a pretty good job using water with a tiny amount of dishwashing liquid. If your tap water is hard, use distilled water. Use a brush with very fine bristles - most paint brushes and toothbrushes are too coarse to reach into the grooves. Some people use paint pads - the type used to paint into corners - some of them have very fine bristles. You could also use crushed velvet or a similar type of cloth.
Some people use Kodak Photoflow instead of detergent. Photoflow reduces the surface tension of the water and allows it to wet the record more thoroughly.
Whatever you use to clean the records, be sure to rinse them throughly. You don’t want to leave any residue in the grooves. Wipe the records dry after rinsing.
Whenever you brush the record - during washing, rinsing or drying - do it in the direction of the grooves. Do not ever run a brush (or anything else) across the grooves.
Let the records dry completely before you play them. Playing a wet record can damage it badly.
78s can be played even when severely worn. The more wear, the worse they sound, but they’re not like CDs that can be rendered unplayable with a single scratch or scuff. Occasionally a record will have a stripped groove or a needle dig that will cause it to skip.
As for the value of the records, Der Fuehrer’s Face is not highly valuable. It’s a fun record, though, and worth having in a collection.
The waltzes are not likely to be worth much. The fox trots and jazz records are more likely to have value, although that depends on what they are. It’s not likely that any of your records is worth more than five or six dollars, and some of them could go for considerably less. There’s always a chance, though - why don’t you tell us what you have? Please list the label, record number, artist and title for some of the jazz and fox trots.
The quality of the sound that your records produce will be largely dependent on the playback equipment that you use. You won’t know the true capability of a particular record unless you are able to play it on a high quality playback system. If you use an older hand-crank Victrola machine, even the best-kept record will not sound as good as it would when played on a modern, electronic machine capable of playing 78 rpm records. I wonder if any of today’s “scratch artists” would find your old records interesting enough to purchase some of them?
Oops, sorry - I didn’t really address the questions in the OP. I have used dishwashing soap and warm water to remove the big chunks and then a “Discwasher” for the final clean-up and maintenance. I have about 500 LPs of the 33 1/3 variety that I am trying to find a new home for. I am in the process of trying to locate and discuss terms with some of the local [Anchorage, Alaska] “scratch artists” who might buy some of them. My collection ranges from Artie Shaw to Frank Zappa, so it’s an eclectic grouping.
Thanks for all the help guys – I would have cleaned them with alcohol and ruined every one!
Tonight I’ll write down the names of the discs I’ve sorted through so far. I’m not in this for the “big bux” – its just that they are SO heavy I can’t afford to ship all of them to grandma (plus, 50 or so foxtrot records might be a little much even for her). I thought if I could get a little $$ for the extras it would offset the cost of shipping. I mean, if I got $1 per I’d more than make back my “investment” LOL.
I don’t have a player myself, Grandma does of course but she lives 5 states away so its not much help.
Oh, BTW, a couple of them are printed on maroon instead of black. Looks very cool.