What to do with a LAST treated record

orthobiz · « **on:** 13 Dec 2010, 02:01 am »

Bought a minty Japanese Close To The Edge, and the label has a small round LAST sticker on it. Sounds nice and clean. Do I ever want to clean it? Just brush it before play?

Also has a small FIRST sticker on the label, what's with that?

Thanks.

Paul

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #1 on:** 13 Dec 2010, 02:18 am »

If the LAST sticker is silver...it's an application of LAST Record Preservative given to it by the record's prior owner.

FIRST was the name of their cleaning product many years ago....now they have an extra strength Power Cleaner (fantastic, btw, it'll be interesting to see if the medical enzymes you sent can replace it) and everyday cleaners - one for RCM's and one for hand application.
http://www.lastfactory.com/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=2&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

I recommend giving it a whirl on your RCM.....it has likely been many years since it was cleaned as FIRST is long discontinued now....and the LAST Preservative seeps into the vinyl itself and is permanent...so your washing of the record won't scrub it out.

I've been using LAST Record Preservative for nearly 25 years - it retards (or outright stops) the degradation of the vinyl itself due to the stylus. Contrary to overzealous reviewers that I've read - it likely DOESN'T make your records any quieter, it merely halts the process of wear.

There's information on this great product(s) on at lastfactory.com

Good score, Doc

John

pumpkinman · « **Reply #2 on:** 13 Dec 2010, 02:41 am »

Quote from: orthobiz on 13 Dec 2010, 02:01 am

Bought a minty Japanese Close To The Edge, and the label has a small round LAST sticker on it. Sounds nice and clean. Do I ever want to clean it? Just brush it before play?

Also has a small FIRST sticker on the label, what's with that?

Thanks.

Paul

Bought a minty Japanese Close To The Edge.......Nice Paul

analognut · « **Reply #3 on:** 13 Dec 2010, 02:54 am »

Orthobiz-

I have LAST preservative stickers, the first of which were silver, later ones were gold. I even have white & black ones, but they all say LAST. Cleaning should not hurt, since the theory is the chemical actually changes the molecular structure of the vinyl making it more durable. I no longer buy or bother with the stuff. Granted, their pictures taken with an electron microscope of treated and untreated record grooves which had been played several hundred times were quite convincing, but ya know what? The bottom line is that 35 years later I've got many records which have never been LASTed and they play back exactly the same as the LAST treated ones. Go figure...
IMO the single most important factor in keeping records playing like new is thorough cleaning before the first play, whether it be with an RCM or a good in-the-sink scrubbing and rinse, followed by insertion of the vinyl into a clean anti-static sleeve, and a carbon fiber brush before each play. Proper alignment of the stylus in the groove and periodic inspections for wear go without saying.

On the subject of LAST:
I have about 6? MFSL Original Master recordings, Without exception every one plays back without a single pop or click and they're all around 35 years old. They have all been LAST treated. Is the LAST responsible for this, or is it the vinyl? Hazarding a guess I'd say probably the vinyl, since, as noted above, all my regular records play back about the same, whether they're LASTed or not.

And since it's me talking to you here I wanna thank you for your generosity and enthusiasm at Christmas time. I still have part of the gift I received from you last year. I do like you do. Put enough in the sprayer to make the solution yellowish. A little goes a long way.

dlaloum · « **Reply #4 on:** 23 Dec 2010, 01:32 pm »

My ears just perked up.... is that some secret method of stretching last preservative further?

"Put enough in the sprayer to make the solution yellowish." ?

My own routine for new/old LP's includes wash and rinse with Knosti - then Vacuum clean with AIS Enzymatic system and finally Last preservative....

I also just got some stylast... comments on the performance of stylast welcomed!

bye for now

David

BaMorin · « **Reply #5 on:** 23 Dec 2010, 05:51 pm »

I have several albums that are duplicates (example, Billy Cobham/Spectrum)
both purchased new in 1973. One has been treated with last, and one has not. Both have near equal playing time. The one treated with last does have a quieter surface, the other has finer microdynamics. I find that to be true with all of my double albums. Just my 2¢ worth.
Marc

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #6 on:** 23 Dec 2010, 06:45 pm »

Quote from: dlaloum on 23 Dec 2010, 01:32 pm

I also just got some stylast... comments on the performance of stylast welcomed!

I think use of the LAST products that 'preserve' requires a bit of a leap of faith...as you most often do not have a test album or cartridge that is exactly the same and has been untreated (tho BaMorin's testimony above is noteworthy)

Those that 'clean' take less faith - you either hear it's affects or you don't. Fairly straightforward there.

Joe Fritsch, was the former Chief Engineer at Allsop (known for audio/video cleaning products) and inventor of the Allsop cassette head cleaner AND de-magnetizer (those of you old enough probably had one or both of these items about)

He left in the early/mid-80's to form his own company based in Ireland, called Trackmate. I'm not sure if Trackmate is around anymore, but until the past couple years, they sold cleaning products worldwide and was an OEM to Radio Shack in the US for many years. The mechanical parts of their cleaners were terrific and they bought chemicals from the likes of Kodak (CD/DD lens cleaning solutions), Dupont, etc. Impressive list they hung with

I met him several times in the mid-80's and he told me succinctly that LAST Products did exactly what they say they do. He tried, repeatedly, to buy their products to pair with his mechanical cleaners to no avail. The owner of LAST goes his own way and does not share the technology with anyone.

I recently had really my first occurrence in 20+ years where I realized that StyLAST really did work.

A Denon DL160vdH I had bought sounded terrible. It continued to sound terrible many dozens of hours into playback - normally more than enough to flesh out the character of any cartridge so I can judge it. This one was perplexing - as it sounded HORRIBLE still - and it was a cartridge near universally lauded for sound qualities.

Well, I realized somewhere along the line that I was treated it to StyLAST every 2 sides (the norm, for me) like I do with all my (old) cartridges. Once I stopped applying it and let the stylus shape wear in for another 50 hours the cartridge came alive - it's among my favorite cartridges now. The StyLAST apparently was so capable of stopping stylus wear in its tracks that it wouldn't wear in. I now use as it's fully worn in.

So, based on that, it seems StyLAST really works. Prior to that freak happening I was, literally, taking it on faith of Joe Fritsch that it worked.

btw, I have the same ~$35 bottle I bought 25 years ago and it's only half-empty now. So, one bottle could last a lifetime so its extremely inexpensive protection for your pricey styli.

John

twitch54 · « **Reply #7 on:** 24 Dec 2010, 06:35 pm »

I must merely state......'ditto' to what John has posted, I too have been using LAST products since the eighties and swear by them as well. My application of LAST preservitive to LP's is done after the cleaning process with two revolutions of the applicator. As for the stylus the application of Stylast is preceeded by a 'swipe' of LAST stylus cleaner.