Here's what Andy says:
You may want to consider
these cleaning suggestions. Detergents and soaps are distinctly two
different things. You should be able to find quite a bit of information
on the web. The impetus that originally led to the development of
detergents is two major problems with soap. Those problems are
significant to LPs.
(1) Soap is not terribly good at holding
particles; very small particles tend to deposit out rather than being
washed away.
(2) Soap forms insoluble
scum with various mineral salts and those do not rinse very cleanly.
My own experiments with cleaners, testing on
glass microscope slides, has shown me that the water used is also
important. The tap water here is not particularly hard but if I mixed
detergent solutions with tap water rather than with distilled or reverse
osmosis filtered water, I got mineral deposits on the slides. These are
very difficult to remove once dry. They would also be difficult to see
on an LP but are none the less capable of doing damage.
Material left on the LP interferes with optimum
playback, but more importantly it leads to more rapid deterioration of
both the LP and the stylus during playback. Even very light tracking
cartridges generate very high pressures at the stylus contact point,
which create rather high temperatures. Much information on this is also
available various places around the web.
Therefore, at the very least, some detergent,
such as disk washing detergent, is definitely preferable to "hand
soap," the use of which will likely lead to more damage to stylus
and LP. The cleaning tools and technique also effect results in
important ways. Even though you might not want to spend the money for
his cleaner and brushes, the detailed description of technique at http://discdoc.com/
is worth reading.
Reasonable cleaning solutions can be made from
some of the house hold cleaners that come in concentrated form, those
intended to be used on your kitchen counters. Various LP cleaning
brushes are available. Though not all are equal in their ability to do
the best job, they are all probably better than most at home
alternatives. The brushes Last makes, available from various audio
equipment dealers, are the least expensive decent ones I've found.
Even new records should be cleaned. It seems well
established that even brand new records need cleaning too. Aside from
gathering some dust and dirt in the pressing and packing plants, they
come with significant traces of a chemical agent used to assure easy
release from the mold that makes them.
Any LPs that have been around awhile have probably collected more dirt.
The smaller, heavier stuff falls out of sight into the grooves, where it
cannot be removed with a surface wipe. It isn't possible to see what's
in the grooves without special equipment, but it acts as a grinding
agent whether or not you see it. This modifies the vinyl as it is
played, distorts the signal, and increases wear on the stylus.