have you ever been playing an album and it skips

[Mr.Ree]

so you take a close look, trying to find the section where it skips and you see a tiny white particle of something sitting between the grooves, causing the skip. Running a cloth over it doesn't seem to dislodge it...it requires that you use your fingertip or fingernail covered by tissue or thin cloth. Sometimes it's so firmly lodged in the groove that it's difficult of impossible to dislodge without lightly scratching that part of the record. What is that particle, how does it get there? The only thing I can think is that it may be a part of the stylus that came off while the record was playing. Any ideas? Thanks.

[BrunoRepublic]

If it was part of the stylus, you wouldn't be able to play any records at all!

Dandruff is supposedly the most common contaminant, but it could be any form of dust, a speck of food, anything like that. Once in a blue moon, it will be a bit of paper that has actually been pressed into the record itself - the legacy of "regrind" vinyl.

Assuming it's not a pressing flaw, gently prodding it with a wooden toothpick (the round kind with the sharp point) will usually dislodge it.

[Mr.Ree]

If it was part of the stylus, you wouldn't be able to play any records at all!

Dandruff is supposedly the most common contaminant, but it could be any form of dust, a speck of food, anything like that. Once in a blue moon, it will be a bit of paper that has actually been pressed into the record itself - the legacy of "regrind" vinyl.

Assuming it's not a pressing flaw, gently prodding it with a wooden toothpick (the round kind with the sharp point) will usually dislodge it.

thanks, hadn't thought of that. Curiously, this has never happened with any of my 12 inchers, only with full length albums.

[BrunoRepublic]

thanks, hadn't thought of that. Curiously, this has never happened with any of my 12 inchers, only with full length albums.

Most 12" singles have grooves that are deeper and spaced further apart than LPs.

[KBallenger53]

Sometimes it depends on where you have your turntables set up as well. It could've been a small particle of paint or some other U.F.O. (Unidentified Foreign Object). Lots of D.J. like myself are accustomed to setting up their turntables in the basements of the houses, and of course, we never use the turntable covers that come with them. Sometimes we tend to leave our records on the turntables over-nite that will enable the Aliens to land on our records and inhabit them.

Have you tried cleaning it with alcohol? It may work.

'NUFF SAID

[Mr.Ree]

Sometimes it depends on where you have your turntables set up as well. It could've been a small particle of paint or some other U.F.O. (Unidentified Foreign Object). Lots of D.J. like myself are accustomed to setting up their turntables in the basements of the houses, and of course, we never use the turntable covers that come with them. Sometimes we tend to leave our records on the turntables over-nite that will enable the Aliens to land on our records and inhabit them.

Have you tried cleaning it with alcohol? It may work.

'NUFF SAID

you may have a point, but I'd be VERY curious to know exactly what this white speck is....it just happened again tonight. I was making a CD copy of Silver Convention's "Golden Girls" (love this record) and the speck appeared and ruined the recording. I do get the impression that when the speck is difficult to remove it means it's been there a long time which is a big problem since I buy so many old and used records.

[Mr.Ree]

I think I figured this out. I think the speck is from the inner sleeve, and is ground into the vinyl from the pressure of several albums piled on top of and against each other.