Suppose somebody invented a fluid to spritz on records that protected them against scratches, finger prints, and wear from repeated playings? The Ball Brothers, Inc., have done just that. They call it Sound Guard.

Sound is stored as a spiral groove pressed into the plastic surface of the record. The phonograph cartridge stylus is an exceptionally hard substance, a diamond or sapphire chip, that rides in the soft plastic groove translating the undulations of the left and right groove walls into corresponding electronic pulses which the speakers reproduce as sound. The progress of the stylus is hindered by dust particles, finger print oil, static electricity, and incorrect turntable adjustment. The stylus imbeds bits of dirt in the plastic groove as it rides over them; because it's pushed off-center by the debris it gouges plastic off the groove walls. The result is extraneous7 noise mixed with the sound on the record: the pop, hiss, and crackle that are heard in the speaker with the music — particularly on older records that have been played a lot.

Sound Guard claims it can extend the sound life of records; that it can eliminate all that pop and hiss. I'm impressed by what they have attempted to do, although I'm still skeptical about the 100% effectiveness of their product.

Sound Guard comes in a neat, selfcontained case. Inside is a two-ounce bottle of Sound Guard fluid, one spritzer top, instructions, and the lid of the

case which has a velvet buffing pad on its underside. The makers say Sound Guard is "a dry lubricant film in a spray form." They claim that when it is sprayed on the record surface and buffed with the velvet pad, it leaves a fivemillionths of an inch coating on the surface of the record that reduces record and needle wear. They've conducted tests with Sound Guard, concluding: Sound Guard improves frequency response over repeated playing by preserving full amplitude of frequency modulations and groove modulations; Sound Guard reduces the rate of harmonic distortion with repeated playings; Sound Guard has a smoothing effect on pulse noise and random spiking; and Sound Guard reduces friction between the stylus and groove, even to the point of making the anti-skate force control less critical.

How's it done? Sound Guard is actually VacKote, "a lubricant designed for moving parts on space craft which must operate in a vacuum."

The company has come up with all the facts from lab tests. I'm not as excited about these tests as they are. They took a test record (not a record of

music, but of tones), played it 100 times (not once a week for two years, but 100 times over a few days), and found that the record would stay in mint condition if it had been treated with Sound Guard. A similar record, not sprayed with Sound Guard, was all hissy and scratchy after 100 plays.

Such a great idea. I immediately Sound Guarded three Nino Rota albums and the Waiters Live.

Sound Guarding is' easily accomplished; shake, spritz, buff, then do the other side.

It didn't clean the records any too thoroughly — but then the instructions said to wash the record in mild detergent if they've recently' been cleaned with any other record cleaner. So I guess it's wash (in mild detergent and water) then Sound Guard, or else you'll wind up with a Sound Guarded finger print on one side of an album like

I did. Sound Guard claims, by the way, that it will help old LPs as well as new ones.

A note about using Sound Guard: follow the instructions. They say to use it in a well-ventilated area. If you don't want your lungs to get Sound Guarded, I recommend you follow the instructions. It also says in small print that if you swallow any of the fluid do not induce vomiting. These two cautions could be in larger, more cautionary type.

After Sound Guarding my records I listened to them. True enough, it seemed that a certain amount of high-end crackle was gone!

The research that has been carried out on Sound Guard so far fails to answer two crucial questions:

1.) What is the effect of Sound Guard applications across time? Will Sound Guard eventually affect the record plastic in any way? There doesn't seem to be any ready answer to this one, we'll just have to wait and see.

2.) What is the effect of Sound Guard on records played in less than ideal conditions? One of the conditions set by Len Feldman in his independent

study of Sound Guard was that the record player stylus rode at 1.5 grams in the groove. This is all well and good, but not at all realistic. I doubt if most people's tone arms track at less than 3 to 4 grams, certainly not less than *2.5 to 2 grams. Since Sound Guard acts as a lubricant, the increase in stylus pressure may have a dramatic effect on the value of the product. Again, it's difficult to say.

Let me just say that I'm always cautious when somebody comes out with a miracle product, and theoretically Sound Guard is just that. You spray it on your records and it forms a preventive shield against all the usual mishaps that cause a record to sound worse the more it is played. That's great, a true step forward, and perhaps the kind of thing record companies might think of using between pressing the LP and selling it to the consumer.