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What are those round stickers on used records that say FIRST?

Hi,

As a record collector, I have seen used records with a “LAST” sticker on the record.  I have also seen a similar round sticker with “FIRST” on the record. Is “FIRST” a competitive product, or is it a step in the “LAST” cleaning process?

Thank you in advance for your reply.  -DW, Minnesota

Thanks for your question. As you probably know, the LAST sticker is part of The LAST Factory’s Record Preservative treatment on a record. The Preservative is not the same as a cleaner. It stays on the record, and sinks into the vinyl, in order to act as heat and friction disburser from the stylus. It stays on even when a record is repeatedly cleaned, because cleaning is only a surface treatment. The great thing about LAST Record Preservative is you can treat a record once and it’s done. That’s why we supply stickers, so you know which ones you’ve already treated.

The FIRST sticker is from another company- I believe it was Nitty Gritty in Southern California. That product was a record cleaner. Their idea was, FIRST you clean the record with their cleaner. Then LAST, you treat it with LAST Preservative. I don’t know that Nitty Gritty makes that product anymore. They do still make record cleaners, but they don’t come with the FIRST stickers anymore. I suppose the stickers didn’t make much sense, because people clean their records more than once.

I hope this helps. Please let us know if you have any more questions!
Christine McCall and Walter Davies