I know we do not discuss headphones much anymore but I have question for the Grado experts. I have to replace the pads on a couple of my Grados (actually one is an Alessandro) due to the infamous pad disintegration issue. There is some residue on the wooden cups that I would like to clean off. It is pretty clean just using a soft cloth and soft brush but there is some residue that I would like to remove without harming the finish. Any suggestions would be most welcome. 

a forceful scrub with plain old mineral oil has worked for me on RS2 and HF2. 

Bryan is correct - mineral oil is what’s recommended, at least for the wooden cupped headphones. 
 

EDIT: the stuff is pretty viscous and goopy, start with a small amount on say a q tip and just work it through slowly. 

Edited May 17, 20206 yr by recstar24

Linseed oil soap is another option: https://www.earthandflax.com/product-page/ottosson-linseed-oil-soap-1-quart

 

Plus one for linseed oil soap. Just used some today and it will not leave residue like mineral oil.

Oh, and I should say that I came across linseed oil soap because Doug recommended some other linseed oil products for a project awhile back. Linseed oil wax is also very nice, if you want to give the wooden cups some new life. 🙂

The mineral oil worked fine for the HF-1 and HF-2 (thanks Bryan and Ryan) and it was easy since I had some in the house. The Alessandro MS-Pro will require more work so I ordered some linseed oil soap (thanks Doug and Al). 

Dammit. All you people getting the Grados out of storage are making me want to run to the office and get my HF-2s (and probably get some linseed oil to get my probably-disintegrated pads off/changed.

Thank you all for reminding me I have a pair of Grados. Even if just the SR-80, I forgot how good these sound.