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2nd Hand Vinyls - How to Choose

travellersol

travellersol

Active Member
I am new to vinyl {vinyls --> slashed}.

Last week I went to town and saw some shops selling boxes of vinyl at various prices. Some of the oldest ones might cost only as low as $5. I'd like to know how do we determine if these vinyl are still playable? If the shops/stalls don't provide testing, is there any way for us to check. other than just gambling on it?
 
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I prefer to call them Records. Look at the cover and see how worn it is. This will give you a rough idea of how much it has been played. Then look inside, is it in a jacket or just tossed back in? This will help to determine how it was cared for. Finally look at the record for dirt and scratches. If it is filthy I usually pass.. unless it is a buck. I have purchased some filthy ones that cleaned up great and some clean ones that were un-playable. So it is still a bit of a gamble if you can't listen to it first
 
If you haven't already, give Goldmine's grading guide a read:

http://www.goldminemag.com/collector-resources/record-grading-101

Though that is mostly academic, practical experience goes much further in learning how to choose between used records. The more records you see and listen to will teach you what to look for and what to avoid.

Warped, cracked or deeply scratched ones would be best to avoid starting out.
 
FONSguy said:
It's "Vinyl". Vinyl is singular and plural. Look close at the wear around the area outside the music and inside. Look for water spots and tiny scratches. How worn is the label. Do any tracks look worse than others?
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Thanks for the correction, and sorry for not being a native speaker of the language. Thanks for your valuable input too!
 
Just take it slow to start with. My nephew got into vinyl and ended up way overpaying for common titles at a local shop.

If you're looking to start/build-up a collection, you may want to consider becoming an AK subscriber ($25/yr) and looking for LPs on Bartertown. They're usually very fairly graded and common titles in really good (VG+ or better) are commonly $3-5.
 
revox-b77 said:
I prefer to call them Records. Look at the cover and see how worn it is. This will give you a rough idea of how much it has been played. Then look inside, is it in a jacket or just tossed back in? This will help to determine how it was cared for. Finally look at the record for dirt and scratches. If it is filthy I usually pass.. unless it is a buck. I have purchased some filthy ones that cleaned up great and some clean ones that were un-playable. So it is still a bit of a gamble if you can't listen to it first
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very detailed. point taken. thanks.
 
My recommendation is go grab a stack of various records at a thrift shop for cheap - clean them (huge topic on its own) and throw them on a TT to see how they sound - make a mental note of how it sounds then pick it up and look to see how the visuals correlate to what you heard. That being said I am always surprised after all these years at the garbage I hear from some beautiful looking vinyl and the wonderful sounds out of some trashy looking ones. Reading the goldmine ratings linked above is useful as well.
Can’t stress enough the importance is cleaning! Before buying a title you want from a shop might want to look online at what is available - some unscrupulous local sellers love people that are new to records because they can charge what they want for junk
 
captouch said:
Just take it slow to start with. My nephew got into vinyl and ended up way overpaying for common titles at a local shop.

If you're looking to start/build-up a collection, you may want to consider becoming an AK subscriber ($25/yr) and looking for LPs on Bartertown. They're usually very fairly graded and common titles in really good (VG+ or better) are commonly $3-5.
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I wish to but sadly I am in Asia, so no point joining.
 
Here’s what I look for:

Under the best light you can find, hold the record at various angles. Best records have a kind of rainbow reflection off the grooves. Worn and dirty records will look dull.

Look for narrow scratches. Those often are deep and make a pop. Broad scuffs, even if the look bad are usually at the surface and don’t make as much noise, if any at all. Watch out for any scratch or scuff the runs parallel to the grooves. Those, I find, are more likely to cause a skip and in some cases cause the needle to get stuck.

Look at the area around the spindle hole. Wear in the label or marks where someone tried to find the spindle hole indicate how frequently the record has been played. All else being equal, I pick the record with less wear in this area.

Dirt and dust don’t eliminate a record for me, but I have some good cleaning options. Fingerprints are hard to remove, though, and indicate how well the earlier owner took care of their records.

I do tend to pass on records with no inner sleeve unless they look really clean otherwise. I also tend to pass on records that have water damage to sleeves.

I love my vinyls, records, albums, LPs no matter what people call em! Hope this helps!
 
What part of Asia? You should check out shipping from Japan and just order whatever you want from there - the Japanese pressings of various genres that I have are top notch, usually extremely well cared for, and usually very reasonable on auction except for shipping to the west
 
ConfuciusSay said:
My recommendation is go grab a stack of various records at a thrift shop for cheap - clean them (huge topic on its own) and throw them on a TT to see how they sound - make a mental note of how it sounds then pick it up and look to see how the visuals correlate to what you heard. That being said I am always surprised after all these years at the garbage I hear from some beautiful looking vinyl and the wonderful sounds out of some trashy looking ones. Reading the goldmine ratings linked above is useful as well.
Can’t stress enough the importance is cleaning! Before buying a title you want from a shop might want to look online at what is available - some unscrupulous local sellers love people that are new to records because they can charge what they want for junk
Click to expand...
yes, might just do this.
 
dcmfan said:
Here’s what I look for:

Under the best light you can find, hold the record at various angles. Best records have a kind of rainbow reflection off the grooves. Worn and dirty records will look dull.

Look for narrow scratches. Those often are deep and make a pop. Broad scuffs, even if the look bad are usually at the surface and don’t make as much noise, if any at all. Watch out for any scratch or scuff the runs parallel to the grooves. Those, I find, are more likely to cause a skip and in some cases cause the needle to get stuck.

Look at the area around the spindle hole. Wear in the label or marks where someone tried to find the spindle hole indicate how frequently the record has been played. All else being equal, I pick the record with less wear in this area.

Dirt and dust don’t eliminate a record for me, but I have some good cleaning options. Fingerprints are hard to remove, though, and indicate how well the earlier owner took care of their records.

I do tend to pass on records with no inner sleeve unless they look really clean otherwise. I also tend to pass on records that have water damage to sleeves.

I love my vinyls, records, albums, LPs no matter what people call em! Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
this is very informative and very helpful!
 
ConfuciusSay said:
What part of Asia? You should check out shipping from Japan and just order whatever you want from there - the Japanese pressings of various genres that I have are top notch, usually extremely well cared for, and usually very reasonable on auction except for shipping to the west
Click to expand...
in Malaysia to be precise. over here old records are not as commonly found and much less in high quality like in the West. About the Japanese pressings, I read elsewhere that some people have different opinion on them compared to US or European pressings. What is really going on?
 
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