Collecting & Buying Vinyl

Vinyl is undergoing a bit of a small-scale boom at the moment. Sales of vinyl playback equipment remains brisk in the second-hand market and eBay, but mainstream sellers such as amazon are still offering vinyl for many titles. There are a number of reasons for this:

• the baby boomer nostalgia factor - we remember the good old Thorens, Dual, JH or Hacker equipment of our youth and have the expendable income to relive the dream
• records are relatively easy to come by, eBay record sales are popular (especially jazz) and charity shops can be a good source of 'fodder', often in reasonable condition and low price
• a desire to get the most out of the 25p copy of Pink Floyd we just wrestled out of the hands of a competitor in the charity shop, meaning that in our maturity we are willing to treat vinyl with the respect it deserves.

After all, vinyl was THE HiFi medium and can sound remarkably good to a generation that was used to BSR & Garrard rim drive 3-in-1 turntables of the 1970's that, frankly, were worse than a lot of the 1950s or 60s equipment they replaces.

Now if you are 30- 40- or 50-something and finding that the current hit parade no longer floats your boat, what better way for a safe and comfortable sojourn into music than plundering the racks of 'recycled teenager' music at the local emporium! After all, if you can come away with 25 LPs you remember or would like to explore for £25 or $25 or less, than surely it is just harmless fun, no one is getting hurt!

Take a look at the tutorial to get an idea about equipment, cleaning and playing vinyl, but this section is just about finding vinyl. The tips are based on my own experience, but if you have a tip you would like to add then and we can add it to help spread the vinyl word.

Places to find Vinyl:

• eBay
• GEMM
• NetSounds
• Total Recall
• Music Stack
• Regular online music sellers such as 101cd.com amazon.co.uk or specialist sellers such as Vivante
• Your local second-hand shop. Most cities will have one tucked away somewhere. Soho in London has a few but don't forget the regional towns, 'broker-belt' areas and affluent towns often harbour good vinyl sources
• You local charity shops. Think of these as second-hand shops with a funny smell and a more diverse style in staffing. The same applies, many cities will have good sources of vinyl, but for the real goldmines the affluent suburbs or regional towns offer very good pickings.

Some Tips on Selection

...or do you really want the full set of Bert Kaemfert?

Nothing wrong with Bert, but just because something looks like it has never been played and costs 25p or 25c does NOT mean you have to walk out the door with it.

If you are tempted by something you would not normally listen to (easy or grunge for me), follow these simple rules.

• Take a few energising deep breaths
• Turn away from the record bins
• Make sure that only little old ladies who will not impede your progress are between you and the door
• RUN
• When you get outside sit in a quiet are and recite this mantra
• "I do not need another James Last* LP" over and over until the urge to push your small change into the shop assistants' hand leaves.

*insert the name of your musical temptation here.

But what if you REALLY want that Perry Como Christmas LP?

Then have a look at it.

• How much is it?
• What condition is the cover?
• What condition is the record?
• How common is it?

Lets get over facts right now. You are REALLY not likely to find a rare mono Beatles LP in your local charity shop. If you do, you probably will not want it or else it will not be in good enough condition to make money out of. If you are reading this you are likely to be buying records for your own consumption, and the hawks have been EVERYWHERE before you (this is why you see so many Music For Pleasure, Nana Maskouri and Bananarama LPs where you shop). When we say 'How common is it' I mean, will you see it in every shop between here and Glasgow or does it come up only every so often. I bought a Soul II Soul LP the other day for £3, because I wanted it, it was in good condition and I don't see that very often. You will soon get a feel for some of the common stuff, Sade, Duran Duran and Henry Mancini is very common round my area, I wouldn't pull them out for a second look if I thought they had been handled a bit too much.

So how much handling is too much?

Depends again on how much you want something. Depending on the age, the cover can give a lot away. Ring wear (where the cover shows a light halo around where the LP is) is not attractive, but is sometimes not so good an indicator of the state of the LP inside. Look for bent, torn or tattered covers or inside sleeves, basically anything that makes you think that lots of teenagers with pennies taped to the tonearm played this while jumping around the room. Pull out the record and have a look at it. Ignore dust, it can be cleaned but be wary of records that look dirty and have been scuffed. The record on the right was covered in dust, pubes, mildew etc, but cleaned up well and played pretty well. Look out for scratches, warps or cracks in the vinyl.

It is worth mentioning a rule of thumb about scratches and whether they are audible. The theory is that if you can feel them with your fingernail (gently rub it across the surface) it is likely to 'pop' when played. Not always true, but is more useful than not when you are digging around the bins.

Have a look at the label, which is often a good gauge of how many times a record has been played. The record to the left is a 50p charity shop special, cover not to bad but has obviously been played. Each time the record was put onto the spindle the clumsy owner missed a bit, so you can see the faint marks where the spindle rubbed around on the label next to the hole. Despite these marks, this record plays very well, only one or two ticks or pops and it certainly does not sound 'played'. My worst example of this is a copy of David Bowie's Space Oddity where it looks like the drug crazed previous owner used to throw the LP onto the player from across the room. Not sure I would part with money for that one again!

It is also worth noting that there are standardised guides to the condition of records and covers. The most popular is probably the Goldmine Guide, worth a read to give you an idea of what to look for as well.

So hopefully this gives you some idea of some of the things to look out for when buying LPs. A lot of it is trial and error, or just plain luck. We all have records that play in defiance to how they look, good or bad. Spend a little time getting to know what to look for will reap rewards in your vinyl buying quests.