I don’t know. In the years gone by I would buy an entire record album for just one cut.

Most of the time I would play the whole thing several times hoping I would like at least one more cut on it. Sometimes that did happen other times, not so much.

Still it seemed the better way to go than wait for a 45 release of the tune I wanted. A hellofalot of the tunes I really wanted never did come out on 45 especially once I’d hear an album station play the long version of something, that would usually be the version I wanted not the shortened one you might be able to obtain on a 45.

I still have a box of 45’s left over from when mom died and the house had to be cleared out so it could be sold. Most of those records were no one’s particular favorite and they were/are in pretty tough shape.

Around 20 years ago my brother in law gave me the 50 or so 45’s he had had on his jukebox. He sold the old Rock-Ola for a tremendous amount of money and the new owner already had all the music he wanted to load the machine with.

A collection is a private thing no matter if its rocks or Mazerati’s. In your particular case buying bulk old stock and used records like you are is to obtain the best copy of records you have previously owned or previously desired but for whatever reason did not obtain when they were new.

Its not like you can write in to Decca, Motown, Top, or any of the other labels and ask for a new pressing of these albums.

While the back storey or provenance of some treasured item is always nice its still a personal thing and many times means nothing to anyone else.

Not so long ago I found a old Crown ghetto blaster that looked just like my very first one. I had bought it used at the community sale when I was still in high school.

When I got divorced my ex-wife and her boyfriend of the evening would mess with me by kicking in the door at the house and taking what they wanted while I was away at work.

One of the many things she took was that blaster.

When I ended up buying the radio on eBay from some dude in California I immediately took it apart to clean the tape deck and found inside, written in the plastic case, with a hot soldering iron, my name, SS#, and the mailing address I had when I lived in Wisconsin.

To my mind there was no doubt that this was the same radio. So there was not only some nostalgic provenance but it was the actual radio I lost all those years ago.

I am very happy to see it back in my hands.

So smeg anyone who puts you down for reclaiming and improving your record collection however you go about doing it

 

The Charlie Daniels Band ~ Full Moon (1980)

The Legend of Wooley Swamp has the greatest LOW bass hit when it's cranked



Robin Trower ~ Bridge of Sighs (1974) - One of my top 10 favorite albums



Canned Heat ~ Live at the Topanga Corral (1971)



Went to the AudioKarma.com local OctoberFrankenFest 3 blocks from my house today.
Serious (and not so serious) audiophiles and serious equipment.
Why the hell am I using a just good enough Magnavox when I have
a sweet Elac Miracord, Marantz 2275 receiver and kickin Sansui SP3000 speakers?

I saw a lonely lil Kenwood integrated amp on a vendor's table and it's the same exact one I had as a teen.
How much?
um, $45
Lemme try it out.
Worked great.
Take $35?
OK
Cool. It's a great 35 WPC clean sounding lil powerhouse.
It'll do for now while I get the Marantz serviced.
The Elac has a few mechanism issues to sort but it's a great TT
I scored a deal on some Klipsch KG4s today that I'll get ASAP but the Sansuis can rock the house till then.

Led Zeppelin II (1969) is my troubleshooting record



Creedence Gold (1972) & More Creedence Gold (1973)



The Rolling Stones ~ Beggars Banquet (1968) Another of my top 10



Let It Bleed (1969) is cranking right now then it's hockey time!

.

 

Nice gear!

 

Now I'm using a real stereo and hear all the details I was missing (including snap, crackle & pop).
I'll have to re-listen to everything and replace what's unlistenable.

Led Zeppelin III (1970)



Emerson, Lake & Palmer ~ Brain Salad Surgery (1973)



Heart ~ Dreamboat Annie (1976)



Got sick of taking pix and don't want to hog the gallery bandwidth

Rod Stewart ~

Every Picture Tells a Story (1971)

Never a Dull Moment (1972)

Foot Loose & Fancy Free (1977)

Gasoline Alley (1970)


Jeff Beck ~

Truth (1968)

Beck-Ola (1969)

Rough and Ready (1971)

Jeff Beck Group (1972)

Beck Bogert & Appice (1973)

Blow by Blow (1975)

Wired (1976)

Jeff Beck with the Jan Hammer Group Live (1977)

 

Mowgli.....


You got me thinking of the 33's that are stored in a book case. Haven't looked at them for years. In those days, my sound tastes traveled from one extreme to another......Steppenwolfe, Stones, Joplin.......Montavonni (Spelling?).........Jimmy Smith....Cheech & Chong, .

Might need to spend some time and see whats there.

 

OMG - a Kenwood KA-3500? I have one sitting in my computer room upstairs - great little unit.

Snoopy - be prepared to spend some time, as one album leads to another - that one leads to two others - and man, you will spend hours rediscovering stuff. It's a good time. :)

 

Exact same one my dad got me back in the 70s when I wanted a Sansui 9090.
I was pissed at first but it took 15 years of total abuse before I let the smoke out of it.
It is a great little amp.

Tell me about it.
All those records I played on the Maggie?
I have to listen to them all again now that I can hear ALL the details.
Records I thought were clean need attention or replacement.
Here I go again...


BTW - you ever hear of applying wood glue to records then peeling it off when it's dried?
It gets down into the groove and pulls the dirt out when it's peeled.
It sounded like bull**** to me too until I tried it on a couple of records with a lot of surface noise.
I've saved dozens of records that sounded like fire and now sound like new.
It won't fix scratches but it gets the surface cleaner than a cleaning machine.

I just played side 1 of LZ III and Johnny Winter ~ Saints & Sinners that I peeled earlier.
LZ is better but needs another application.
S & S sounded shot before - now it sounds like new, not a snap, crackle or pop.

read some of this thread:
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=99837

He summarizes the findings here:
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/sho...=99837&page=34

I use Titebond II

 

Glued & scrutinised:
Led Zeppelin ~ I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII
Pink Floyd ~ Meddle, DSOTM, WYWH, Animals, The Wall
Johnny Winter ~ Saints & Sinners
Canned Heat ~ Live at Topanga Canyon
ELP ~ BSS

Played on the Magnavox while glueing:
James gang ~ Rides Again & Thirds
Derek & The Dominoes
J. Geils ~ Blow Your Face Out
David Lee Roth ~ Skyscraper
Greatest hits Of The Animals
Pink Floyd ~ Atom heart Mother

Been busy listening & glueing, sometimes it's a waste of time but sometimes performs miracles, usually just makes things quieter.

Finished up the Zep & Floyd now I'm checking Yes & the rest of ELP from ELP - Works 2

Yes ~ Close to the Edge (1972)

 

I have a zero stat gun that kills a lot of record noise. I have heard of putting wood glue on your vinyl and pealing it but usually just give them a good bath in rubbing alcohol then wipe them with a micro fiber cloth.

For the worst of them I have a camel hair brush that is a bit larger and more aggressive than the normal tone arm brush that I let run over the grooves while I play them and have rubbing alcohol on the disk. You might be surprised at how clean your record get that way too.

The needle,… I mean stylist rides fairly high on the sides of the groove but the camel hair seems to get to the bottom pretty well. Once played with the rubbing alcohol on I use fresh alcohol and my micro fiber cloth to clean and polish the disk.

That’s how I did it when I was selling them on eBay. I cleaned every disk I sold. At first I worried that I was damaging the vinyl but I did the ones I kept the same way and they still play amazingly quiet as far as extraneous noise is concerned.

I have to admit I haven’t cleaned any of my albums in a long time but I keep them in a pretty well enclosed space now. If for some reason I feel like recording one to some other media like reel to reel or even on to the computer so I can make a CD I at least shoot them with the zero stat gun and see how they sound.

So far all have been acceptable to me.

 

Man this whole thread is such a trip down memory lane :)

Grizz - zero stat gun - LOL I have a similar unit sitting right here made by Empire - that an an anti-static mat worked well. Static gun was also useful to annoy the cats LOL

Mowgli - I had never heard of the wood glue thing - I have an album or two here that I just might try it on. Most of my albums are still pretty pristine tho'. I just gotta get off my a$$ and start digging more of them out and digitizing them - good project for the winter really.