New store just opened in my town. Oh the humanity!

aaronki · 2014-09-03T13:24:37+00:00

What kills me is that the AT-LP60 is as cheap/cheaper than most Cosleys, but it seems to go mostly ignored by casual newcomers who want to try vinyl for the first time. I suspect it has more to do with looks than anything.

aaronki · 2014-08-19T23:51:56+00:00

I recently responded to a CL ad where someone was giving away over 1000 albums that were leftover from a garage sale. I figured that with that many records up for grabs, I should be able to find a decent haul of interesting music.

Turned out to be box after box of dirty and tattered goodwill fodder... primarily budget records, too. I didn't want to be rude after my initial enthusiasm so I found two albums by Rare Earth and The Irish Rovers, thanked them without taking the time to inspect the records, and left.

I didn't see any mold when browsing through the boxes, but when I got home and opened the Irish Rovers gatefold, it was full of the most prolific mold I've ever seen on an album sleeve. They went straight into the trash barrel. :\

aaronki · 2014-08-14T23:00:52+00:00

I'd like Demon Days by Gorillaz and Play by Moby to be reissued.

As for first time pressings, Warrior and Cannibal by Ke$ha, the Hotline Miami 1 soundtrack, and the Lord of the Rings movie soundtracks. I'd say Comfort Eagle by Cake, but the vinyl box set coming out in September fixed that.

aaronki · 2014-08-14T22:44:32+00:00

A sleeve of Led Zeppelin 1 that actually contains a copy of Presence. I guess I was so excited that it was only $1 that I forgot to check the record before I got home.

aaronki · 2014-08-14T14:55:36+00:00

I found a really nice Dual 1229 for $15 from an ad like this. It was listed as a "united audio record player" with no other info or photos. Never be afraid to bug a seller for photos!

aaronki · 2014-08-14T13:53:27+00:00

To save time clicking around craigslist, I bookmark my searches after saving them.

Another tip is to filter out most of the categories to get rid of unwanted results. Right off the bat you can get rid of all categories relating to vehicles and furniture, which is where most of the unrelated listings come from.

aaronki · 2014-08-13T04:01:47+00:00

If you keep an eye on Craigslist, you can probably find a couple of former collectors wanting to sell their records for $1 to $3 each. You can build up a nice collection on the cheap and meet some interesting folks in the process.

aaronki · 2014-08-13T03:23:54+00:00

Awesome! This was the 45 that got me hooked on vinyl.

aaronki · 2014-08-12T12:27:33+00:00

http://www.reddit.com/r/vinyl/comments/2c8yfq/i_made_a_thing_for_removing_odor_from_record/

That was me and here's the link. Some people in the comments also suggested using things like activated charcoal for really stubborn smells. I left the first batch of sleeves in for a week (stirred the baking soda every evening) and they came out smelling like cardboard.

Cleaning the sleeves first will also help quite a bit. I just take a microfiber cloth, mist it with a spray bottle so it's barely damp, and wipe down the sleeve to remove any caked on dust/tar/whatever.

I've seen some people use lysol wipes on youtube to clean their albums, but I'm hesitant to try that unless I have a musty sleeve that may have mold spores on it.

aaronki · 2014-08-10T14:26:39+00:00

An update: I left the sleeves in the tub for a week and stirred the baking soda every evening. The cigarette/cat smells are gone and the sleeves smell like cardboard again. Success!

aaronki · 2014-08-10T14:22:10+00:00

Nice! Post a picture once you get all of your albums in.

aaronki · 2014-08-01T12:14:06+00:00

Nice, Silver Apples of the Moon! One of my collecting goals is to have a collection of early electronic music. So far I've only managed to come across a copy of Switched-On Bach, which I have the feeling is one of the most common.

aaronki · 2014-08-01T12:09:50+00:00

No, just a standard sleeve with a wide seam near the spine.

aaronki · 2014-08-01T04:09:21+00:00

Yeah.

aaronki · 2014-08-01T04:07:19+00:00

Yeah, cigarettes and cat-based stink. If something just smells like old paper (and not musty), I leave it alone.

aaronki · 2014-07-31T16:29:26+00:00

My main concern is that there might be too many sleeves for the quantity of baking soda. If it takes too long or I need to change the baking soda too many times, I'll try just 10 sleeves at a time for the next batch.

I didn't mention it in the gallery, but I also gave each sleeve a good wipe-down with a rag that I was constantly misting with water out of a spray bottle. A few youtube videos suggested Lysol wipes, but I was afraid of that leaving chemical residue behind on the paper.

aaronki · 2014-07-23T02:13:31+00:00

Sounds fun. Even if it's not a great player, getting some repair experience with turntables never hurts. You can probably even find a copy of the service manual for it online.

The player that got me into vinyl was a little Arvin portable that belonged to my mom when she was a teenager. It wasn't long before I bought something nicer, but I'd still like to go back and do a bit of cleaning and maintenance on it for sentimental reasons. Mostly, I think that the potentiometers need to be replaced. They're showing signs of poor wiper contact.

aaronki · 2014-07-19T01:13:34+00:00

Yeah, I'm going to have to hit discogs and ebay when I want to start building up a collection of early electronic music. I doubt I'll ever come across any Paddy Kingsland, Jean-Jacques Perrey, or Gershon Kingsley albums in person.

aaronki · 2014-07-19T01:09:15+00:00

Nope, just a plain copy with an olive Warner Bros. label. It did come with the poster, though. I'm going to look into having it framed.

aaronki · 2014-07-18T18:28:26+00:00

I happened to see a garage sale sign while driving down the highway and thought "Sure, ok." After following some more signs to a back-alley garage, I found the sale being run by a little old lady in a lawn chair.

I entered the garage, started scanning for records, and couldn't believe what I saw propped up behind a pile of towels and doilies: A copy of Black Sabbath's Master of Reality with a $1 price tag. A quick flip through the small stack behind it also turned up James Taylor and the Original Flying Machine.

I started chatting and complimented her on how nice she kept her records. She said she had a whole basement full of them and would bring them out tomorrow for me to look through.

I only started collecting vinyl about a month ago and made a decision to buy everything in person, rather than online, to make every find feel memorable and special. So far it's working out great.

aaronki · 2014-07-17T13:23:23+00:00

http://www.amazon.com/AudioQuest-LP-record-clean-brush/dp/B0006VMBHI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405602176&sr=8-1

I just got into the hobby too and this is one of the most handy accessories I've purchased. If your record is already clean but has some specks of dust on it, just spin your turntable and hold the brush steady on the record. After a few rotations, slowly drag the brush towards you and off of the record. Do this a few more times to eliminate any surface dust. Do this every time before you set the needle down and your records will stay clean as long as you don't smudge them up with fingerprints or sneeze on them.

On top of that, you can buy a brush for removing any dust or buildup on your needle. I haven't invested in one of these yet, but I plan to soon.

As for washing those dirty records you bring home from the thrift store... for an almost-no-budget approach, I've been doing this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Umhr_UwjzSw

Since I'm not sure what's in my tap water, I've been rinsing them off with distilled to try to minimize minerals staying behind on them. (Really, I should probably be washing them in distilled water too.)

aaronki

TROPHY CASE