Buying used vinyl

stevebrock

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I've had my Rega RP1 turntable a few weeks now and overall I am enjoying it.

I have been buying quite a bit of used vinyl recently from a local used record shop and the odd one from eBay.

I am finishing that although the records look mint, a lot have surface noise, I kow this is a characteristic of vinyl, but some of my purchases sound absolutely great with no surface noise and I'm really enjoying them.

All the records that are noisy have all been supposedly cleaned, and they do appear all to be immaculate....is this something I have to accept that some are noisy and some are not, some are bad pressings? One lp Lloyd Cole side a has surface noise all the way through and side b sounds fanstatic.

what does everyone think?
 

omnibeard

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I like vinyl, and the VFM that second hand vinyl offers, so much that I tend not to give a damn. But yes, some records do seem to have more surface noise than others. Due to stupidity I have multiple copies of some records, and (scratches and jumps aside) they have different amounts of surface noise. Think that's probably true even of records I've bought new. I'll check that out...

I guess they're slightly imperfect, but that kind of adds to their wonder.

Lovely, lovely vinyl.
 

stevebrock

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Ok I can accept that then, yes the value for money is great.

I picked up 12 lps today for £24.50 4/5 sound a bit crackly but are perfectly listenable but a couple sound absolutely fantastic like Roxy Music - Avalon, Kate Bush - Never forever, Genesis - Genesis.

i have got one of those carbon fibre brushes to use before playing and it seems to do its job!
 

MajorFubar

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It's quite possible that the crackly ones still have dirt and contaminents ground into the grooves even though they look mint. Getting records completely clean is a difficult task.
 

NHL

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À clean needle is vital >) . Use the Japanese Onzow Zerodust! Also, some antistatic brush will eliminate noise. Another thing is that vinyl from the 80s and 90s sounds better than 180 gram warped records.
 

Captain Duff

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Your stylus actually does a reasonable job of keeping the grooves clean (in particular of dust), so often the key is in safely cleaning your stylus. Also as others have mentioned static can be an issue, so it helps to get rid of that before playing. My favourite cheap combined basic cleaning/anti-static tool (that is very quick and easy to use) is a twin carbon fibre brush with some velvet inbetween to catch the fluff the brushes remove. I had a 35 year old one that was called the Hunt EDA Mk VI that I have just replaced for an identical non-named model (see the Analogue Seduction shop on ebay) after my youngest used it to clean various dirty toys - up to then it worked fine (as does the replacement that is now on a high shelf!).

If there is some serious dirt from previous bad handling (greasy fingers etc) then there are various cleaning solutions and machines that you could use, although I've know people to just use some clean soapy warm detergent/washing up liquid (without any scrubbing) followed by a rinse under a tap and drip dry.
 

shropshire lad

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Everyone who uses vinyl has their own method and recipe of cleaning their LPs so you are likely to get many different answers as to how to clean your "supposedly" clean records . I , like many others on this Forum , use a Disco Antistat and a mixture of Isopropyl alchohol and distilled water with pretty good results . You can pick them up for about £35.00 and whilst they look and feel cheap they do a good job . If you then decide to buy a significant number of LPs then it might be worth spending more on a record cleaning machine , but , I suggest that would be sometime down the line .

About the only place you can get Isopropyl alcohol these days is on Ebay but you can buy it in decent sized containers for not too much money .
 

chebby

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I was very lucky, when buying second-hand LPs, in that my local record shop has a twin-deck Keith Monks record cleaner. (The dealer bought it from Capital Radio back when they ceased playing vinyl.)

He has the machine regularly serviced/replenished by Keith Monks themselves. (They are based a ferry trip away on the Isle Of Wight.) You can see it in this photo (white box with two turntables, adjacent to pillar).

http://www.vinylrecords.co.uk/sweetmem_cameo2.jpg

It was a bit expensive (£2 per LP including a new anti-stat, archival quality sleeeve and 400g plastic LP cover) but the cleaning worked wonders in removing dirt and static, even from brand new LPs.

Just noticed his cleaning service is now £2.50 per LP. (Ouch!) Luckily I only live 5 mins walk away, so I never had to pay the postage as well.

Probably still worth it if you can find a second-hand dealer near you who offers the same service.
 

stevebrock

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Thanks for the replies.

I have done a bit of cleaning with some warm soapy water, dry then repeat with some isopropyl alcohol then a brush with carbon fibre jobby from ac-sees.... noticed an improvement straight away.....happy now!

I accept some surface crackle.

Some of my lps sound fantastic I really enjoy just sitting there taking it all in, however I'm equally happy listening to CDs through my DAC also - I don't want to start a CD vs Vinyl debate but both formats have positives & negatives at least with both I can get to listen to the best possible recording!

PS I still can't get over how goods Roxy Music - Avalon sounds, it's 30 years old and sounds mint.

However Simon & Garfunkel - Greatest Hits sound downright awful and the CD trounces it!
 

Gusboll

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I've got hundreds of vinyl albums and apart from a few where you at least get the original mix/master compared to the digital release; the snaps, crackles and pops make them a pain in the ears to listen to imo.
 

geordie777

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I will second the Disco Antistatic. I clean all my new and second hand vinyl with this and it works a treat. The mixture I use though is a cap full of distilled vinegar a drop of washing up liquid and 500 mls of warm water. This mixture works brilliantly and is very inexpensive.
 

8009514

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shropshire lad said:
Everyone who uses vinyl has their own method and recipe of cleaning their LPs so you are likely to get many different answers as to how to clean your "supposedly" clean records . I , like many others on this Forum , use a Disco Antistat and a mixture of Isopropyl alchohol and distilled water with pretty good results . You can pick them up for about £35.00 and whilst they look and feel cheap they do a good job . If you then decide to buy a significant number of LPs then it might be worth spending more on a record cleaning machine , but , I suggest that would be sometime down the line .

About the only place you can get Isopropyl alcohol these days is on Ebay but you can buy it in decent sized containers for not too much money .
Chemist shops sell Isopropyl alcohol. They may not have it in, in fact they rarely do, but my local chemist is always able to get it in a day or two.

Rich
 

shropshire lad

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8009514 said:
shropshire lad said:
Everyone who uses vinyl has their own method and recipe of cleaning their LPs so you are likely to get many different answers as to how to clean your "supposedly" clean records . I , like many others on this Forum , use a Disco Antistat and a mixture of Isopropyl alchohol and distilled water with pretty good results . You can pick them up for about £35.00 and whilst they look and feel cheap they do a good job . If you then decide to buy a significant number of LPs then it might be worth spending more on a record cleaning machine , but , I suggest that would be sometime down the line .

About the only place you can get Isopropyl alcohol these days is on Ebay but you can buy it in decent sized containers for not too much money .
Chemist shops sell Isopropyl alcohol. They may not have it in, in fact they rarely do, but my local chemist is always able to get it in a day or two.

Rich

But in the same time it takes for your chemist to get your 500ml bottle in for about £4 or £5 you can get a larger bottle from Ebay for a similar price delivered to your house . Yes I know you've got to pay postage but it is cheaper than getting the car out .

I used to buy mine from a chemist but got fed up with being thought of as a terrorist because I was after something the Government now deems as a dangerous substance .

I just dug out my last invoice for isopropyl alcohol and last year I paid £30.00 for 10 litres which includes £9.00 for postage .
 

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