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What do you do with your old LP's that don't meet your quality standards.

I took my Thorens TD160 that I bought new in 1976 into the shop for a $400.00 tuneup. New power cord, belt, grease, Grado Red 1 Cartridge, and overall inspection. 
It sat for about 20 years as I was playing CD's.
I went through my 400 albums and was able to pick out about 75 of them that met my high standard of condition. Back in the 70's taking care of your vinyl wasn't a priority. Before playing any of them I cleaned them with 2 Spin Clean systems, 1 with the cleaner and the other as a wash with distilled water. I then used a vinyl vac on a lazy Susan type revolving thing that I had glued a 3/4" piece of plywood with a 1/4" bolt epoxyed in the center. Worked great.
I was going to throw out the 325 bad albums but then contacted a guy that runs a little 2nd hand record store here in Milwaukee called Off The Beaten Path. I gave them to him for free, just asked for a small store credit after he goes through them all.
Next day he posted a picture of all of them on Facebook in the back of his van. He even closed his store the next day to start pricing them.
The picture kind of gave me a tear or two.
Then the following day he started posting pictures of them. That really hit me, brought back so many memories of a time long ago.
In the end I'm really happy that some of them will find a happy home.
He told me that I would be surprised how many younger people really don't care about the shape that the albums are. They just want to get into vinyl and listen to the music they grew up with listening to what their parents played.
Bottom line, I feel really good that I didn't throw them in the trash.
golden210
bondmanp
1,820 posts
 
With my Sweetvinyl Sugarcube, I never have to give up an LP that I like, no more pops and clicks. After 15 years of digitizing my LPs, I have culled the doubles and the records I don't like for the music, not the quality of the vinyl.  I bring them to the annual swap meet at my local Audio society and sell them for a buck apiece, 6 for $5.  

Funny story... When I first got back into vinyl, I brought my unwanted LPs (Barbara Striesand, anyone?) to a local record show and tried to sell them to the venders.  I ended up offering them to one vender for free.  He replied, "Can you carry them to my truck?" 😋
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
I have some very old albums that are not in the best shape and I have some very new albums which are not great pressings. Whether I keep them or not depends on how much I like the music. 
sammmmmmy
89 posts
 
"The ones that don’t pass my audio/visual test, are put in their jackets,,and cracked in half and put in trash."


You break them in half because it makes your blood boil to have someone come upon - and benefit - from those lps which you worked so hard to get.
You're resentful of another's good fortune.

This filthy practice reminds me of a scene in Zweig's "Vinyl" documentary:

A collector of punk has to move to a tiny ,cramped apt. and there is no room for his formidable record collection.
He cannot sell to a used record store cos its the '80s and records are deemed worthless.
And he is unwilling to simply give them away - likely some novice will luck-out and the collection that took years to amass will go to some snot-nose.

He HAS to throw them out. But because he is resentful of another's luck, instead of putting up a "free records" sign or ad, he goes to the bother of
locating a alley where there is a bin and ,making sure there is no one about, he dumps his boxes of vinyl. 

He admits that he dumped 2000 lps in a dumpster so that they would "ever
belong only to me."

After the disheartened fellow has gone, Zweig keeps his hidden camera running. Sure enough ,in next to no time, a black guy hops into the bin and ,with a wide grin, proceeds to load-up.  
richmon
245 posts
 
Some I take back to my monthly record show to where I originally bought it, give it back to the seller, say I don't wanna throw this out, I don't expect anything but if you want to give me a little purchase credit .. that gets me a bit off that days purchase.

Also put a stack near the show entrance with a 'Free' stickie on it. Unfortunatly sometimes I see one of the vendors re-selling them, othertimes just regular collectors grab some.. Mostly this is just stuff I took a chance on and didn't pay much for.
oregonpapa's avatar
oregonpapa
4,867 posts
 
mijostyn ...

 
  •  "I have some very old albums that are not in the best shape and I have some very new albums which are not great pressings. Whether I keep them or not depends on how much I like the music."   

I can relate. My collection consists of thousands of LPs that I have been collecting since high school. There are tons of them that I purchased at thrift stores and garage sales for almost nothing. The ones with the good music on them, even though they aren't in pristine condition by any means, are staying in the collection. 

Take the old Jazztone Society records for instance. I love those. I mean, where can you get original stuff by Chu Berry, Lester Young, and Jackie and Roy these days without spending a fortune?

You're right ... it is all about the music.

Frank
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