Vinyl Lovers


After a marathon session of ultrasonically cleaning some of my vinyl treasures, I discovered that a few of them had what I'll call "skip-scratches" on various cuts. I have many more to clean (i.e.  somewhere around 5 to 6 hundred, mostly original 60s & 70s LPs) and fully expect to encounter more bruised babies along the way, not all of which I'll probably replace with vinyl re-issues or re-pressings. Some of my all-time favorites, however, I definitely will want to replace, providing I can find good quality re-issues/re-pressings. I know there is much to learn about this, and I am just beginning to scratch the surface (no pun intended). For example, there are issues of so called "virgin vinyl", quality of the vinyl mix, thickness of vinyl, recording from original master tapes, if still in existence and in good condition, quality of the actual pressing process, etc., etc., etc.

So, I guess my question for you all who know much more about this than I, is where the best places are to buy the best quality vinyl re-issues or re-pressings. Local record shops are few and far between and most of them don't have much in the way of variety or stock in anything other than used records. I'm familiar with Discogs but, frankly, am reluctant to buy used records on-line because I don't entirely trust the purveyors' ratings and the endemic hassles of possible returns. Most of the re-issues/re-pressings I've purchased, thus far, have been from or through Music Direct. I've noticed that some of their offerings actually come from companies like:  Island Records; Impex; RHINO and other sources.

So, what are some of your go-to, solid, reputable standbys?

Thanks Much!

oldaudiophile

OP;

back to your opening statement, you’ve gone through a marathon session of cleaning. I too have about 500 more to clean. I got fed up around the 15th album.

The process of allowing them to ir dry takes a tone of stand up space and time. I don’t have a demagnetizer so ambient dust started collecting on newly cleaned albums. I knew because soon as I thought they were dry I put them back in sleeves  and album covers. Few days later when I went to play them I used a felt brush and sure enough wherever I lift the brush there a line of dust. Also, after playing A and B side of an album my Shure V15 with the little dust sweeper was clogged with dust.

Check out Sweet Vinyl.....they make a noise suppressor (aka tick and pop remover) that really works....even if you can't remove the last traces of dust/gunk, etc their noise filtering system works marvels and makes old noisy records sound like new. Just go on their website and read the accolades. I've bought mine when they first came out and several of my vinyl friends followed suit and were amazed how flawlessly it works

jackster, In my experience felt causes static electric charge buldup on vinyl.  So I would not use a felt brush or pad to keep dust away.  Also, to ameliorate the static charge, you do not want a demagnetizer.  You want a positive ion generator, as the charge on an LP is negative, and positive ions sprayed toward the LP surface will neutralize the net charge.  Zerostat actually works. So do other more expensive devices that do the same thing.  Magnetism and static electricity are two different phenomena, even though both result in an attractive or repulsive force between two objects.

@jacksky I don't have the scientific acumen lewn has brought to your dust dilemma.  However, just instinctively, brushing records with felt does seem like it would cause static electricity and attract dust like nobody's business.  Another reason why I would never use a felt TT platter mat.

FWIW, when I go through my ultrasonic cleaning process, I only do about 15 records at a time.  That's, easily, an entire afternoon's worth of work, and then some, because of the labor-intensive process I use.  I've tried a few approaches to keeping as much ambient dust off the records as they air dry (e.g.  putting large high-quality microfiber cloths over them in the drying stand).  Alternatively, I've toyed with the idea of obtaining a large rigid cover to put over them, instead, something like a humongous TT dust cover that I could find at a Michael's arts & crafts store or something along those line.  Of course, a cover like this would need to be shimmed at the bottom in order to allow for some air circulation.  Otherwise, drying would take a very long time.

I just accept the fact that there is always going to be some amount of dust in the air and always play my records with the dust cover down.  Also, I always use my Audioquest Anti-Static Record Brush and Onzow stylus cleaner before & after every play, Mobile Fidelity LP#9 after every listening session and keep my records in Mobile Fidelity inner sleeves.  Until I can afford a man cave with clean room protocols, that's the best I can do.

@lewm Zerostats actually work by flooding the record with both positive and negative charges, negating whatever charge was on the record originally.