I went to the WFMU show last year (during My Year in New York - book soon!) and bought 30 or so LPs. Only one was truly unlistenable - the rest cleaned up fine and sounded great. I'm not a high dollar record guy, so the most I paid was $6 for a nice copy of Lark's Tongue in Aspic. None of the records had been cleaned prior, and that was true for all the bins I was looking through. Very few were obviously junk, either, so clearly there had been at least a little prescreening.
That said, I think Hdm may be on to something. I watched a lot of people pulling $50 and $100 LPs out of the sleeve and they looked like black mirrors, way shinier than any new album I've seen. It was almost as if they were waxed or Armor-Alled. Since these were all used albums, it made me pretty suspicious, but people were buying them.
Like Hdm, I mostly stick to the 99 cent stuff at Goodwill and the closeout bins at used record stores. If one of those turns out truly bad, I just donate it back; they need the money, and maybe someone else will enjoy it more than I could.
Overhang, if you live in the NY/NJ area and haven't been to Princeton Record Exchange, it's well worth the trip. Great selection, fair prices, no waxing!
That said, I think Hdm may be on to something. I watched a lot of people pulling $50 and $100 LPs out of the sleeve and they looked like black mirrors, way shinier than any new album I've seen. It was almost as if they were waxed or Armor-Alled. Since these were all used albums, it made me pretty suspicious, but people were buying them.
Like Hdm, I mostly stick to the 99 cent stuff at Goodwill and the closeout bins at used record stores. If one of those turns out truly bad, I just donate it back; they need the money, and maybe someone else will enjoy it more than I could.
Overhang, if you live in the NY/NJ area and haven't been to Princeton Record Exchange, it's well worth the trip. Great selection, fair prices, no waxing!