How to tell if the record is worn out?
Overhang, this sounds suspicious to me. I would not give up on those records quite yet. In my experience of collecting many 40 and 50 year old records, most can be returned to a very acceptable if not outstanding quality assuming there are no obvious scratches or other damage - which you indicate there are not. The biggest problem I have found on otherwise mint records is from those mis-guided individuals who tried to remove what was probably tape hiss or other recorded noise by using "Groove Glide" or a similar type of product. This is death to a record. I have spent untold hours trying to remove the effects of this from some records with no complete success. But in my experience these records will have a very recognizable and tell-tale dull appearance from the application of this material and all the dust and grime it attracts. This does not appear to be the case with your records. First, of course, you must be completely certain that the cartridge setup is accurate. Any actual groove damage can be verified by microscopy, see this site. http://www.micrographia.com/projec/projapps/viny/viny0200.htm If you don't have access to a microscope to determine this, I may be able to help but I would suggest multiple cleanings first. Again, vinyl records are amazingly resistant to groove damage when appropriate playback equipment is used but there is a (small) percentage of records out there that look good but are hopelessly damaged. In my experience, the percentage is nothing like the number you quote. It is more often a setup or cleaning problem on my end. |
I think Groove Glide is great - I use mine all the time to lubricate my table saw and band saw blade but I will never again put it on a record. Not that it does anything terrible immediately but I suspect any type of added material like this will attract and adhere more dust and dirt over time and many other posters have commented that it adds its own sonic signature to the music. I cannot specifically implicate Groove Glide in the records I have had problems with which is why I said "Groove Glide or a similar type of product" in my post above. Obviously I don't know exactly what some previous owner might have applied. But it is apparent from microscopic investigation that some sort of dirt adhering gunk is in the grooves which is far more difficult to remove than normal. I should mention that I typically use a 4 step cleaning process for used records which involves 1) a basic distilled water / alcohol/detergent recipe like you can find anywhere on the web scrubbed on using Last applicators and rinsed under warm water in the sink and record vac'ed off. Then 2&3) Paul Frumkin's 2 part enzymatic and alcohol solutions. The I test play the record and if there is any residual surface noise, I use 4) RRL's Super Vinyl wash. This is all dome with a modified shop vac setup which does a very good job if not quite as pristine as I have experienced from something like Doug Deacon's Loricraft which can do it all in a single pass (but at much greater expense). This will typically produce an LP where the stylus remains perfectly clean through playing the LP or might need slight touch-up (a repeat cleaning) if there is a little residual dirt picked up. On a few records, however, (and I can think of only 4 out of about 600 used jazz LP's I've purchased), The stylus will be completely gunked up with crap after just the first track, even after this cleaning. It is clear to me from this and the generally "duller" appearance of the LP, that something has been applied and it takes many additional playing and cleaning of these records to begin to remove the material. (One such record was an otherwise mint copy of Art Farmer's "Farmers Market" which has some tape / pressing noise even in a mint original which I suspect some former owner thought was groove damage they could remove with Groove Glide or similar product.) |
you need to tote a portable record player with you. http://www.needledoctor.com/Vestax-Handy-Trax?sc=2&category=43 You can hear enough with one of these to tell if the record is ok. . |
