Hooked on Vinyl (Again)

[58pinson]

Larry,

Just a suggestion not meant to steer you away from your inclinations, but I see you're in Florida. I think you should be able to locate a monthly record show somewhere not too far from you. A good one gives you the advantage of dealing face to face with vendors, developing a business relationship, and allows you to see with your own eyes what you are buying. Google up Second Saturday Record Show (it's in Wayne, NJ) just to give you an idea of what you might find at one near you. There are also brick and mortar stores which run the gamut from real good to not so much depending on where you are and what you want to pay.

I don't do ebay so can't recommend anyone. There is a fairly robust vinyl community on Youtube which you might want to look into (referring to themselves as the vc).

Good luck on the adventure!

[LuckyLarry]

Thanks for all the feedback and tips as I get into collecting records. Yesterday there was a baseball card show in the south part of town, and on the way home I stopped at our local flea market on the hunt for records.
As soon as I entered, a vendor was just stacking up a pile of LPs, he said $2 each with a discount if I bought more. Some were pretty beat up (I left those behind) but others looked to be in pretty fine shape. So I pulled out the best total 14 LPs and he took my offer of a $20 bill.

Jim Croce (Life and Times) looks new
Jim Croce (You Don’t Mess Around With Jim)
Beach Boys (Spirit of America) looks new
Janis Joplin (I got Dem ‘Ol Cosmic Blues Again Mama)
The Monkees (Meet The Monkees)
Creedence Clearwater (Revival)
CCR (Bayou Country)
Bread (The Best Of)
*bonus* Guitar Man LP also in there ?
Bob Dylan (Blond on Blond)
Bob Dylan (Another Side of Bob Dylan)
Grand Funk (Closer To Home)
America (Greatest Hits)
*For some reason I also pulled two Bill Cosby records (Revenge) and (i started out as a child)

After this I had to walk back out to my car to off load lol! I located a record dealer who was set up and talked awhile with him. All his LPs were neatly organized and in plastic covers. One of his customers came up and confirmed the seller was legit and said he was never disappointed in any of his purchases. All his records looked to be in fine shape. I bought two Rolling Stones LPs for $15 (Black and Blue) and (Its Only Rock and Roll), also a Foreigner record (head games) for $6 mint still original plastic with original sales sticker of $6.87
Then he had a 1/2 off stack and I bought all these for $14 total
John Denver (Windsong)
Carpenters (Close To You)
Carpenters (Carpenters)
Jackson Brown (Running on Empty)
The Moody Blues (In Search of the Lost Chord)
Stephen Stills (Manassas)

[barrysloate]

Larry- the two Dylan albums alone are probably worth more than $20 each. Nice score.

[bdk1976]

I've gotten back into vinyl over the past few years - a natural extension of my weekend estate sale adventures. I started picking up records a few years ago when I saw a bunch of good ones for 10 cents at a sale (including dylan, zepplin, the who, etc.). Since then I've picked up a decent selection (although there is decent competition for records at these sales), as well as the equipment to play them on.

Not top of the line stuff, but decent older stuff for pennies on the dollar. I have a mismatched stack of Sansui, Carver, Marantz, sony, fisher and Kenwood that I have put together out in the garage for less than $60 total and play through a nice big pair of sony speakers that I got for $5. To me - and my natural 'collecting' instinct- gathering this cool older equipment is nearly as much fun as listening to it!

I also picked up a rock-ola jukebox earlier this year that needs some work - hope to get to it this winter. Fun stuff!

[58pinson]

Congrats Larry! Keep enjoying the experience. Was just in the car this morning and heard a track from Blonde on Blonde. DJ mentioned that it was the first rock double album. I'd long forgotten that. My collection is weak on Dylan. Hope you scored a good copy. There are some to be found at flea markets, and then there are those that people ate potato salad off of it seems. Keep us posted as to the quality difference between the two sellers, if any.

Just a heads up (and I definitely don't want to sound like a know it all poser here) but you might want to get yourself a decent vinyl cleaning kit. There are plenty of options out there. You can go to a place like Bags Unlimited for a low cost item. I say that because you just picked up new hardware and it might be prudent to give any used albums a quick clean before you spin them.

[Tedw9]

Wow Larry, that’s one heck of a haul! Some great music at a good price. I wish we had dealers around here that offered prices like that. The only way I get deals like that is at Goodwill. At a local junk shop, one dealer had a Rod Stewart album for $20! Scratched up Beatles for $50-100. Ill pass thanks.

bdk1976, I’m the same way, I love my frankenstereo and finding nice high end older equipement cheaply appeals to me. I did splurge on a new turntable, but only because I couldn’t find a decent one used. Scored some Bose speakers a week ago for $6!

And I must second what 58pinson said about cleaning your records. You can get a cheap cleaner with a bottle of cleaning fluid on eBay for $10 or so delivered. And there are even better ones, starting at $50 or so and going up. Cleaning your records, new or used, makes a huge difference in sound and will save wear on your turntable.