Got this today, Happy, Mint condition. Awesome cover
Not a vinyl, but I finally found a CD of Divinylâs âMonkey Gripâ for $37. Someone was actually trying to sell it to me for $85 minimum, lolz.
How did I miss this thread 84 85 Vinyl and good times will be back
I cleaned all my 33âs recently bought off Ebay.
They are in good condition, but some are a little noisy.
I used the following Wet Cleaning SystemâŚ
â Knosti Disco Antistat â
Itâs pretty simple, but allows for a quick and easy method for cleaning several records at one time.
It comes with everything you need (except micro fibre lint free drying cloths).
Cleaning solution is included.Though I used a Melbourne made solution instead as I heard itâs better.
Itâs very similar to the yellow Spin Clean that people may have seen in JB.
I bought this one as I like the label protector, it is also cheaper ($100), and this one comes with a drying rack.
As demonstrated in the pic above, brushes on both sides of where the record is placed.
Simply manually spin the record a few revolutions each side and youâre done.
The cleaning solution instructions said that rinsing is not necessary, but I went the extra step and rinsed all my records in distilled water, just to be sure of not leaving any unwanted residue on my vinyl.
The rack provided is handyâŚ
Though I probably prefer this cheapy document holder I purchased from Officeworks.
The record leans against the metal exactly where the label is.
Itâs the perfect sizeâŚ
All in all, quite happy with the process.
The system comes with a funnel which has a filter in it, so the cleaning solution is re-usable.
I cleaned almost 20 LPâs, and the funnelled/filtered cleaning solution looked clear, though as I said earlier, the condition of my vinyl was quite good.
Iâll require a few days of listening to ascertain how effective the cleaning has been, but certainly visually, the records look great.
Next post will be about sound quality improvements, and Iâll share any experiences I have utilising the Wood Glue method, and the similar âRevirginizerâ.
The latter 2 being for more problem, stubbornly dirty records that require a more drastic cleaning method.
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Great thread. Now l will have to go away and right something in detail to post. It will take me quite a while. Back later, probably much later.
Iâve got the full acdc compilation on vinyl. Bon Scott era. Bought them all when they were released. Iâve probably got about 300 records in storage.
I used to own this 12" Single as a teen.
Donât know what I did with it, but always remembered the striking yellow coloured vinyl.
So when I saw it in a Used Record store in great condition for a fair price, I got it.
Great thread. Now l will have to go away and right something in detail to post. It will take me quite a while. Back later, probably much later.
Hope Noonan doesnât read this thread !
Great thread. Now l will have to go away and right something in detail to post. It will take me quite a while. Back later, probably much later.Hope Noonan doesnât read this thread !
Noonan still listens to music via morse code. Sometimes, when heâs nostalgic heâll revert to semaphore.
Yeah...I saw it. I knew also that Captain Jack teaches English. I know why people's writing standards are so low.Great thread. Now l will have to go away and right something in detail to post. It will take me quite a while. Back later, probably much later.Hope Noonan doesnât read this thread !
As Collecting Music.
I first became aware of music in the mid 1950âs listening to the dire schmaltz of Mitch Miller and his orchestra. My step father played Winifred Atwell occasionally. At about the age of four l had a rather profound thought, l wished that someone would invent some new music form. Something with a bit of a punch or kick to it. Enter Bill Haley and âRock Around the Clock.â l was hooked from the outset. In the early days l was into Buddy Holly, Gene Vincent, Del Shannon and the Everley Brothers. To this day l have never been an Elvis fan, apart from Jailhouse rock. At about the age of 7 l predicted that electric guitars and drum kits would take over the world of music.
I have four step brothers who are 14, 11, 10, and 9 years older. The 3 youngest became rockers, with black leather jackets, swept back hair and fluro socks. I too remember the old record players, ours had four speeds, 331/3, 45, 78 and also 16. However l canât remember any records played at 16 RPM. The 78âs were twice as thick as a dinner plate, and also twice as heavy. I also remember the dreaded, removable spindles and the stack of records that you could put on them.
My second oldest brother was the one most heavily into music. l remember him going to Festival Hall to see JâOK in his early days, he also went to see Connie Francis there, and if l remember correctly, there was even a picture of him at the stage door, when she came out. He had a small portable record player, which was pink and black plastic. It was shaped like a small suitcase and was portable. His singles he kept in a large case under his bed. He also let me play whatever l wanted to hear when he wasnât around. The three boys followed The Deltones around town, when they were performing, and might have had a passing acquaintance with the bass singer, Pee Wee, but then again, l guess a lot of guys of their age could make the same claim.
All that is by way of introduction into my own music collecting habits. The first records l bought were 2 singles, for my 15th birthday, they were Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys, and Friday on My Mind, by the Easybeats. l bought them for about 25 cents each from a bicycle shop in Highett, which sold singles only, as a side line. To this day, l still think that those two classic songs were a great way to kick off my record collection, and l still have them, stored away, somewhere. My first album followed shortly after, Creamâs Disraeli Gears. Once again, l regard this is an excellent, high quality way to begin collecting albums. Once my collection began to grow I used to go visit friends with an album case full of records, tucked under one arm. New releases were usually given a spin first. After that it was a case of stereo sweepstakes. Whoever got up first, got to choose the next album to play.
Imported albums were regarded more highly than local pressings for many reasons. Many of the imported albums came with fold out covers, and were printed on thicker cardboard, than the local pressings. l also believe that in some cases they also sounded better, and put the superior sound down to better quality vinyl being used in the pressings. Occasionally the imported copy might include a track that was missing from a local pressing. Imports were like a limited edition by comparison, with the lyrics often printed inside the cover, or on the record protector sleeve. Other imported albums also had little extras included. My imported copy of Dark side of the Moon for instance came with 2 posters of the pyramids, one blue and one green, and two large stickers as well. The posters l put up at my first school, when l began teaching, l think l might have sold the album, when l replaced it with a CD reissue. Record album covers became an engaging art form, as one look at Floydâs Wish You Were Here, or Zeppelinâs Houses of the Holy, or Fragile by Yes, Ogdenâs Nut Brown Flake by the Small Faces, or H.M.S. Donovan covers will clearly show. CDs could never match record covers. Sure they printed lyrics on a lot of their covers, but in fonts so small that opticians must have loved them, for the extra business they created for them.
At the time l was also into reading about the bands l was interested in various music mags, such as Sounds. I began to cut out articles and paste them onto the inner paper sleeves, to give friends and others something of interest to read, when they were listening to a fave album. Inside the covers, imported records were often better protected as well, with a paper and/or plastic inner sleeve, while local pressings had only lightweight plastic inner sleeves. As l became more serious about collecting music, l decided to put all my albums into outer plastic album covers. Another mate who had a B & O stereo turned me onto a heavy weight inner sleeve, called funnily enough, an album protector. They came in packs of 10 from Discurio, and since l was living in Hawthorn at the time and going to Swinburne, it was no big deal to go over to Camberwell and pick up a packet of them.
My friends would almost all rush out to buy the latest release of a name band. l decided that we didnât need six copies of Led Zeppelin IV to listen to, if we already five to choose from, so l began to diversify my tastes, and targeted lesser known bands, or interesting artists who had left good bands and branched out on their own. l had one particular friend who was particularly fixed in his tastes, and would invariably default to playing either The Beetles or The Doors whenever we went around his place to listen to music. He played them so much that in the end he destroyed my enjoyment of those two bands, as good as they were. At about the same time l also got into cassettes, in a big way. l would buy a box of 10, and go around to various matesâ places to record a new album straight away. I had to do this because for many years, l didnât have a full stereo system, just a cassette recorder, a set of headphones and a record collection, in the immortal words of Holden Caulfield, l had things backasswards. l would then usually put the album away and just listen to the cassette, on my headphones, direct from the deck, usually while l was studying late at night.6 As a result, many of my albums to this day have only ever been played once or twice. Actually there are a number that have never been played, during my college days. Instead l would roll up with my record case, containing, the hottest new release, and my Akai 350 cassette deck. Friends would let me plug into their stereo units to record, then if they like what they heard, they would record it also. Then before we knew it there would often be an all-night music playing session. I preferred 90 minute cassettes, so l could get an album on each side. While 60 min cassettes were not long enough, 120 min cassette tapes were often too thin and had a tendency to get chewed up by players. Since albums were often around 40 minutes long, that left about 5 minutes on the end that needed filling, often with a fave track from another album of the same band. My cassette player allowed both sides to be played in succession. A source for a lot of my musical excursions at this time was an excellent radio program on the ABC on a Monday night called, Room to Move, with a guy called Chris Winter. It was a show that was streets ahead of anything else at the time in terms of how innovative it was.
Then in the mid â70âs l started down the mixed songs track, which allowed for people to make personal collections of greatest hits. This soon became a slippery slope indeed. I worked out a series of esoteric titles for each cassette. The search to maximize the available tape space became a bit obsessive. l would not allow any tracks to be cut off before they ended, and anything more than about 5 seconds of blank tape at the end of a cassette side, l considered a waste of blank tape, and would find something else to fill the available space at the end. Ten years ago l donated a briefcase full of these to another Bliyzer, l hope they still get played. ln 1983 found a Walkman that actually had decent stereo mics, and recorded quite well. My main cassette player at this stage was a Nakamichi 550, which was the top of the line machine at the time. l had bought it from a mate years before, and almost immediately had to replace the recording head, which was about an extra 25% of the price, l paid him for it. When l reproached him about it, he said l should have checked it out, before l bought it, some mate! l had managed to sneak it into a couple of concerts under a coat, in order to record performances, but it was too big to continue to go unnoticed, so l started using the Walkman instead, and remember recording the Eagles on their first tour with it.
By this stage l was working and had gotten into some seriously good stereo gear. l had a Luxman R1500 tuner / amp which pumped about 80 watts a side, a built in linear equalizer, and could be used to mix in 2 mics. To this day it is the best sounding amp l have ever had. The amp drove a pair of Bose 901 Series 3, speakers, which l still have stored with my sister (but not the equalizer they were sold with). Later l bought a pair of Magnaplanar speakers from a little shop on the Nepean Highway in Moorabbin, on the block between South Rd and Bob Janeâs T mart; to go with the Bose. The Magnaplanars were magnificent. They were only 2 â 3 cm thick, 180 cm high and 50 â 70 cm wide. They looked like and were close to the size of a pair of doors. Many people thought they were electrostatic speakers, but they werenât. According to Andrew, the guy in the shop, they were imported in a big roll. When they arrived, they were simply unrolled and wooden frame built around them. They cost me $500, and they were stolen along with the Luxman amp, around 1982. That opens up a whole new topic, if people want to pursue it at a later date, stereo equipment, l will leave my digression here.
By this stage my record collecting was becoming increasingly focused on the esoteric. l had tracked down a few bootlegs and picture discs of fave bands. Dylan and Pink Floyd bootlegs were by now an industry unto themselves. Some friends got into collecting for the sake of big noting themselves. l drew the line at collecting, for the sake of simply having a certain pressing of an album in my collection, and never owned a direct to disc album. My default position was then, as it has always been, it was always about the music, first and foremost.
My first CD was Jamie Robbie Robertsonâs first solo album, with U2 backing him on 4 tracks. Another excellent starting point to a new music technology l feel. It didnât take me long to become enamoured of the new technology. By comparison an American guy l worked with in one school insisted that his audiophile equipment out performed CDs, even though his stereo system cost him at least five times as much. Since l wasnât interested in buying a Linn Sondek turntable, l switched over to the new format, for a fraction of the cost. As a result holidays and weekends would find me nose deep in Gaslight in Burke St, or other little independent record / music stores in Greville St., Fitzroy or Carlton.
By this stage my collection as such had grown to where l had around 600 singles and 1200 albums (also mostly stored in plastic milk crates). The growing number of CDs forced me to come to a decision, l needed to catalogue them in order to keep track of them all. This wasnât a real problem, as l didnât have much of a life at the time. So, for weeks on end l would borrow an Apple Macintosh computer from school, pack it up, drag it home and spend hours putting all my recorded music into alphabetical order. l had two versions, in the end; a short one, and a long one, which included full track listings. Once it was complete, all l had to do was update it, whenever l bought any new music, which was most weeks. At this stage l stopped calling it a collection and started calling it a library, especially since l would lend albums to friends to play; most of them came back. I still have both versions of my record library backed up. Along with the track details, l also included where and when l bought it, and how much l paid, as a matter of compiling some historical detail. Around this time l also started going to a few record fairs with an exâstudent of mine, who became such an avid music fan that he became a recording engineer. The record fairs were held every three months or so at the Camberwell Civic Centre, and off we would go to see what we could find. In other spare moments l could be found trawling through the bargain basement bins of local JB hiâfi stores, the one on the Nepean Highway, just near Centre Rd. being a particularly favorite haunt.
Then at the end of 1992 l took a redundancy package from the Kennett govt. and decided to hit the trail again. l have lived overseas pretty much ever since, and my music tastes have changed accordingly. l have not gone down the download trail, there is simply no need to, there is so much good, free music out there these days. Some people even give good music away. l left my albums with a mate in Bendigo, 10 years ago. My CDâs and singles are at my sisterâs place in Hastings. The CDâs were decimated a few years back, when a number of them were sold off by a drug addict. l havenât gone back to check on them since. Recently l offered a good friend complete access to all 1200 of the vinyl albums. She gets to play them, and record them. I have asked her to sell them for me, on Ebay, a couple at a time, with any proceeds from the sales split 50 / 50. All she has to do is organize how to pick them up from my mate in Bendigo. It hasnât happened yet, but l am in no hurry.
.
Thanks for such a ripping read Captain.
Thoroughly enjoyedâŚ
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Thanks for such a ripping read Captain. Thoroughly enjoyed....What he said CJ
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For my girlfriend's 30th, I bought a non-working one of these off Gumtree, gutted it and put in new speakers, amp, turntable, tape deck, CD player and AUX input. Polished it all up so it looks brand new-ish. Since then we've been building up a collection mostly from markets/op-shops/garage sales.
Like others have said, itâs got us listening to full albums again from start to finish rather than using a playlist.
For my girlfriend's 30th, I bought a non-working one of these off Gumtree, gutted it and put in new speakers, amp, turntable, tape deck, CD player and AUX input. Polished it all up so it looks brand new-ish. Since then we've been building up a collection mostly from markets/op-shops/garage sales.Like others have said, itâs got us listening to full albums again from start to finish rather than using a playlist.
Want a job?
Depends. Will you reciprocate like she does?For my girlfriend's 30th, I bought a non-working one of these off Gumtree, gutted it and put in new speakers, amp, turntable, tape deck, CD player and AUX input. Polished it all up so it looks brand new-ish. Since then we've been building up a collection mostly from markets/op-shops/garage sales.Like others have said, itâs got us listening to full albums again from start to finish rather than using a playlist.
Want a job?
Depends. Will you reciprocate like she does?For my girlfriend's 30th, I bought a non-working one of these off Gumtree, gutted it and put in new speakers, amp, turntable, tape deck, CD player and AUX input. Polished it all up so it looks brand new-ish. Since then we've been building up a collection mostly from markets/op-shops/garage sales.Like others have said, itâs got us listening to full albums again from start to finish rather than using a playlist.
Want a job?
Genuine lol.
Depends. Will you reciprocate like she does?For my girlfriend's 30th, I bought a non-working one of these off Gumtree, gutted it and put in new speakers, amp, turntable, tape deck, CD player and AUX input. Polished it all up so it looks brand new-ish. Since then we've been building up a collection mostly from markets/op-shops/garage sales.Like others have said, itâs got us listening to full albums again from start to finish rather than using a playlist.
Want a job?
Well, no.
In this case, Iâd be the one paying you.
Got a beautiful babylon by bus copy this week. Superb