Any Other Vinyl Collectors Out There?

[Harrison]

I just started collecting vinyl and was wondering if any others of you collect it. I've got a few Beatles albums: Let It Be, Rubber Soul, and A Hard Day's Night (although Rubber Sould and A Hard Day's Night is in terrible condition), an I've got some Dylan ones too: Hard Rain and Slow Train Coming. That's all.

[Shnook]

I don't know if I'd consider myself a collector, but I do buy every Frank Zappa record I come across. I've got somewhere around 350-400 albums in all. I really dig those funky old 60's-70's records.

[David Barnett]

Well, I still have all my old LPs from the first time around...

[xStonr]

I've got a few hundred LP's here. I sold off my collection back in the 80's as I was hitting bottom and needed money. After I cleaned up, I started collecting again and got most of my original collection back. Living on the East Coast at that time, I would drive up to Princeton, NJ and shop at the Princeton Record Exchange. A fantastic record store.

[Rowdy Time]

i have about 500 or so records in the upstairs closet. Used to DJ quite a bit.

[BLACKCAT69]

I've never actually stopped buying vinyl. I like the format. The only vinyl I 'collected' was Who stuff which by comparison to Beatles, Stones or Elvis is pretty cheap on the collectible side.

[Poppatwang]

some years back. But still have hundreds of LPs
& an even greater number of 45s.

[TDPRI]

I am avid Vinyl collector "sort of". It's the collector word I have trouble with. I guess you would say that I buy a lot of LPs still. I have 500 to 600 and I buy about 2 CDs a month and 8 LPs a month.

I buy new LPs... I got the new Stones' LP last week. And I buy reissue LPs... I got the new reissue of Love's greatest Hits. And I buy used... I got some Allman Bros compilations that came out in the 70's at Half Priced Books.

My LP rack is currently full and I have to decide what to do next. Buy a new rack or thin the hurd.

About a year ago I started going to Garage Sales and bought probably 300 LPs for 50 cents a LP or less.

I have a super expensive record playing rig (about $4000 worth of turntable, arm, cartridge and pre-amp. So that's super expensive to me) that I've purchased within the past year (sold my 20 year old stuff) and it sounds really great.

Lately, I've been selling my CDs and buying more and more LPs.

Paul Green

[singlecoilheaven]

I've got a ton of old records. The entire Led Zep collection, some old original Buddy Holly from my dad, some old Elvis, Buck Owens, etc. There's a certain mystique with vinyl that can't be recreated with digital formats. Van Halen, Allman Bros, Merle Haggard, you name it.... my kids, when they were about ten and nine, heard me talking to some of my friends about old records asked me "Dad, what's a record?". My prize possesion is my old Walt Junior 45 of "Cold Brown Bottle". This is, in my opinion, the quintessential honky tonk country song. It makes you either want to dance or drink beer, which is pretty much the measure of all great Texas honky tonk songs.

[OutlawSteph1975]

I've got five crates full of vinyl lps. My folks gave me their records from the 60s, and I've been buying my own for the past 20 years. The first used record I bought was Sgt. Pepper. I would buy 45s at the five and dime store, so I used to have a lot of late 70s-mid 80s 45s, but have since gotten rid of many of those.

Right now, I've got a lot from the early 60s to early 80s: all the Beatles US lp releases, some folk records from the 60s, lots of other 60s rock including The Byrds - Younger than Yesterday signed by McGuinn, and Pet Sounds signed by all the Beach Boys, a lot of 70s country and southern rock, including Skynyrd's second on the Sounds of the South label (supposed to be rare); and some 80s arena rock.

I've noticed some new alt.country is being released on vinyl! New vinyl seem to be hard to find in stores, but I've seen them on-line.

I like collecting because it's part of our history, and I think it simply sounds better (in good condition) than any other format. The artwork was fun too!

[Oster]

I hung on to most of my old vinyl and I keep adding to the collection. I'm trying to build up a Yardbirds collection at present; found a great old copy of 'Over, Under, Sideways, Down' last week thats been getting many spins. That and a just...(looking for uncensorable superlatives) incredible Raspberries collection.

I think the format was great for music & art. And for listening. 20 minutes of my time? No problem! 8)

And no offense to our British members but Rubber Soul needs to kick off with 'I've Just Seen A Face' and have that false start in 'I'm Looking Through You' or it just isn't Rubber Soul!

[Eric Karonen]

I play vinyl all the time, and lean towards jazz and classic rock. It just sounds better to my ears. And I find an album to be plenty long enough before I want to hear someone else's tunes.

[beez]

I had been looking for a copy of some old out of print Jerry Reed instrumentals, when I came across an eBay auction for 26 Jerry Reed albums. Though I didn't have a record player, they had most of the songs I was looking for, so I bought it. Shortly after, I purchased a Denon record player and was knocked out at how good vinyl sounds compared to CD. I would consider switching over to vinyl if I could find a good way to transfer vinyl to digital so I could listen in my car as well.

By the way, if you ever come a Reed album called Both Barrels, there is a version of Alabama Jubilee (different than the one on the Cookin' album) where Jerry just tears it up. Easy to see where a lot of the super hot country pickers got a few of their licks from!!

[billygoat]

Just install a record player in your car :D

My friends and I all buy vinyl all the time. Toronto has A LOT of good record stores with vinyl.

[Teletwang]

Originally Posted by webmaster

......

I have a super expensive record playing rig (about $4000 worth of turntable, arm, cartridge and pre-amp....


Paul Green

Yea, well, don't leave me hanging! Specifics. VPI? Linn?
van den Hull? Sumiko? You know, as a recovering audiophile, I'm living through current junkies.

Cheers, Paul

[TDPRI]

Originally Posted by Teletwang

Yea, well, don't leave me hanging! Specifics. VPI? Linn?
van den Hull? Sumiko? You know, as a recovering audiophile, I'm living through current junkies.

VPI HW19 MK III with Rega RB300/Modified arm, Benz Glider L2 cartridge, Acoustech PH-1 Phono Stage, Unison Research Unico Hybred Tube/SS Integrated Amp, Cary 308T Tube CD Player, Totem Hawk speakers, Nordost Blue Heaven ICs.

Sounds good to me.

Paul Green

[lobotomyactivist]

not a collector, but I have a couple crates. just snapped the needle on my player, but it's been on there since about 1981, it had it coming.

[Mr. Sparkle]

I have a lot of vinyl. I'm one of those who never stopped buying, so I have a lot from when I was younger, spanning through to today. It's fun to have kept it all as it marks all my music-fan stages from Beatles to Punk to Hendrix to Blues to Country to Jazz and back again.

The only stuff I really "collect" is pre-war music on the Yazoo, Arhoolie, MJC and Morning Star labels. I alos grab any Charly/Sun reissues I can get my hands on.

[Teletwang]

Originally Posted by webmaster

VPI HW19 MK III with Rega RB300/Modified arm, Benz Glider L2 cartridge, Acoustech PH-1 Phono Stage, Unison Research Unico Hybred Tube/SS Integrated Amp, Cary 308T Tube CD Player, Totem Hawk speakers, Nordost Blue Heaven ICs.

Sounds good to me.

Paul Green

I'll bet it does. I'm sure you have or will soon invest in a good equipment stand and isolation platform. Anyway, you've come quite a way in a short period of time. Well done.

[Val-tone]

my record collection measures 6' 3". I know because I moved them about a year ago. I shrunk-wrapped them in handleable-sized bundles from when I moved them five years prior to that and never unwrapped them.

I have one of those big console stereo things with a turntable, raido that plays FM and FM stereo, and an 8-track player. The turntable and 8-track need fixing. The turntable has one of those really long center spindles so you can stack a whole bunch of albums on there. Surprisingly, the sound of the console is really good. I have my CD player hooked up to it.

Someday when I have a den/workshop I want to get that up and running and put on a big 'ol stack of albums for my listening pleasure.

I have a few boxes of 8-tracks too that I've never seemed to get rid of. One is autographed by Arlo Gurthrie and one is by Burt Bacharach. But that's another story.

I still catch myself calling CD's albums.

[Poppatwang]

Been to Hymie's on Lake Street?

[Mr. Sparkle]

Originally Posted by Poppatwang

Been to Hymie's on Lake Street?

Absolutely. Great place to drop $20 or $200 bucks. For my money, that place is the last holdout of the good Twin Cities record shops. Treehouse and Cheapo have some good stuff, but Hymies has the feel.

You?

[div]

I got probably 500-700 vinyl LPs and a few hundred singles. I'm not a "collector" really, since I don't buy new ones or collectors items for $50 or anything. Flea markets, salvation armys, record fairs are great places to find $1 or $2 albums in decent condition. For a buck, you take a chance on something, or you feel OK buying a whole album for just one song.

I've got about 30 Sinatra LPs, maybe more, which cost me about 30 bucks total.

I'm no audiophile, I don't really notice any "warmth" of records. I do prefer CDs becuase you don't have to flip em over & I can keep 6 in the player at a time. But there is something about records that I love.

Also, a skipping record stinks but is much preferable to the wacky CD freakout which is like the soundtrack to insanity.

[Poppatwang]

I usually have to go alone, cuz nobody else wants to
browse as long as I do. Found some pretty elusive vinyl
there. Last week I picked up a Buckaroo's album of
Buck's hits sans vocals.

I like to free associate as I go through the bins.