Collecting Vinyl Chapter 1

Some ask why, others could care less. Because of my own selfish needs I write this bitter article.

I’ve been collecting records/LP’s/vinyl/wax since my junior year of high school. Since then I’ve accumulated over 2k double sided pieces of wax, and throughout my treasure hunting journey I’ve honed in on key shops and online sites that offer rare and elusive gems.

So, starting off with a bang (of the trumpet) one of my best finds was at a Goodwill in Oxnard, CA. The employees there are idiots; let me say first and foremost. Instead of writing the price on the price sticker BEFORE placing it on the album cover, they decide to place the blank sticker canvas on the LP, AND THEN write the price, IN MAGIC MARKER none-the-fucking-less. And of course these people apparently never grew up and learned to “color between the lines” and tend to mark up the majority of their album covers with permanent magic marker. (Ok, so this was a little rant, and I hardly ever buy a record w/ this devil mark, but it needed to be mentioned.)

So back to the “of the trumpet” reference. I unearthed a Miles Davis Kind of Blue LP sans the devil marks for $1.99. And even though it’s a stereo and NOT a mono pressing, today that album is worth more than 20 times what I paid for it. Not to mention it’s a badass album.

Such finds as the one above happen not-too-often. The frequency of the find depends on how often the collector scavenges the local thrift shops coupled with how many different shops they scavenge. So remember, the more you look the better your chance of finding buried musical treasure.

Lately, online shops such as Vinyl Collective and Fat Wreck Chords offer limited and sometimes out of print albums at a very reasonable price. I picked up a few Asian Man records that were thought to be out of print for only $6.99 each from Vinyl Collective, and Fat Wreck Chords is offering a Classic Vinyl Collection where they take a classic release from their catalog, repress it on limited edition color vinyl, and offer it for sale on their site. These releases are often pressed in the hundreds (that’s a very limited pressing) and almost always sell out of the entire stock the day they become available.

So as a quick recap (as I can go on and on about the do’s and don’ts of record collecting) check the local second hand stores, and check for label only released special edition albums. Also, it may be a good idea to buy more than one copy of a rare album. That way you can keep one for yourself and trade or sell your duplicate copy and use that trade or $$ towards another record on your coveted “Want” or in my case “Need” list.