1. Home
  2. analog
  3. 1200754518

Is that record dead yet?

I'm just curious to know if there is some point where folks decide 'this record is too beat to play'? I picked up two potentially really great finds this week that are in less than primo condition. However, some of these deep grooves from the fifties will track fine after having been run over by a truck and such is the case here. The two records in question are Lou Donaldson - Swing and Soul (BN West 63rd) and Red Garland w/Trane - High Pressure (Prestige White Label Promo). On the later, I've seen sandpaper with less gloss, but it plays through and aside from a lot of pops it actually sounds OK.

I tend to lean more towards listening to music rather than my system, but I'm also met guys who won't put a scratched record on the TT. Just curious to see how people feel about this.
grimace

Showing 1 response by elizabeth

elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
It's the groove. Old Lps have big 'ol grooves. They can be thrashed a lot and still have a lot of fine groove left. (especially if your diamond sits at a different level than the one that trashed the record in the first place... then you basically have a brand new groove in a rotten looking record!)
Later Lps have much smaller, shallower grooves and do not fair as well after being trashed.
Also,
The guy worried about destroying his expensive ($$$$) MC cart has a point! A bad nick can rip that delicate Moving Coil stylus diamond right off. Most MM carts are study enough to handle a hard pull from a gash in the LP (I am sort of making this up, so if your experience is different, please go ahead and diss' me plenty!)
More to discover