Funny thing you mention the "Abbey Road" Lp. I was in Virgin Records down in the Disney shopping area in Orlando about 5 years ago. They had some still sealed vinyl. I bought 3 still sealed and new copies of "Abbey Road". While the cover had a barcode on it and was obviously a new cover, the vinyl appeared a whole lot like the original. An expert could tell that it wasn't an original but the layman probably couldn't. Ever think about buying a new"Abbey Road" Lp and swapping your scratched disc for a new one?

That isn't a bad idea... I didn't think they still sell those.

I think these guys have new copies of it.

http://www.whatrecords.co.uk

I buy a lot from them but be warned shipping to N.America costs about $20-$40 depending on how many records you buy.

Nick

So far as I know, the expected plays of a vinyl record was about 100 times under the very best of conditions. People tired of individual recordings, and I can't remember any stink about it.

The very best turntables with carefully maintained stylus/cartridges could probably play the same tracks 500 times or so before the lmits would be reached. Scratched records with dried up beer stains and worse from 50 years ago in your dorm, sorry.

And the dynamic range of a vinyl is greater than the current public digital CD range. Some of the master tapes of yesteryear have even more range, altough many of them are no longer readable.

I know it's an old thread, but it brings back memories. I had a few records that had consistent skips (a song on "Exile On Main St." being one of them), and I was able to remove them carefully using a straight pin and a magnifying glass.

Sometimes it's not the tracking weight of the tone arm that makes a record skip, it can also be the anti-skate control. My turntable has a hanging weight that determines the anti-skate. For a while I didn't know what that was, and left it off. Most records, it didn't make any difference. One time after cleaning my turntable off I put the hanging anti-skate weight back on the tone arm, thinking they must have had a reason to place it there. A couple of records I had that would intermittently skip stopped skipping.

Also -- a lot of times (when the skip is not actually caused by a scratch) a record will skip because a bit of glue from the jacket, or another bit of crud will be lodged in one of the grooves. You don't always see it until you look for it. Record cleaning brushes won't always remove it. You have to look carefully and you'll see the speck of crud in a groove... a wet Q-tip will often be enough to get it out of the groove and off the record's surface.

I never was into placing pennies on a tone arm. Wears the record out, and decreases the life of the stylus, and it's not like you can just go down to your local audio shop and get a stylus or needle.

I was in a Best Buy in the Los Angeles area about 6 months ago and saw new albums of Abby Road along with some others. Going by memory here, but it seems like the cost was about $14.99, I think. So, you might check with Best Buy. (EDIT) Just checked at Best Buy. It's in Stock! SKU 9048014
I've still got all my Beatle albums, including Abby Road. Back in the 70's, I was told by a sales girl that, if I could afford it, I should buy the British version of the Beatle records. The import records cost more. The quality was better and there were more songs per album (14) than the twelve songs that the American Beatle records had. This song discrepancy only applied to early Beatle albums. By the time Abby Road came out the song difference had been worked out and they were identical. You might check on Ebay for original Beatle albums. For what it's worth, Tom

Thanks for the hints.

I am in Canada. Some of the albums we have are literally cheaper re-prints of the american albums. Others are of great quality. Its really hit and miss when you look at flea markets, regardless of the condition of the record.

I need to get a record cleaning brush. Had some at my parents as a kid, that's when I learned to take care of LPs... don't know what happened to it when my parents got rid of their "stereo" console.


I looked online at best buy Canada, they don't seem to have Abbey Road. They don't even seem to have any vinyls. But if its for sale at Best Buy in the states, that means there's a currently circulating print of it; I could very well find it somewhere - so thanks a lot for the tip anyway!

I am really hoping to find some at garage sale and flea markets. It used to be big a few years back, but seems old radios and LPs are long gone here.

Advice Dont play records on a Crossley.

Sorry i just had too

do you mean, the new crosleys, or the real vintage ones?

if you're talking about the new crosleys I fully agree with you. Don't play vintage vinyls on "must cost less than a dollar to produce" equipment.

Problem is, there's no current tech turntable that is worth its price... at least not that I know of.

Yes i meant the "new" garbage Crosleys.
You dont need a new turntable why not look around and find a nice 70s deck ? they can sound great with a bit of maintenance and they can be had cheaply, example Dual or even Garrard.