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Post by larryh on Jun 5, 2007 12:06:34 GMT -5
Just got a couple more records today and those hymns came saturday. It seems that even when they look pretty good and are described as good, they have fatal flaws that makes me not want to play them. Actually the hymns were probably the only really decent shape of the lot, no surprise there.. One fox trot I got sound really good till about mid way though it got hung up in somekind of defect, loud clicking and the needle stuck.. I figured that was out. Then a piano record I wanted has large sort of dented looking places in the surface and someone scratched the lead in groves badly. On an On , large chips, ect. Wondered what percentage of records you get your actually satisfied with? I would say I am running probably under half of what I pay sometimes fair money for turn out to be something I personally wouldn't want to listen too.
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Post by condensite on Jun 5, 2007 13:24:21 GMT -5
I too have had variable luck with online auctions where I can't really judge by the description and/or photos. One time it was fine, another time about half were unplayable. If you see what else the seller's listing, you can usually at least see if records are a specialty, or if they just picked these up randomly. Any phrases like "I know nothing about these" or "I have no way of playing them, but they look good" are reasons to be cautious. Even when I buy them in person, I'm usually in a hurry, and often don't spot troublesome flaws until after I get them home. The added problem of variations in manufacturing and compromises in playing surfaces makes buying clean discs a challenge.
This isn't as big an issue when you're paying a dollar or two, but I'd make sure of the seller before putting out big bucks for what you expect to be a nice clean copy of anything.
Condensite
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Post by gramophoneshane on Jun 5, 2007 14:03:48 GMT -5
When I've bought a "lot" of records, it's usually about half of them that I end up enjoying. I haven't bought any for years until recently though. They are pretty hard to come by out here in oz. I ended up getting half a dozen the other day, and scored my first cracked DD! I've never seen a DD with a crack before. I've had the odd one with lamination cracks, but this one has a 1" crack in from the edge, almost like someone has taken to it with a saw!
There is allot of pretty lame stuff on DDs- I guess that's why the dance numbers are most sought after, but theres heaps of other stuff I love. I try and buy songs by the artist mostly now days. Jones & Hare, Murray, Scanlan, Aileen Stanley etc are usually pretty good bets, and I don't mind the marches, cornet solo's, comedy and war songs, and some of the popular songs like "sweet Genevieve" etc. Mostly though, if it's something I don't know, &/or by someone I haven't heard of, or the artist usually sings what I consider a boring genre, I leave them alone.
The only one's I've been buying lately, and intend continuing to buy, regardless of what is on them, is the black (first) paper label DD's. Electrics are way to expensive for me to afford, so I'm going to try and get as many different titles on the black paper label as I can. At least they're a fairly reasonable price, and being from 1921, what I've got so far have been OK dance tunes. The quality of the discs haven't been too bad so far either.
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Post by larryh on Jun 5, 2007 14:37:01 GMT -5
This is one issue that Edisons seem worse at, how you determine the quality by looking at it. With a victor or other standard disc I can pretty much judge the amount of noise by the surface conditon. And a chip is a chip, but edisons I guess because of the high shine manages to conceal a less than listenable record in what looks like a good surface. Plus in person I can now spot the cut through parts, but on line its a bit difficult. Your also right, the seller that says he doesn't know anything about it probably knows alot more than he is saying in some cases. The last bunch that were about half faulty the seller sells records regularly but said they were very listenable.. I pointed out that some were less than that in my feedback.. I did leave positive, but some times I am tempted not too. That opens a whole new can of worms though. With ebay as it is set up if you leave nutural or negative feedback your bound to get the same, so its a standoff and I think a lot of sellers depend on that.
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steve
Full Member
Posts: 130
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Post by steve on Jun 11, 2007 19:11:56 GMT -5
Most of the time you can judge the condition of a DD from its label, but after I got a worn record with a good label I stopped buying on eBay and now I only would buy from people like Dave Jolley that actually know how to grade DD's. You buy a DD and it is in poor shape, then the seller wants you to pay return shipping so by the time you do this you pay shipping both ways and it is not worth the bother for me.
Steve
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Post by French_Touch_C-19 on May 20, 2008 4:14:53 GMT -5
Hello, Does Dave Jolley have a web site? I buy from France and Ebay has up to now been my sole way of getting DD ... out of my 200 DD collection, maybe 10% turned out real bad , still, you can imagine I'm really interested in getting verified DDs considering the sky high shipping prices... and absurd amount of money some folks are ready to spend for a single DD  Cheers François |
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Post by larryh on May 20, 2008 8:57:05 GMT -5
Francious,
Gee, it sounds like your doing really well if only 10% are ending up poor. I would still say that its a very lucky day indeed when I get some records from someone and they turn out to be good. I recall one day a month or so ago and I got a bunch from ebay and was totally shocked that they were clear, quiet, and had fairly good selections. Thats a real surprise for me.
You may have read that with the Chippendale I purchased recently I also purchased 128 records that were with it. The selections were super, at least half being really good pop pieces. But the condition was so poor that maybe a third of them is playable and I think only a few are what I would call good condition at best. Lots of surface noise.
I am starting to wonder if that prevalent surface noise so bad on many isn't a symptom of both poor surface quality but also playback by needles that have become damaged in some way. Nearly all these have that heavy "Hayfield" kind of sound when playing. I would have to attribute it to the condition of the needle which on many records left deep gouges and many show brown grooves which sound awful. I have thrown away a lot so far and still not gone through all them. But for 23.00 total I still got enough out of them to be worth it including about four electrics, that while worn, do still let you hear what they could be like. Some of them are totally ruined also.
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Post by French_Touch_C-19 on May 21, 2008 6:28:32 GMT -5
You're right Larry, I think I was quite lucky.. still I keep hoping i can find someone out there with a nice pristine collection and a paypal seller's account that I can buy direct from ;-)
PS That's true that many reproducers with original diamonds leave a trace on the blak area of the DD --> The diamond is damaged... and I'm sure a lot of DD have suffered from that, that's why I have replaced all mine... it's a bit costly but then you only have to do that once.
But mind you I did get quite a few DD with traces on the blank area that still played quite nicely and with a very low woosh so typical to Edison DDs
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Post by larryh on May 21, 2008 8:07:08 GMT -5
Seems like slight lines on the record as you say are not overly troublesome. Its those brownish looking ones that get you. But also the records that show a loss of the high shine also seem very prone to bad surface noise and blurry sound.
Its a rare day indeed when a really good one comes along it seems.
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