Page 56 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2018

Blues 101:

Your Vinyl Exam

How to Buy, Sell & Collect Vinyl

Photo by Claire Henderson

By Reverend Billy C. Wirtz microscopic text, real cool interviews and a grading system
One of my favorite old video clips involves a middle- for vinyl records. The grading system has become the standard
aged white guy smashing records and loudly proclaiming for eBay and the other sites. For a complete rundown, go to
“Rock and Roll has got to go!” It’s from the ’50s, when they www.goldmine.com.
were worried that “Negro music” would cause promiscuity,
desegregate public facilities and cause mixing of the races. Mint (M): An absolutely perfect record. Looks like it just
He was right, thank goodness. came from the pressing plant. Sealed.
Had the DJ been attempting to cut up compact discs, Near Mint (NM): Looks like it just came from the store. An
the effect would have been far less dramatic. Blues, gospel, almost perfect record. No scratches, marks, blemishes of any
hillbilly and jazz were all made in little tiny studios, live kind. Often sealed as well. Cover cannot have any writing or
concert halls and even living rooms. They were recorded on damage.
primitive equipment; tape hiss, the occasional pop and all Very Good Plus (VG+): No major scratches or clicks and
kinds of surface noise were common. It was a sound meant pops on the vinyl. Cover cannot have any major damage.
to be heard on vinyl. Blues and roots music on CD is kind of Very Good (VG): Record plays, but with some surface
like frozen pizza – it’s close, but not quite. Muddy Waters on noise that does not overpower the music. Cover shows signs
CD is the goodnight handshake, Muddy Waters on vinyl is of handling. May have some writing and seam damage.
second base. Good (G): A little deceptive. Good actually means not very
Vinyl has also become highly collectible; don’t take that good, noticeable scratches. Label wear, cover may have
box of records to the church yard sale just yet, or at least several flaws.
consider the following before you do. Fair (F): Really trashed. Occasionally you see Poor (P), but
this is usually about as low as it gets.
“What condition is it in?”
About 80% of old albums are worth maybe $5. Of the “What’s the going price on eBay?”
remaining 20%, the artist, genre, vinyl condition, rarity, issue There are several sites that can give you an idea of how
date, cover condition, tape marks, writing on cover, etc. – it much a record is worth. Along with eBay, there are three
all subtracts or adds to the value of a record. Long before collectors sites listed below that can tell you the going price
eBay, there was a publication called Goldmine. The primary for your record. Notice that in most cases, the high dollar
source for obsessive collectors, it featured page after page of records are almost all listed as NM. This is a very strict grade,

54 Blues Festival Guide 2018