How much do you hate split seams on new LPs?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by BeardedSteven, Jan 31, 2015.

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  1. BeardedSteven

    BeardedSteven Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Southern Indiana
    I hate them a lot!!!

    I opened yet another new LP I got in the mail today only to find a nasty outer sleeve split. Obviously from shipping. Somehow on this one the inner sleeve is fine tho. I am talking about new vinyl here. I used to buy vinyl in the 90's, in shops and mail order, and do not remember this being a prevalent problem. I stopped buying for over a decade. But now that I'm buying again I'm betting that at least half of the new LPs I buy have split seams, either the inner sleeves or outer or both. Ugh!!

    If I see a split seam in a store I will not buy it. Won't. But I have no control over new mail order items. Nor can I see if the inner sleeve is split on a new item. Do you return yours if the seam is split when opening? The one I got today was from Amazon UK (to the US). I cannot ask them to open it before shipping and mail the LP out of the sleeve. The return process is fairly easy, but only to get another split seam? And I do not think overseas shipping is to blame. I get them on domestic shipping as well. It happens if buying 1 LP, or if several are shipped together.

    I don't want to just vent. But I really think this is a worse problem than it used to be. Or am I crazy? I do not remember this being a problem for me in the 90's when I was buying new and also used 70's/80's stuff. I'm generally not buying for collector's pieces, I am buying to play the LP and enjoy the music. So it shouldn't bother me too much? But it does...

    Anyone else? Suggestions? Thoughts? What do you do?

    Thanks.
     
  2. gregr

    gregr Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA
    Shipping may not be the problem. The printers might not be scoring the sleeves before folding them. Or the paper may not take folding very well.
     
  3. BeardedSteven

    BeardedSteven Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Southern Indiana
    Understood. Shipping is definitely not the whole problem. Even if things are packed perfectly it still happens. Which makes it even more frustrating at times. Just not properly packed or put together right at the manufacturer? Fault of the label or pressing plant?
     
    Rodz42 likes this.
  4. Paully

    Paully De gustibus non est disputandum

    Location:
    Tennessee
    Honestly, if I am thinking in terms of "collectible" I guess it is a problem. If the record is flat, unmarred, and sounds good I am really happy. Not trying to be flippant and dismiss your concerns, but from your thread title, I don't get particular worked about it,
     
  5. Hawklord

    Hawklord Senior Member

    If I'm buying from a B&M and I can inspect several copies I will obviously choose the best available otherwise it's never really bothered me. It's not something that would cause me to return one I've purchased online.
     
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  6. BeardedSteven

    BeardedSteven Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Southern Indiana
    Don't take it as flippant at all. Thank you for the answer. Just trying to see if it concerns others. I don't want to be that one guy that continually returns records for this reason. ;) Maybe just take a deep breath and put the LP on and forget about it...

    For the record I have not yet returned one for a split seam...
     
    Paully likes this.
  7. TLMusic

    TLMusic Musician & record collector

    Soundstage Direct offers the service where they will remove the vinyl first and pack it outside the jacket. Split seam problem solved. Plus they offer a nice discount to SH Forum members.
     
    hvbias likes this.
  8. TLMusic

    TLMusic Musician & record collector

    Over the years I have returned several new records with split seams to big online vendors.
     
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  9. 24voltsdc

    24voltsdc Forum Resident

    Location:
    Indianapolis, IN
    Could be the 180 gram vinyl being so much heavier. I've noticed this problem too. Mostly on records from the UK.
     
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  10. BeardedSteven

    BeardedSteven Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Southern Indiana
    Thanks, I've not ordered from them before. But that definitely makes me want to look into it...
     
  11. TLMusic

    TLMusic Musician & record collector

    I've had good results with SsD. Among the online vinyl retailers, I rate their service the highest.

    And no, I haven't any connection with them other than being an occasional customer.
     
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  12. BeardedSteven

    BeardedSteven Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Southern Indiana
    This. The 180 gram vinyl. That's a big difference between the vinyl I bought in the 90's that didn't have the splits. Most(?) of the 180 gram LPs that have printed inner sleeves come with inner splits nowadays in my experience.
     
  13. Hawklord

    Hawklord Senior Member

    Yeah I just don't think it's worth obsessing over. Look at it like a character flaw or a fingerprint.
     
  14. hvbias

    hvbias Midrange magic

    Location:
    Northeast
    My go to place for buying vinyl online as well.
     
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  15. kozy814

    kozy814 Forum Resident

    It used to bug me. Now I don't get worked because its such dang extra work to exchange stuff. Unless it's a bad corner cave-in I let it go.
     
  16. 24voltsdc

    24voltsdc Forum Resident

    Location:
    Indianapolis, IN
    It hurts the resale value though. Collectors ( myself included ) don't want damaged covers when possible.
    I ordered a live 4 lp box set by Porcupine Tree and had it shipped to me from the UK. Opened it up and all albums had seam splits on the top. I was not happy to say the least. Tried to return but they were sold out by that point.
     
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  17. BeardedSteven

    BeardedSteven Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Southern Indiana
    I do not buy to resell. BUT. One day I will sell/trade them. At least a good portion of them! And I do worry about resell value too as part of this.

    My Smiths vinyl box has split inners and outers on EVERY LP. I nearly cried! But there were none to exchange it for so I kept it. But it bugs me every time I play it...
     
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  18. hvbias

    hvbias Midrange magic

    Location:
    Northeast
    Inner sleeve splits are inevitable regardless of vinyl weight. I have tons of vintage LPs that have splits on two or all three sides in the company inner sleeve. The only way to avoid those is shipping the vinyl in generic inner sleeves, separate from the artwork inner sleeves. Some companies like Warner will do that.
     
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  19. Hawklord

    Hawklord Senior Member

    I understand, and I've collected vinyl since 1969. For many years resale vale seemed important to me but what's really funny now is, the closer I get to actually having to start unloading them the less I actually care. Go figure :crazy:
     
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  20. BeardedSteven

    BeardedSteven Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Southern Indiana
    I get that. I bought in the 90's. Unloaded most of my collection in the early 00's. I tried to get top dollar at first but then burned out and stopped caring. I get that... :crazy:

    If I remember that then maybe I won't care as much about the splits.
     
  21. DK Pete

    DK Pete Forum Resident

    Location:
    Levittown. NY
    I'm with you all the way...my "hatred" extends to crimped corners. Yes, the most important thing is a well-playing album..but half the fun in buying LP albums (especially brand new ones) is the packaging. The only online sources from which I buy vinyl are SoundStage or Amazon. So far, I've never had this problem with a shipment from either one..but I will say this about Amazon specifically for your own future referrence; they will exchange or refund an item for nearly ANY reason as long as you haven't abused the item after receipt. Amazon gets a lot of bad rap over many things but I've found their cooperation for returned items (all music related in my case) to be 150%.
     
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  22. BeardedSteven

    BeardedSteven Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Southern Indiana
    Thanks. I've heard a lot of people say Amazon will let you return for a lot of reasons but I wasn't sure how "minor" of a reason this was or not. I may end up sending this one back I got today and hope for better copy after all. I just don't want to go down this rabbit hole of sending back every other LP I buy...
     
  23. JL6161

    JL6161 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Michigan, USA
    If it's any kind of product damage, they're fine about it, but they track your return history/frequency and apparently do consign people to the Adrian Monk file at some point.
     
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  24. Pavol Stromcek

    Pavol Stromcek Senior Member

    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    Split seams really irk me. I'm surprised at how often I see them on brand new records. I remember when the polarity corrected LP for XTC's Skylarking came out, one of my local record stores ordered a whole bunch of 'em, and every single one had a nasty seam split along the top. I didn't want to shell out $40 (or however much those were going for) for a record with such a bad split seam. And I apparently wasn't alone - those records sat there unsold for quite a while.
     
  25. DK Pete

    DK Pete Forum Resident

    Location:
    Levittown. NY
    Just to give you an example of how good Amazon can be....about two months ago I ordered the blu ray audio disc of the Imagine album. It was a huge disappointment, sound wise. I called and explained this to the customer service rep..my wording was that it's advertised as a blu ray quality disc but it's no different from the regular discs. Whether this is a matter of "ears" or not is not the issue. The woman on the other end didn't question my reasoning one bit; she said she "perfectly" understood and proceeded to give me return instructions followed up by a full refund to my credit card once they received the disc.

    ...can't ask for much more than that.
     
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