What percentage of your vinyl collection is in perfect condition

I'd love to know what constitutes "perfect" vinyl. It is an inherently flawed medium, and I say this as someone with a room full of LPs.

 

Any copies I have with marks, I automatically flag it and if it is one I love, I immediately start looking for a clean copy... I'd say the vast majority (near 80-90%) are completely clean. Some have marks but are inaudible.

 

All my records are in perfect condition.

 

How does one keep the spines from becoming squashed? All my records are upright but there are a lot of them and they all end up leaning on one another which creates squashing...

 

Don't pack them in to tight with no gentle give in the row and ensure they are not left with an obvious lean anywhere.

 

I would say 90%, I only started buying vinyl about two years ago so most of what I own was bought sealed. The entire Pink Floyd reissue series, all of the new Bowie remasters, the 2015 Rush remasters, all of the Prince 12" reissues, and then a bunch of MFSL vinyl (The Cars, Weezer, Alan Parsons Project). The other 10% was bought sealed originals or advertised as NM but previously owned. None of those are perfect, they all have dinged corners, creases, and/or really worn records advertised as "barely played!".

 

Definitely...……..it makes me chuckle when someone refers to their vinyl collection as "perfect". They are either lying or delusional.

 

As the collection turns 55 this year, and I have no form of OCD, and I'm much more tolerant of flaws, as compared to what I've read here these last 9 years, I'd have to say I have no earthly idea.

 

To ensure that I would need to have the perfect amount of LPs for any shelving I might have. I actually use two 80 capacity LP flight cases and one has room for plenty more. I can't help but have a lean going on....

 

Add box sets or anything of size that sits flush until you have the right number of lps.

 

90%

 

All my records are imperfect condition!

 

Just getting back into vinyl. 90% of my collection is on CD but I'm buying a lot of (*expensive) vinyl and want to treat it better than I did 25+ years ago.

 

Even if I did not mainly collect vintage pressings I can spot flaws in plenty of new vinyl I have bought.
Perfect I feel is not the perfect description choice of word for such a thread.

 

My definition of "perfect" must be very different from others on this thread.

 

Agreed

 

That is perfectly alright!

 

This is the correct way to answer this question....notice that Tullman did not use the word perfect.

 

What is perfect? A better question would be how many are NM.

 

Without over grading I would have to say that 40-60% of my records probably meet the true definition of NM. The rest are VG+ with the exception of records that I hardly ever or never see, I will buy in lesser condition. I have close to 5000 records. If I kept every record I ever bought I would likely have 30K+. In the 90's I would buy collections and cull through and keep what I liked and sell, trade or donate the rest. Would rarely keep anything that was not at least VG+. Now I am speaking more in terms of the records themselves. It is really rare to find Jackets that truly qualify NM. Most will have at least a couple of small defects that will likely put it in VG+ territory. Disclaimer...I grade pretty hard and am more likely to state something is a grade down then a grade up if its on the line.

 

Definite 0%

 

That is a mighty good percentage across 5000 LP's!

 

Yes it is. Like I said. I have discarded so many more Lp's than I've ever kept. And when I was examining collections, I would never cherry pick. If the collection had mostly records in really nice condition then I would buy the whole thing. If it was mostly beaters with a few nice records in there, I would reject the whole thing. I always hated negotiating over specific titles. So I only bought really nice collections and then would select the best 5% of those to keep and discard the rest.

 

We don't have as many collections to look over in these parts and when we do I find as often as not they are happy for you to pick out titles.

 

I tried to play my old copy of Eat A Peach and it was so bad I may have pitched the records. But the gatefold painting is so cool I kept the cover. I'd like to laminate it someday. If I replace the music it'll likely be on CD. So my collection is very hit and miss. The older records that I fell in love with aren't going to be in very good shape, but I also bought a lot of records for curiosity and haven't played them very much. I'd like to think they are rarities and in great condition. I did try care for my vinyl but sometimes got a bit lax, stacking them on the floor while waiting to put them back in their jackets. I leaned them on each other and made sure a sleeves was on the outside, but this might go on for weeks. Embarrassing.