Valuable Vinyl: How to Rate Your Old Records

If you’re a child of the ’70s or before, you remember what records or albums are. And you know what a record player is. Most likely you had your very own player in your room and your parents had the gargantuan player in the living room where the whole family would jam to The Carpenters or The Bee Gees.

Who can forget the static quality of an aged record and the occassional skip of a 45 that’s been played over and over? CDs are much clearer but the sound is staged and not authentic or “live.” Ask kids today about records and albums and they have a curious look and may think you’re talking about a photo album or school file.

If you have kept some of your old LPs around, you may be surprised to know that they do still hold some value. Beverly Records has provided some guidelines or industry standards to help you pinpoint what a fair price for your records are.

M is for “Mint”. This rating is for LPs that are truly excellent, with no fading, wrinkling, color wear, or writing on the label, and no stickers. Beverly Records claims to be able to see slight differences in any two supposedly mint records.

VG is for “Very Good”. These albums should have a minimal amount of other noise, and may include minimal label wear.

G is for “Good”. Albums rated “good” show some signs of wear, may have an audible amount of surface noise, some scratches, and may look like it hasn’t been taken care of. These records are still able to be enjoyed.

F is for “Fair.” Beverly Records says albums rated “fair” are “the beginning of bad”. It plays all the way through without skipping but has a fair amount of distracting noise.

Here are some suggested methods for cleaning your old records?

Use a clean cloth, soft toothbrush, mild dish soap, and warm water.

Avoid the label, since the color may run.

Get the vinyl wet with warm water under the tap.

Scrub gently with the toothbrush and soap.

Rinse with warm tap water.

Dry with a clean cloth.

If you records are in bad shape, use cotton balls and alcohol. Formula 409 removes dirt but leaves the waxy sheen.

If you are interested in starting up a record collection or adding to your existing one, check out www.beverlyrecords.com or www.recordcollectorsguild.org.