Do you still have your old vinyl records lying around? According to many vinyl fans, nothing beats the sound of old records. But in order to maintain the quality, you'll have to take care of your collection. The longer you can keep your records in mint condition, the longer you can enjoy the music. Nobody knows this better than our in-house vinyl expert, Jeroen Hamelink. As a previous record store manager and still an avid vinyl collector himself, he knows best how to protect vinyl records. Read on for his expert tips and tricks on how to take care of your vinyl collection.
Handling Your Vinyl
Vinyl records are precious objects, so always handle them with care. When taking your records out of their sleeves, make sure you don’t touch the grooves. When fingerprints are left behind on the vinyl, they can change the sound, which would be a shame. When handling vinyl, only touch the edge and the label in the middle.
Protecting Covers
The paper inner sleeves can attract dust and will also scratch your vinyl like sandpaper over time. Therefore it is recommended to store your records in a special inner sleeve with an anti-static layer, to make sure they won't gather dust. Use a plastic sleeve around the outer cover to protect it. Don’t place the record in the outer cover, but behind it to prevent ‘ringwear’.
Storage
Your records should be stored standing up straight. Never lay your vinyl flat, and especially not stacked on top of each other, because the ones on the bottom will eventually not be able to hold the weight anymore, and at some point and will bend. A shelving system will allow you to store them vertically.
Sorting
When you own a large collection of vinyl records, it can be frustrating when you cannot find that one you want to play. Add some structure to your collection by sorting the records into categories, using record dividers. Organise by genre, chronologically or alphabetically. It will make your collection look even more professional as well.
Cleaning
Clean your records frequently before and after playing, in order to keep them dust-free. You can easily clean them carefully with just water, soap and a microfibre cleaning cloth, but be sure the soap is lemon-free! Otherwise the acid from the lemon will corrode your record. You could also use a special clean-spray on your records. For records which have collected quite a bit of dust and debris, you can always make use of a professional cleaning machines. It’s unbelievable how much music you can get out of your records once the dirt is removed by such machines. You can read more about cleaning your records here. And don’t forget to clean the turntables and cartridges as well. They will also affect the condition of your vinyl records. Make sure the tip of the stylus is always clean, because it gathers dust very easily.
If you give your collection some tender loving care, it will survive for the next generation. It's worth the time and effort because vinyl records are highly sought-after collectables right now. You can expand your collection at our weekly Records / Vinyl auction or cash take advantage of the market right now and offer up your vinyl records for auction. Whether you have hundreds or a handful of special records and whether you're an auction pro or this is your first time selling, Jeroen and his team would love to see what you have to offer and hopefully include your vinyl in our next weekly auction.
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