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vinyl record quality ratings guide
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Mint
note We rarely grade anything as MINT, even sealed records many times are not Mint
Sleeve
Appears to never have had a record in it. No ring wear, dog eared corners,
Mint means perfect and nothing else.
Record
Perfect as if you just purchased it new. No scuffs, scratches, blotches, stains, writing, tears,
splits, etc.
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Near Mint
Sleeve
Only Minor wear or aging is acceptable, such as minor denting.
Record
A record that is otherwise mint but MAY have one or two tiny inconsequential flaws that do not affect the play OR the record looks MINT but has been played a couple of times.
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Very Good Plus
Sleeve
Artwork remains appreciable however no more than a couple of minor flaws will exist, such as a bent corner, edge wear, slight ring wear.
Record
has been handled and played infrequently or very carefully. Obviously not perfect but not too
far from it. Light paper scuffs from sliding in and out of the sleeve, light marks
on the record surface or a slight scratch which does not affect play are acceptable.
The slightest surface noise between songs and during quiet passages will be apparent.
A scratch of any sort that causes an audible click through out the music is not acceptable.
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Very Good
Sleeve
Wear detracts from beauty of the artwork due in part to a significant flaw such as
ring wear, bent corners, spine damage.Rips, tears, split seams are usually not acceptable
except where the artwork is in really good shape. Flaws are generally noted in the quality
rating for the record.
Record
The record may look like it will have some audible surface
noise when played or it may look really clean.
Some visible signs of wear may exists such as some light surface
scratches, or a scuff or two, and maybe some spindle trails.
The bottom line is that no matter what the record looks like, surface
noise is apparent when played. Noise will be heard
in the lead in and trail off vinyl and the vinyl between songs
as well as quite songs or within a quiet passages in a song.
Note that any such noise will not overwhelm the listening experience, most
of the song(s) are very listenable and noise is not heard throughout the
whole song(s).
If the record does shows visible signs of wear then it is often play graded.
During play grading a scratch that causes an audible click
throughout the music or any deep scratch is not acceptable.
However the record may have an individual
click or pop that occurs randomly somewhere on it.
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Very Good minus and Good+
Very Good Minus A record in this condition will
pretty much have surface noise throughout. The surface
noise on the record will begin to approach (or to some persons be) a
distracting level. Generally, however the record has good dymanics, and the
sound is not lost or deteriorated for any reason such as being played with
a stylus which damaged the record.
In general Good and Good+ records are those which have been played alot or
have just not been taken care of. Prior storage with out sleeves,
records which have been just dumped in boxes and stored in a garage or
basement are typical. Of course I have cleaned them up (using a VPI record
cleaning machine) and
placed them in new sleeves. None the less the records are usually not
visually apealing. Such defects beyond those of a VG record are
totally all scuffed up, marks from needle drops, label stains and tears..
etc.
Good and Good+ records will not skip and will not have any deep scratch or
any scratch which is audible for more than a few grooves.
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GOOD
Record
Good does not mean Trashed. A Good record will play with out
skipping, but surface noise will be apparant throughout. The record should
not exhibit a loss of dynamics or sound distorted. There is just alot of
surface noise which distracts and overwhelms the listening experience
(in my opinion).
I find these records to be good fillers for my collection until I can
find a better one. Also It's an in expensive way to hear a song before
you fork over the bucks for a NM copy.
Sleeve
A Good sleeve has apparant flaws which are usually noted. A real 'snowy' cover due to storage,
split seam(s), tears, chews, are some of the defects which may be present.
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Poor
Sleeve is trashed
Record is trashed
An item which is poor is probably very rare, or only part of it is poor.
Such as the record is trashed but the sleeve is NM, so if you need the sleeve....
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