I’m thrilled to share that more and more vinyl collectors and audiophiles at various stages of the hobby are finding this site and quite a few have reached out to me letting me know that they’ve added some great sounding records to their collections with the help of my articles and my recommendations. This has alway been my primary goal with this site, and it’s extremely satisfying to see that goal reached.

I have every intention of continuing my mission with The Broken Record and to offer you, my valued readers, more quality content and hopefully even better guidance for finding great sounding records to add to your collections. I am, however, limited somewhat by time and even more by resources. There are only so many records I can buy and only so many I’m able to buy just so I can make comparisons and share first had listening experience.

A recent project I just completed has revealed to me an opportunity to further my goal of expanding my knowledge base and generate a little financing in support of that goal.

At a cocktail party over the holidays I was talking with a friend named Barrie who knows of my interest in vinyl and told me he wanted to buy some records for his daughter Danielle as a gift. He said Danielle already had a collection and a good system to play them on. I said I would be happy to help in any way I could, perhaps helping him to decide which titles she might enjoy and find some good copies of them for her.

Several weeks later Barrie sent me a list of 13 records Danielle had listed for him and he asked me if I’d find some of them for him to give to her. I asked him for a budget which he provided, and then I went to work. Within 3 weeks I’d found 11 of the 13 titles (one it turned out wasn’t available on vinyl) and in the process of researching pressings, buying them, cleaning them and playing them to make sure they played well I heard some wonderful records both from artists I’d never heard of as well as artists that I knew of but whose work I’d heard very little.

Besides discovering some great music and gaining inspiration to add some new gems to my collection, I found several very good sounding records that as an audiophile I would have been very happy to keep. I certainly wouldn’t consider every record I sent Danielle of audiophile quality, but there were several which were, given the rather modest price Barrie paid for them, better than excellent value.

I’ve decided that I’d like to do some more of these “COLLECTION BUILDING” projects and therefore I’m NOW OFFERING THIS SERVICE to my readers and to public generally.

TBR’s VINTAGE VINYL COLLECTION BUILDING SERVICE

Here are the terms:

1. You send me a list of records you’d like to add to your collection or to that of a friend or family member (5 record minimum).
2. You send me a budget and *any specifics on the individual records, such a particular pressing you’d like, condition requirements or identifying titles with which great sound is especially a priority.
3. You send me a 50% deposit via PayPal once we’ve set your budget and I start to buy your records.
4. You give me 30 days (or less) to acquire as many of the titles on your list as possible given your budget, specifications and market availability and deliver them to the address you choose.

What I deliver:

1. I acquire the records from your list, deal with any issues with the sellers, return and/or replace any that have problems.
2. I clean and play the records before I send them to you, placing them in new inner sleeves, adding outer sleeves if necessary.
3. I identify any that I feel are SPECIAL and are an EXCEPTIONAL VALUE.
4. I accept any back you wish to return because of problems that for whatever reason I did not identify before shipping and either issue a refund or replacement.

What and how you pay:

• I will charge a 50% premium on the total cost of the records including shipping costs. I will pass the savings of any combined shipping costs on to you.
• I charge you my cost to ship the record to you plus a modest handling charge for boxes (I’ll send one to you for returns in addition to the one I use for shipping), packing materials, etc.
• I issue you a PayPal invoice once the records are shipped to be paid upon receipt of the tracking number.

How to get started:

• Email me at ridgewayrecords@gmail.com
• Include your want-list, budget, and specifications *(see above)

Other Features of the service:

• I will only buy vintage copies unless none are available. I am happy to pick up new, unopened copies but these will not be cleaned or previewed.

• I will typically buy records graded VG+/ VG+ or better. If you are more or less picky about condition you can let me know and I will shop accordingly.

Vintage vinyl is still plentiful but it is slowly getting less so, and you can rest assured that most of the vintage vinyl you buy in good condition, especially any you’d buy through me, will represent an APPRECIATING ASSET or at least one that will hold its value over time, if you keep it in good condition.

• In some cases you will receive “BETTER” copies than what you pay for

In the case of Danielle’s records, I sent her copies that were more valuable than what her father paid for them. Mistakes made by a couple of the sellers I worked with led them to send me rarer copies that I had originally ordered. This doesn’t happen often and sometimes it goes the other way but it does happen.

• I’ll make sure you get AT LEAST what you pay for

Some sellers grade records improperly and I sometimes receive better copies than the price would have indicated. You would benefit from this and in the cases where records were over-graded, I would handle the returns and replacements if necessary.

• You may end up with some “HOT” pressings.

It’s not that unusual to land some VERY HOT PRESSINGS, even when just buying one copy from the marketplace.

You never know what you might end up with! So feel free to reach out to me any time for more information or to start your first order.

ridgewayrecords@gmail.com