Welcome To

CRAIG CHASE VINYL

Don (ccvinylman) Larter, Owner

 Introduction (Revised 28 March 2010)

Craig Chase Vinyl (hereafter, CCV) is unique in ways directly affecting you, a buyer of vinyl records. 

First, as the owner of CCV I clean every record  I sell (and its jacket).  What other seller does that?  The answer is easy:  NONE!

Second, I play-grade every record I sell.  What other seller does that?  Not many!

Third, occasionally I provide you with some comparative prices I've researched on eBay, so that you can make an informed decision when there's an "identical" item from another seller.  Keep in mind, however, that my listed item will likely be the only one that is both cleaned and play-graded.   If possible, my starting bid will either match or be lower than the competition's.

In exchange for these three valuable services, you'll find my prices to be marginally higher than the seller whose sideline is records and who doesn't even have a turntable on which to play the records he sells!  (Yes, there are several sellers like this, believe it or not.)  I seldom, if ever, start the bidding at 99 cents.  About the lowest-price record I sell starts at $3.62, which in today's economy is pretty darn cheap!   

When you compare the burden of a slightly higher price to the peace of mind you get by knowing in advance what your desired record sounds like, however, I think you'll agree I'm a good person to do business with. 

If you haven't already, please give me a try.  I ship quickly (usually within 24 hours of receiving payment), I ship safely, and I communicate with you at each step of the sale.  Moreover, I offer a no-questions-asked, money-back guarantee in the eventuality I mess up.  Believe me, it doesn't happen very often! 

Over the past seven years, hundreds of people from about 60 countries around the world have bought records from me, and not one has given me a negative feedback.

Best wishes to you, and thank you for looking me up!

• Sealed = Unopened and unplayed; condition unknown
• NM+ = Near Mint Plus. Extraordinarily clean and quiet; may not have been played
• NM = Near Mint. Clean and quiet, regardless of scuffs or apparent defects
• NM- = Near Mint Minus. Less quiet than NM, with a bit more background noise regardless of its source.
• VG++ = Very good plus plus. Noisier than NM-; may say why.
• VG+ = Very good plus. Noisier than VG++; will say why.

NOTE:  My basic grading for album jackets/boxes includes Good, Very Good, Almost Excellent, and Excellent.  Good signifies it has some challenges, including wrinkles, soiling, ripped seams and possibly writing.  I usually repair ripped seams with hot glue, and surface grime I remove with gentle cleaning products, such as GOO GONE, which dries without staining.  I finish most album jackets with a furniture spray to restore sheen and remove dust and fingerprints.  Very Good signifies slightly better condition of the sleeve, with no rips in the seams and a higher level of cleanness in general.  Almost Excellent is a step above Very Good and is what you'd expect of a jacket that has been well cared for.  There might be a slight corner bump or small evidences of wear, such as almost invisible, hairline scratches, but that's all.  Excellent is what you'd expect of a jacket that has never shed its shrinkwrap sleeve because it's either still sealed, or only the open end has been slit.  Still, if a corner is bumped or wrinkled, or if dirt has managed to penetrate the shrinkwrap, or there is some other defect, I'll likely downgade the jacket to Almost Excellent.  If you're a real jacket fanatic, I'll always be glad to give you in an email additional details of the jacket's condition.  Simply ask! 

2. Professional cleaning (again, please see my ME site for reasons why I perform this time-consuming service for my customers) of virtually every record and sleeve sold, by using proprietary methods that are extremely gentle and effective on records.
3. The offering of a wide variety of repertoire and genres, particularly classical, at many different price points.
4. Fair dealing, prompt and friendly communication, and speedy delivery.
5. My expecting payment within 10 days of purchase, unless negotiated otherwise.
6. A no-questions-asked return policy if our play-grades differ significantly. I will even refund the return shipping charges (though not the initial, to you, shipping charges).
7. Posting of positive feedback for high bidders who pay in a timely fashion (or who email me saying why they do not); posting of negative feedback for those who do not.

NEW LISTING!

Item Description    

As promised, here is the complete set of Franklin Mint Record Company's "100 Greatest Recordings of All Times", in 50 two-LP box-sets, for a total of 100 records, mostly in stereo, with a minority in high-quality mono.  All the records were pressed in royal red vinyl in a dust-free environment and then stored in clamshell pockets inside hardback binders, with informative notes, black and white photographs, and fancy extras, such as gold trim and lettering on the spines of each binder.  

I am a little over half-way going through each box-set, record by record, inspecting each record visually under a strong light and then wiping it and its clamshell pocket with a barely damp 100 percent cotton cloth.  If there are any suspicious marks on the record, I play it on my hi-fi set-up to see if the mark(s) sounds.  In the approximately 55 records I've gone through, about three have had marks that sound, and I've noted that on each box-set's individual post-it note.  I've play-graded about 10 or 11 box-sets, and the results have been very favorable, with most records sounding Near Mint to Near Mint Plus, and just a couple records having some noise qualifying them as Near Mint Minus.  More on that later.

If you want complete information about the artists and works featured in this fine set, please purchase my pictures of the Cross Reference Index for all 100 recordings for a dollar.  The index is listed along with other items of mine this week. 

Since the set weighs over 165 pounds, the best (cheapest) way to acquire the set is by picking it up in person at my home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Media Mail is the next cheapest method of acquiring the set, and I would pack it in probably six boxes, with eight or nine box-sets in each box, with each cardboard box then taped to a mate (that's 8 + 8, 8 + 8, and 9 + 9, for a total of 50 box-sets in three cardboard double boxes).  

In the interest of simplicity, the cost of shipping will be figured into the starting bid.  For overseas buyers, I suggest you provide me with an alternative way of shipping (besides the United States Postal Service), as Priority Mail International would make the cost of the set prohibitive for many, if not most, buyers.  

I'll be adding more information to this listing as I complete my inspection of the set.  Thus far I would rate the records I've listened to (and the records I've assigned a visual grade of NM to) an average of 9 on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being Near Mint Plus).  In other words, the quality of the set is very high indeed.  The set's packaging deserves a rating of at least an 8 or an 8 and 1/2, with very few dings, scratches and other minor cosmetic flaws. 

That's it for now.  Thanks for looking!

 

 

                                                             ADDENDUM, May 9, 2010

Well, I finally did it:  I went through all 50 box-sets in this collection, grading each record visually, playing records in sections where there were "suspicious" marks and possible scratches, and actually play-grading perhaps 25 percent of the collection!  In addition, I "detailed" each and every box-set (much the way a car detailer does) by taking cotton swabs to the nooks and crannies of each box-set to clean the dust out, glue back the odd scuff or scrape on the boxes (and there were very few of those), and even improve on the appearance of the collection where, for example, a little adhesive holding the vinyl layer to the boxes may have leaked out onto the non-vinyl layer. 

In short, I've spent probably 10-12 hours preparing the collection to be one of which you can justly be proud.  What other purveyor of vinyl out there would even think of spending that amount of time on a collection of this type?  The answer is easy:  NONE!

What are my personal conclusions about this collection, now that I've gotten to know it pretty well?  In no particular order, then:

• Overall, the collection is an excellent one.  The quality of "build" is far beyond that of almost any and every American-made product of its type.  Never have I seen so many Near Mint records (graded visually) in one place at one time!  The Franklin Mint Record Company did an outstanding job of pressing and packaging these 100 records.
• The collection, overall, is very quiet indeed.  Only a small handful of records have minor visual defects, which I then played to see if they sounded.   Most of those records (with visual defects) did NOT contain any snap, crackle or pop!  Of the few that did, the noise was negligible.  The result is a collection that averages a very high Near Mint as to its overall play grade.  A majority of records sound Near Mint Plus, my highest grade!
• More than a few of the recordings I actually play-graded were of the highest calibre.  Bruno Walter's Beethoven Sixth Symphony was one such recording.  Solti's Mahler Eighth was another such blockbuster, sonically.  The bass response on that particular recording was palpable.  Equally impressive was Barbirolli's Sibelius Second with the Halle Orchestra.  I could go on and on, but I think you get my point:  these records were well chosen as to repertoire, well-mastered (well, re-mastered actually), and well pressed and packaged for the discerning audiophile.