Record collection

[Duo]

This is not a post I often have to make. haha


I've recently obtained a record collection of some 17000 albums, of which about 97% appear to be in mint or near mint condition.

The entire collection is classical, baroque, romantic period music.

If you wish, I can post some of the labels on which they are pressed.

Does this normally happen to people?? lol

 

[leadbelly]

!

 

[audio-kraut]

As a canadian fellow citizen, i find your posting really unpolite - who the hell is donating something like that to me?

I just wish you don't have the space to store them, the rats eat the labels and you lose your job because you can't do anything else because you have to listen...and you wear out the needles and have no money to buy replacements

Hah, thats gonne teach you to brag..

 

[fcel]

Is that 1,700 or 17,000? What's the story behind it?
If you got all that for free, are you going to share?

 

[audio-kraut]

If you got all that for free, are you going to share?

Hey, thats only between us canucks - stay outta there!

Try to get things for freeandnotlettingourcowscrossthebordergonneshowyouwhatitmeanstobecanuck

 

[soongsc]

Hey, thats only between us canucks - stay outta there!

Try to get things for freeandnotlettingourcowscrossthebordergonneshowyouwhatitmeanstobecanuck

Need to get closer to the equator to live things up!

 

[audio-kraut]

Wrong - just because we are freezing our behinds off half of the year does'nt mean we aren't lively - just the opposite - when you stay put, you freeze, gotta keep moving.

 

[Duo]

For one, i said 17000, not 1700. And two, I'm not bragging about them.

I simply wish to know if this is considered a large collection or not and perhaps some good ways of storing, maintaining, and keeping these.

Thanks

 

[soongsc]

How much time did you spent on opening them up and examining them?

You are asking how to store these? I would do it for you, but we're a little humid here.

Being serious, you actually want to know what's the best way to store them. Right? How were they originally stored?

 

[audio-kraut]

I would recommend you get a whole bunch of Ikea "ivar" shelving units.
Records should be stored upright, and under dry conditions.
I have about 1500 and need a shelf 42" wide by 84" high, so you need about 11 - 12 of those shelfs.

A cheaper alternative - with low SAR are milk crates. Those are stackable - on the sidewalls, the records - remember - always upright.

If you are really taking care of the collection - purchase yourself a cleaning machine.

How do you intend to play those? Do you own a player already?
Your question of how to take care lets me doubt that.

 

[Duo]

I know how to take care of the individual records very well and listen to them on a regular basis. I've designed my own cleaning machines as well, and chemical formulae.

What I'm asking is more: What are some good pointers on a collection this size.

I already have just over 100 records and those were easy to take care of; they took up a small bit of space which was easy to manage.

I'm trying to decide on what's the best shelving to use per space and weight and basically see if anyone has good pointers that have helped them out managing 10000+ records in one house.


Thanks

 

[soongsc]

1. The shelves are best such that there are compartments to put around 10 in each compartment, fill each up loosly so that they are always standing straight but not pressured.

2. Check each record to make sure the opening of the sleeve is not in the same direction as the cover. If there are some ziplock covers that don't degrade over time the better.

3. Number each compartment. Generate a database for the records and barcode them.

4. Write some software to log the record in and out if you have to take it to a different room. Otherwise, just let the software tell you which compartment to put it back in.

Possible some warehouse management software would helpyou keep track of things.

 

[audio-kraut]

As for the Ivar shelving: you can subdivide by using metal dividers made from 1/4" rod, available through Lee Valley Tools.
Just drill holes in shelf and push the dividers in.

I would be interested in what you used to build your cleaning machine.

 

[soongsc]

How about ultrasonic cleaning and treating them afterwards?

 

[soongsc]

I know how to take care of the individual records very well and listen to them on a regular basis. I've designed my own cleaning machines as well, and chemical formulae.

What I'm asking is more: What are some good pointers on a collection this size.

I already have just over 100 records and those were easy to take care of; they took up a small bit of space which was easy to manage.

I'm trying to decide on what's the best shelving to use per space and weight and basically see if anyone has good pointers that have helped them out managing 10000+ records in one house.


Thanks

For a few hundred records, finding what you want is easy. With 17000 records it could be a problem.

The structure really needs to be strong if you are going to heights. The last thing you want is being buried in these one day. Look at the way a library arrang books in storage, they normally have a good density.

 

[audio-kraut]

I use Ikea for 1500 records, is simple to expand - and for earthquake prone areas has a security strip that holds it to the wall.
Believe me - cheapest option short of milkcrates - which are not secure.
You can go custom made and pay ten times the price - if it suits you.
On the other hand - value of 17000 X 7$ average is an over 100k$ asset - maybe it deserves a 20 k$ shelf.

 

[fcel]

I say give some away, then you will have to less to organize. I mean 17,000 is a lot of records!! I won't know what to do with it.

 

[Michi124]

I never heard of anybody getting a collection of 10.000+ records and keeping them ALL.

Even if you share the general musical taste with the original owner of this collection,
it is still rather unlikely if not impossible that you like each and every record from it.

Why do you want to spend the rest of your life surrounded by records you don't even like?

My advice is to only keep the records you really like.
Yes, get rid of 10.000 of them - it's much easier to organise what's left then.

How to find out, which records to keep? You have to judge them by the cover,
playing them is not really an option: it takes 12 years @ 3 hours/day to listen to them in full...

 

[audio-kraut]

I never heard of anybody getting a collection of 10.000+ records and keeping them ALL.

Nice try, guys. I hear a howling in the distance...and the swooshing of big wings overhead...

it takes 12 years @ 3 hours/day to listen to them in full.

sounds like a great retirement plan to me...

 

[Duo]

Wishful thinking guys, I will listen to the entire collection no matter how long it takes me. I enjoy music too much to let it slip me by. That's the only way I will have decided which pieces I like and don't like.

During the summer I normally listen to about six hours each day of music. (That's sitting down listening.) I normally keep the music on for more than twelve hours a day. I'll be glad to have enough music to listen to that it won't repeat so many times a year anymore. I'm getting sick of the limited amount that I had before this collection.

I'll definitely look into that ikea shelving though. Seems like a relevant idea and might help me out in the long run. I definitely don't want to pull my hair out with milk crates if I can help it.

Thanks guys.