Is it me or has anyone ever notice that the most trashed vinyl happens to be
45 rpm records. I guess people thought these were just disposable? I went to a SA today and there was a hole crateful and I didn't buy one as the whole crate was either all scuffed cracked or just plain worn down and the vinyl was "white" from too much play.:tears: It was a shame cuz some of the songs were from when I was growing up in the 70's....

Probably because they were never put in sleeves, just stacked on top of each other.

Being played on cheap changers with worn out sapphire needles, pennies taped to the end of the tone arm to get them to track, dropping one on top of another sometimes five or six high might have something to do with this! You are correct though it is a real shame as some of the material is great and 45 rpm gives outstanding detail.

Terry

They make great frisbees too.:D Seriously though, I think their size makes them prone to overhandling. You can pick up a whole stack of 'em with one hand!

Just look at the demographic of the purchaser (teen girls/boys), the quality of the equiptment, etc.

Also, the make great frisbees.

I admit to playing frisbee with a Jimmy Osmond 45 lol...but I guess you are all right when it comes to the demographics of buyers....and then the cheap equipment they were played on as I attest to owning a close 'n' play...LOL...and now I know better! As I got older and got a better stereo, I took care of all and any of my 45's (Jimmy Osmond included)..but dang.."Long Haired Lover From Liverpool" really flew LOL

I had so many Beatle's 45's back in the 60's and played them to death on cheap turntables... Who ever thought about taking care of them....

Don't forget the fact that you usually bought a 45 because your really liked the song and as a result you played it a zillion times!

On cheap players as well.

And when I was a young person, they only cost .77! :thmbsp:

It's pretty obvious that most people never grew up knowing how to properly handle a record. Here's your proof. Most times when I rent a movie on DVD, I have to clean it before I play it! Fingerprints and smudges all over them! :nono:

Same here. I was not real careful with my 45s. For some reason, I was much better with my LPs but probably cuz the 45s were cheap. And yes, rental DVDs are a perfect example. I have yet to get one that did not need cleaning first.

Ran into a gentleman a while back that had a jukebox he really wanted to sell. All of his 45's looked excellent. He had bought them from others with the same hobby redoing jukeboxs and collecting them. So often the machines get pulled out of service and act as a gaint cover for the records inside as time passes...

Don't forget, a lot of 45's were pressed out of hard polystyrene instead of vinyl. Yes, the same brittle polystyrene that 1/25 scale model car kits were made from. Poly wears out real fast if the tracking force is excessive; vinyl is softer and a lot more forgiving.

How to tell which is which: hold up the 45 to a lighted bare bulb. If you see a wine-colored light bulb through the record, you've got polystyrene. Opaque? Lucky you: vinyl.

Don't forget, a lot of 45's were pressed out of hard polystyrene instead of vinyl. Yes, the same brittle polystyrene that 1/25 scale model car kits were made from. Poly wears out real fast if the tracking force is excessive; vinyl is softer and a lot more forgiving.

How to tell which is which: hold up the 45 to a lighted bare bulb. If you see a wine-colored light bulb through the record, you've got polystyrene. Opaque? Lucky you: vinyl.


Didn't know that. Thanks for the tip:thmbsp: Fortunatly I only have 150 45s to go thru :yes:

It only takes one play with somewhat excessive stylus pressure to destroy a polystyrene 45 so it will have permanent noise! The ones which appear "worn" are almost always polystyrene. They will also feel more brittle and thicker than vinyl 45's.

Usually late 40's and 1950's 45's are vinyl along with those from the 1990's and later. It seems like polystyrene was dominant in the 60's, 70's and early-mid 80's especially from Columbia/Epic.

My wife has all her 45's from childhood.Her dad made her a ''custom'' rack for them to.It consists of a single ''tin bucket lid'' with a hole drilled in the center of it.That hole has a screw in it that holds a 3 foot section of a ''garden hoe handle'' to it.She stacked them up the pole with no sleeves and had to remove them all to get to the bottom record.

Thats why I kept her vintage GE all in one receiver in the bedroom to play them on :thmbsp:

Chad's right, the polystyrene single's were indeed fragile. Warner Bros./Reprise was another label that used it. Radio station copies were often pressed on vinyl, because the polystrene copies would get *cue burn* just after a few passes.

1. Back when the small 45s were most popular (50s-60s), most of the buyers were teenyboppers/teenagers. Since when do teens take care of anything well?

2. The polystyrene issue has already been discussed.

3. Many of these were played on portable systems of the day, which for the most part had little or no adjustability for tracking force, etc... They often had generic styli that weren't always well made, and often were of the "flip-over" type with 33/45 tip on one side, and 78 on the other. Alignment is rarely perfect with a "flip over" device, anyway.

If the thing didn't track well, you just taped a dime or a penny or nickel atop the arm, so that it would. Most of the time, you didn't inspect and replace the stylus when it started to wear. You just kept using it until it sounded BAD, then replaced it. Along the way, a regular scrape of the finger was a good way to remove dust that would accumulate on the stylus.

Most average, non-audiophile people JUST DIDN'T KNOW about the physics of a stylus-vinyl interface, and the need to laboriously set everything up right, etc... Sure, some geeky audiophile nuts knew about that stuff, but the general population sort of thought they were, well, nerdy nuts!

4. Record changers were common then, stacking these things up for multiple drop-and-play sessions, then picking them up en bloc to play again or to play the B sides, scraping them against each other in the process, wasn't uncommon.

5. Unlike LPs, which could play for 15 minutes or more per side, a typical 45 played only 2 or 3 minutes. This meant they were far more frequently being handled, changed, etc... It also made it much less likely that they'd be returned to their sleeves religiously after playing. Far more likely they'd be put aside in a pile, to be replayed after a short while. This left them not only handled more, but also exposed more to dust and dirt and accidents.

6. The smaller size and shape of 45s somehow seems to invite less respect and rougher handling. People often treated 33s with some respect, and handled them by the edges, using both hands. 45s, with their big center holes and cheap prices, just invited rougher, more casual handling.

7. The heavier carboard sleeves of LPs provided better protection than the typically flimsy paper sleeves that most 45s came in.

8.One other factor comes to mind: 45s peaked and then fell out of popularity BEFORE LPs in general, so many of the ones you will find will be older than many of the LPs. The majority of 45s sold probably stem from the late 50s and 60s, but a lot of the LPs you find are from the 70s and 80s. More years for them to become worn/damaged.

There ARE still 45s out there in fine condition ... but far rarer and harder to find than the 33s. Here's a tip: ALWAYS use a RCM to thoroughly clean a 45 before playing. A good idea with all new vinyl, anyway, but I've found it especially helpful (and usually necessary) with 45s. Some of that snap-crackle-pop isn't really damage, just dirt!

I admit to playing frisbee with a Jimmy Osmond 45 lol...but I guess you are all right when it comes to the demographics of buyers....and then the cheap equipment they were played on as I attest to owning a close 'n' play...LOL...and now I know better! As I got older and got a better stereo, I took care of all and any of my 45's (Jimmy Osmond included)..but dang.."Long Haired Lover From Liverpool" really flew LOL

I think playing frisbee with a Jimmy Osmond 45 is considered doing the world a favor...

:banana:

I think playing frisbee with a Jimmy Osmond 45 is considered doing the world a favor...

:banana:


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