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Music

The Vinyl Record – The Gramophone In Its New Avatar

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Vinyl Record  – What is it

The vinyl record is nothing but the new face of the gramophone record, also called the phonograph record, or simply, the record. This device stores sound in an analog medium made up of a flat disc cut into a spiral groove. As anyone who has played records will know, this groove starts at the periphery of the record and ends up near its centre.

The Vinyl Record Origins

The phonograph record had its origins when Thomas Edison created early phonographs within the 1870s. He applied wax cylinders to record the sound, which soon gave way to Bakelite and then to vinyl. Records were of varying sizes and playing capacities. Singles usually held up to two or three while EPs came with three to five songs. Albums, on the other hand, 10-12 songs and could play up to 35-45 minutes.

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The beginnings of vinyl records happened in the early 1970s and vinyl records are played on a phonograph, as the older, traditional records were.  The vinyl record is made of vinyl plastic. The sound is recorded in the same manner and plays in a circular manner from the outer periphery to the centre. The sound plays out from a needle that hits the groove. Also, the record normally has various music on the both sides. In recent times, vinyl records have gone up in popularity, because of superior quality produced by the vinyl records.

With a whole lot of people now beginning to treat vinyl records as collectibles, more and more folks are seeking questions regarding the procurement and maintenance of these vinyl records. The first thing about these vinyl records is that they must be kept scrupulously clean. Most people find that despite their best efforts, the records are collecting dust or even mold. Over time, users of vinyl records have found that dust is best removed from vinyl records with the help of a carbon fiber brush before plying them. For mold and fingerprints, the best thing to do is to clean the records with soap and water. A record brush works best in this case. While dust and mold are easy to clean, scratches are less easily removed. This means that over a period of time, some records will just play less faithfully than others and will just have to be discarded over time.

Treat Vinyl Record With Care

If you do happen to possess vinyl records, especially old vinyl records, you need to hold on to them and treat them with care because they are real collectors’ items. Not all of them, though. Records that are sought after now are albums from the 1960s and the 1970s, especially because these have not yet found their way into the flea market.  Records with additional features, such as pictures or lyrics are worth much more. Sometimes a record will be high value because it has a song missing.

Vinyl records are precious things now and worth a place in every home. Begin your collection today and enjoy the vinyl record music!

 

One thought on “The Vinyl Record – The Gramophone In Its New Avatar

  • If you can come accross at least ONE ( 1 ) Record, You can use Paper, Cut it to size ( a cirlce) then, take a lead pencil or a Crayon and Rub it across the paper, this will transfer the groove lines to the paper and it will give the appearance of a record, Then you can make an inner cirlce from another piece of paper and color it whatever color you want the record label to be and write in a title for the record.,Then you can Glue the paper to Cardboard . Sorry, but that’s the best I could come up with.

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