Furry Lewis LP Folkways with insert Original RARE

$

52

Furry Lewis

Folkways  FA-3823

1960   I believe this is the original pressing. The vinyl and cover are both about the thickest and heaviest of any records in my collection. The record and insert both have the number FA 3823, while the cover has FS 3823. I do not know why this is.

These are the classic songs of Furry Lewis recorded by Samuel B. Charters in 1959 in Memphis Tennessee. The recording is excellent and Furry Lewis is one of the best classic acoustic blues men of all time. He plays solo and his haunting bottleneck guitar style is amazing.

Record  VG+   The record has its original luster and is overall in great shape. There are a few sleeve marks and light surface scratches and one more significant scratch that goes all the way across side 1. This scratch can be heard now and then through that side as a pop, but nothing that would ever skip. Some surface noise can be heard at points through the record, but nothing that overpowers or takes away from the music. If it weren’t for that one more noticeable scratch on side 1, I would have given this record a solid VG++. When listening to this record, any surface noise that can be heard is very much in the background. It is a nice loud recording without any distortion.

Cover  VG++  The cover is in excellent shape and aside from slight corner wear (but no dents) I would be inclined to grade it higher. There is some very slight wear to the spine, but no seam splits.  On the back, in the upper left corner, it looks like a rectangular sticker (1/2” x 2”) was removed from the black area, but it is not very noticeable. Like I said above, this is about the thickest cover I’ve ever seen for a single record.

The insert has a little discoloration from age and has a small piece of tape that someone put on a 1” tear in the center of the opening of the front page. This is not very noticeable though.  Please see photo.

My Vinyl Grading System Based on Goldmine’s Standards

Although I grade my records visually, I will attempt, as much as I can to also let the buyer know if the recording was from a less than quality source. I make no guarantees of this, but I will try, for example to mention if a 33 1/3 RPM record was recorded from older 1930’s 78 RPM discs, and even though the vinyl looks like new, it sounds like it is very scratchy with lots of surface noise. Also, some live recordings are really lacking in sound quality and I will try to mention this also. I want you to be happy with your purchase and to know as much as possible about what you are bidding on.

I keep my records and stylus clean, replace the stylus when it gets worn and only handle my records by the edges, which also means not ever touching the trail-in vinyl.

M (Mint)  I don’t use this description in my listings. I feel that the only records that should be called Mint are SS (Still Sealed) records, in which case I will call them  SS.

NM (Near Mint)  I reserve this description for records that I personally purchased new and after opening, only played them once or twice and they still look new.

NM- (Near Mint Minus)  These are records that are in nearly perfect condition with the exception of a light sleeve scuff, which doesn’t affect sound quality.

VG++ (Very Good Plus Plus)  I use this to describe a record that was very well taken care of, has no noticeable condition issues aside from a few sleeve scuffs or very light surface scratches that didn’t affect sound quality.

VG+ (Very Good Plus)  This would describe a record which had still been taken good care of, but which may have some light audible surface noise (most commonly on the first track of either side) or an occasional pop, but nothing that takes away from the listening experience. The record will still have most of its original luster and have only minimal light surface scratches if held to a bright light.

VG (Very Good)  A record that has seen a fair amount of play and therefor has lost some of its original luster and has noticeable surface noise, or a record that overall looks great, but has issues like scratches that can be clearly seen and heard on parts of the record. I don’t sell records with warps or scratches that cause any skipping.

VG- (Very Good Minus)  This would be a record that has a lot of wear and has enough scratches or overly worn grooves to hear very noticeable noise throughout the music. Still a playable and enjoyable record to listen to though. No skips at all and no noise that completely overwhelms the music.

G (Good)  Not Good! I don’t have many records that I would list for sale that are in this condition. It would be a record that is basically trashed (but still doesn’t skip) and probably has lots of scuffs, scratches and/or a record which has lost most of its surface luster. There are some records though, that due to their rarity, someone might want a copy in this condition, as opposed to no copy of it at all. This is a record that could still be played and the music could still be listened to if one could tune out the noise and pops that were competing with the music.

Record Covers – Along with grading, I will try to describe and photograph any major defects of covers such as bent corners, water stains, split seams and ringwear. I have always kept all my records in plastic sleeves to protect them, have never smoked and have kept them vertical in record bins which I built and keep in the house.

Final thought on vinyl quality: Many older records which were pressed in the 50’s for example, have deeper grooves and therefore can sound much better than they look, since surface scratches often do not go deep enough to affect where the stylus is riding in the groove of those records. Also, in turn, many records that were pressed in the 80’s were made with inferior vinyl and have shallow grooves that didn’t even sound clean when they were brand new. Of course this is a bit of a generalization, because there were still some poor quality pressings in the 50’s and some good quality pressings more recently. That said, the label name of a record is also equally important to keep in mind. For example, older Verve records from the 50’s and 60’s are usually very quality pressings compared to a label like Crown from the 60’s which were often not of very good quality.

I hope this helps, but if you have any specific questions of the quality or condition of any of my records, please feel free to ask.