Neil Young WELD - FIRST Vinyl LP Pressing OPEN/UNPLAYED

$

56

Neil Young & Crazy Horse WELD  - First and ONLY Vinyl LP pressing in the world! I purchased this copy from Ear Candy Records (Van Nuys CA...gone but not forgotten!) sometime in early 1992. As described below, the LP is UNPLAYED/AS NEW. The father of grunge in his late period prime: great tunes from Rust Never Sleeps (one of my top 3 favorite Neil albums!), Ragged Glory, and concert classics. Now's your chance to get this LONG out of print collectible at a fair market price!
IMPORTANT: It is important to note that albums pressed in the EU and UK in the 90's and early 00's were usually shipped to the U.S. without ANY shrink wrap. U.S. Distributors and/or the retail record stores would devise their own methods to "seal" these records. In this instance, Ear Candy placed the LP in a mylar/resealable outer cover. Picture 3 shows how the album looked when I purchased it (more or less...it has been 30+ years, after all). 
Some of the corners are slightly bumped. Pictures 8 through 15 show closeups of each corner of the LP from: Front Top Left to Top Right to Bottom Left to Bottom Right, and then in the same order for the rear. The most significant bumping and wear are at the front lower right corner/rear lower left corner. Please see Pictures 11 and 14. 
I also want to point out there is a Warner Brothers "W" logo stamped into the lower rear right corner (please see Picture 16). I'm not sure if this was standard for all copies of this record, or whether this was intended to be a promo copy, or why it's there, and while it's almost unnoticeable, I did want to call attention to it. 
IMPORTANT - SAMPLE GRADING: Both LPs are as new/unplayed. I debated whether to leave it at that and sell the LPs "as is," but since the album is not factory sealed, and IF the pressing quality was poor, a buyer might reasonably conclude that I'm being dishonest about the LPs condition. After cleaning both records on the KLAudio record cleaning machine (please see Picture 17), I sample graded the beginning, the ending, and the space in between tracks for each track on both LPs. I am happy to report the LPs are NEAR MINT. This was an outstanding pressing, and I am confident that with LP in hand you will see the vinyl is MINTY, it sounds as good as it looks, and I think you'd be hard pressed to find one in better condition. 
ABOUT USED (OR IN THIS CASE, AN OPEN/AS NEW) RECORDS I SELL ON EBAY: I will be selling many high value used records over the coming months (or years!). I've been lucky enough to be able to use very high-end cartridges on both my mono and stereo turntables. The cartridges are cleaned before each side is played, and I'm currently using the DS-Audio ST-50 cartridge cleaner. 
I clean ALL records, every time, before the platter hits the turntable. I've been doing so for the past 20 years or more, and I am currently fortunate enough to own THE best record cleaning machine in the world: KLAudio's KD-CLN LP200T (Acoustic Sounds uses these machines to clean THEIR used records). Picture 15 shows Record 1 of the 5LP set being cleaned (each LP of the 5 LP set was cleaned, but not photographed). Every used record I sell on Ebay is cleaned before I grade the album, and then cleaned AFTER grading so that the buyer receives the LP in the best possible condition. 
In order to sell used records efficiently, I have two methods of grading used LPs:
Play-Graded - For my rarest records, I will listen to the entire LP and make track by track notes of any possible issues.
Sample-Graded - Other used (or, in this case, an open/as new) records will be sampled at the beginning and end of each track, but I cannot guarantee the LP won't exhibit some random noise or pressing flaw that goes undetected. However, I find this approach is reasonably accurate, and considerably more so than visual grading, which I find can be quite deceptive (at least, I've never had any luck at it when buying used LPs). 
ABOUT SHIPPING AND HANDLING: Please note there is a $3 fee included in Ebay's estimate of Media Mail shipping costs. I believe the best way to way to ship an LP includes a 13"x14"x3" "pizza" style box, 12"x12" cardboard flats, outer shopping bag, and bubble wrap. The shipping boxes alone cost me over $3 each, and the average total cost of shipping materials is around $4.72, so this is NOT a money-maker for me. However, it does ensure, consistently, that these high value LPs arrive safely. Please check my feedback and I think you'll see that buyers appreciate the care with which these precious artifacts are handled. 

COMBINED SHIPPING: I am more than happy to combine shipping. Ebay buyers pay the actual postage costs. If a single LP is purchased, the buyer pays actual postage and $3 for shipping materials. If two LPs are purchased, the buyer pays actual postage and $3 for shipping materials. If three or more LPs are purchased, the buyer pays actual postage and $0 for shipping materials (I will absorb the cost of materials). As the final amount can only be calculated after auctions have ended, I will issue the appropriate refund on the day the LPs are shipped. 

About Me: I'm a long time Ebay buyer intent on selling a significant portion of my LP collection over the next year or two (or three!). I believe in the auction process, so I'm NOT going to list records at absurdly high prices, and I look forward to getting rare, out of print records into the hands of music lovers, record collectors and audiophiles (I consider myself all of the above). All LPS stored in a smoke-free, climate controlled environment. 

As for the USED LPs that I will begin selling soon (highly collectible albums from The Beatles, Pink Floyd, new/old stock LPs, a wide variety of out of print titles from the best audiophile labels, etc etc,..please stay tuned. I hope you'll look at my feedback and conclude that everything I sell is exactly as advertised and conservatively graded. Thanks! Good Luck!

PayPal Payments Only. Payment required within 3 days after the end of auction. All records will ship USPS Media Mail.