Thinking About Selling and Replacing My Pop/Rock Vinyl Collection

Not exactly like you, but I sold all my records  back in the 90’s and regret selling a few of my favorites which I have been buying back, sometimes at high prices, dire straits being one of them.

However, records are a pain compared to streaming or what I have digital and I do not listen to them that much. I did save my old AR turntable, so that cost was avoided, but a new cartridge was needed. 
 

overall, I plan to buy only a few more records to fill my desire for the good old days. But I do not plan on getting to 1,200 again, probably more like 100 or so of albums I consider great. Hope this helps. 

My LP library was started in it’s present incarnation in 1968 (that year I got my first adult turntable---a Garrard SL55 with a Shure M44e cartridge, and replaced all the LP’s I had ruined playing them on my kiddie record player with new copies. The following year I replaced it with the AR XA table and a Shure M91e cartridge), and still have most dating back to then (minus the music I "outgrew").

I always cleaned my LP’s (first with a Cecil E. Watts Disc Preener, later the original DiscWasher, then a Nitty Gritty vacuum machine, which I replaced with a VPI HW-17), and kept my stylus clean. So my LP’s remain in Near Mint condition, with no more noise now than when they were new (the noise of the vinyl LP itself of course varies according to record company).

I don’t keep them (I don’t know their number, but they currently fill sixty three 12.75" x 12.75" x 12.75"---interior dimensions---storage cubes) only because I love the music they contain, but also because they are a road map and history of my musical life. Pulling an LP off the shelf and putting it on the turntable is something I have been doing for over sixty years (I have been buying LP’s since before The Beatles landed in NYC), and I love that I still have them all. I also have about 3500 CD’s and SACD’s, and love them too (they also contain music I love).

I don’t consider playing an LP (or CD) a chore, but rather a pleasure.

@bdp24

Your succession of LP cleaning tools is the same as mine, except I’m still using my Nitty Gritty 1.0. Some of my old LPs that were cleaned with the Disc Preener developed a gritty surface noise that I have been unable to remove, having tried all manner of different cleaning fluids. I think the Preener may have been too wet when it was used on those; I don’t think all my LPs cleaned with the Preener are like this. Did you ever encounter this problem?

Thank God for the development of affordable record-cleaning machines and effective cleaning solutions.