In a perfect world you are asking for a seller who will give you the turntable,cartridge,tonearm,tracking weight and will give you an aural impression of the lp's performance.
This is the constant bugaboo in buying used records,the visual grading...over 40 years of buying "used" records i sometimes think i know less than when i started.A great looking record might sound shot after one play on a bad,worn stylus,a worn record might sound fabulous with little surface noise and all the highs intact.It can be a frustrating crap shoot,especially if you haunt Goodwill type stores with poor lighting.If you buy from a store try to get a return policy going,if you buy off the web,good luck.Fabulous analog sound does not come easy and the near mint- and very good+ ratings can mean anything.If someone comes up with a solution i would like to hear it.A recent thrift store purchase of ten Classical lp's yielded some real gems at 75 cents each for records costing 20 times that much and more, for sale online or at auction,so sometimes you get the bear,sometimes the bear gets you!
This is the constant bugaboo in buying used records,the visual grading...over 40 years of buying "used" records i sometimes think i know less than when i started.A great looking record might sound shot after one play on a bad,worn stylus,a worn record might sound fabulous with little surface noise and all the highs intact.It can be a frustrating crap shoot,especially if you haunt Goodwill type stores with poor lighting.If you buy from a store try to get a return policy going,if you buy off the web,good luck.Fabulous analog sound does not come easy and the near mint- and very good+ ratings can mean anything.If someone comes up with a solution i would like to hear it.A recent thrift store purchase of ten Classical lp's yielded some real gems at 75 cents each for records costing 20 times that much and more, for sale online or at auction,so sometimes you get the bear,sometimes the bear gets you!