How to examine vinyl records.

How to examine vinyl

What to look for examining a vinyl record – The Vinyl Inspector
We hope the vinyl records we buy will be perfect, but the sad reality is that with the passage of fifty years, passing through the hands of many owners, vinyl has often been handled carelessly, and played on equipment that raised the risk of damage with each play. Probably as many as 80-90% of records sold in the Fifties and Sixties have been filtered out by dealers as unsaleable today. Of the remaining 10-20% in acceptable condiition,  many are still less than perfect.
Unless you are able to afford the massive premium charged for those in near-mint condition (double to treble cost for desirable titles) you will need to make a judgement about vinyl defects, and your personal price-to-condition tolerance.These hints are to help you make that judgement.
Examine the vinyl
View records critically in good natural light, tilting to catch reflections which reveal any defects in the vinyl surface. In a shop, ask if you can take the record to the window.

• The start of the first track on each side is where the first needle drop occurs and where damage is most likely to occur, causing cause clicks and pops. It is also where greasy fingerprints encouraged collection of dust and grit. The first four or five revs may be worse than the rest of the record, and will benefit most from use of a proper record cleaning machine.
• You may see a swathe of  scuffs – fine hairline surface scratches – caused by records not being returned to their protective sleeves, and rubbing against other materials. On a heavy pressing (160gm+) these will probably not sound, but on a thin record with a shallow groove cut, occasionally they do.
• The area immediately around the spindle hole indicates how frequently the record has been played. Expect a tracery of fine marks left by the listener mounting the record on the spindle.More marks indicates a well-loved record with greater risk of damage from frequent playing.  Marks across the entire width of the label indicates an owner with poor hand to eye co-ordination.

 Radiogram and record player arms in the 1950’s tracked at 8 gm up to 20 gm (compared to the modern 2 gm or less) and scratched deep if the tonearm was jogged. Needle scratches should be felt with fingertip and/or fingernail. If you can feel it, you will most certainly hear it. If you can’t feel it, it will most likely either be inaudible, or at worst cause a soft pop.
The growth of hobby- hifi in the late Sixties and Seventies, with light weight tone-arms, considerably reduced risk of scratching, but the damage may already have been done by previous owners.

• Skate marks across the grooves of the record caused by it sliding onto the spindle due to careless handling. Quite common, looks bad,  but most older record player  spindles had a smooth rounded top which bruised the surface of the groove but had no effect on the music engraved on the wall of the groove
•  Scratches in the direction of the groove rather than across it, known as “tramlines“. The hardest to spot and the most damaging, as they frequently cause a needle stick and permanent repeating groove, requiring manual intervention
• Groove wear, caused by ancient  heavy tracking arms and/or worn stylus, epically towards the centre of the record. Can be  dificult to detect visually, but you will hear the deterioration and distortion in sound. Some collectors are more averse to groove wear than scratches

• Warped disc due to improper flat rather than vertical storage, often in proximity to a source of heat
• Wow and flutter, due to an imperfectly centered spindle hole. Drives some people crazy, others, not so much.
• Patterned discoloring of the vinyl surface with moire-reflections, where polythene-lined paper inner sleeve has caused a chemical reaction to bond the polythene to the vinyl. It is impervious to a record cleaning machine, it is very nasty. At worst, it can transfer plastic contaminant permanently onto your precious stylus-tip, impairing its tracking ability.

• Pressing faults, common in American pressings, typified by small bumps in the vinyl surface. Mostly these don’t affect play, though they can look alarming and, infrequently, can cause a needle skip.

• A stamp on the label or cover indicating property of a Public or College Library, meaning many different listeners and record players – increased risk of play with needle in poor condition. One record I saw had “Property of Camden Library” in large raised letters heat-embossed in the runout, which would immediately damage the first needle to hit it.

• Radio station copy – Audition and Promo copy can be good news, but some radio station DJs under broadcast pressure had no time to return records to sleeves and it may have received rough handling.

Defects found mainly only by playing:
Continuous surface noise (hiss) due to recycled vinyl having been added into the original vinyl compound. Recycled vinyl contains fragments of paper from labels and other contaminants. The hiss is generated by the stylus striking the detritus and reading it as sound. The hiss will continue between tracks, since it is a property of the vinyl itself. It can vary from just a slight background hiss  to one which is highly intrusive
Adding used vinyl was a known cost-cutting/ profit boosting practice which affected just a few jazz labels – the early ’60s New Jazz label of Prestige is notorious, as was briefly some Prestige pressings. Prestige and New Jazz should always be treated with suspicion. I have not come across it in any other labels. Some dealers feign ignorance – the vinyl may well “look” perfect, and they will say they are not aware of the problem.
Recycled vinyl can be detected visually by careful inspection of the run-out groove area. With regular vinyl, this area is a smooth and shiny reflective surface. If recycled vinyl is present, this area will have a slightly milky quality, though apparently smooth,   thousands of very tiny specks will break up the otherwise reflective nature of the surface
Buyers Caution: “Marks” or “Scratches”?
Having fallen victim to the ambiguous “marks” description (it was over a half inch long audible scratch of about twenty to thirty revs) I recommend challenging any use of the term “marks” . A  “surface mark” may look bad but should not sound or affect play: superficial spindle scuffs, non-injurious falls are common sources of marks and generally harmless.
A needle “scratch” however is a specific type of mark which can be felt with the finger tip or finger nail, will be heard with a prominent click on each rev. A scratched record should not be offered without an unambiguous warning. “Has a couple of marks” is not a good enough description. Duration of scratch may be across the full 20 minutes or just a couple of revs. Always ask. Brief scratches in a busy recording won’t matter much, but through a poignant Bill Evans Trio piece will reduce you to tears.
Records graded by only visual inspection
“I am selling this car but I haven’t time to check if it  drives OK. I have just looked at and it looks OK.
Sellers often claim they haven’t the time to play grade and issue a disclaimer that the grading is based on visual inspection only. OK, so then is my Paypal transfer: you can look but you can’t spend it until I have played the record. Happy?
Good signs
Test pressing, audition copy, dj copy, or radio station library copy, often stamped on the label or rear of the jacket. Likely to have been played only a small number of times, on professional equipment, by people experienced in handling records, and correctly stored. No guarantee later owners didn’t abuse it, but these desirable copies circulated often only in the collector community, who respected their records.
“Sealed” is no guarantee of virgin-status
The ultimate tease, pot luck, or mystery gamble. It suggests  no-one in fifty years has played it. Hmmm. Record stores often had equipment to re-cellophane record covers. To be fair, I have recently seen some 60s sealed shrink records purchased in the US from Discogs sellers, and I can attest that not one had ever been played, judged by the complete absence of spindle marks. They were indeed mint. However there had been considerable argument over a Columbia label unseen inside the cover. Was it a six-eye, a two-eye, or a common “Columbia-all-round red? Price difference is may be six-fold, Seller couldn’t say without opening it, which immediately diminished its value. Eventually he relented, and it was the common modern reissue label. Expensive way to find out.
The solution is: “in shrink, opened only to confirm label, guaranteed unplayed”
Recently I saw someone selling a “Test Pressing – Sealed”  (How did the pressing test sound Ed?) The other “come-on” going the rounds is “storage find“, implying hardly played for many decades. Good one, eh? In my opinion, collectors with a fetish for still-sealed records should seek professional help.

HiFi Maintenance

The Art of HiFi Maintenance

Music is one of the great pleasures of life. Perhaps, like me, you like music sounding at its best.
Unless you listen only to live performance in concert hall or studio, you are listening to music as recorded and sound as reproduced. At its best, it should sound like the original experience of “being there” but rarely does, unless you take positive steps to overcome the many factors which degrade the original quality of sound and blunt its emotional impact. All sound is not of equal quality. Nor is all wine.

What is “Sound Quality”?
As well as the technical attributes sound – the full frequency range of the instruments faithfully captured and reproduced, rhythm and timing, ultimately, sound quality is the delivery of musical coherence, and emotional communication of the artist’s performance. Get it right and the music will draw you in, wanting to listen, even to music you thought you didn’t like. Get it wrong and you feel the performance is dragging, your attention wanders, it fails to excite. The song composition and the notes are more or less the same in either case but the experience is quite different.
Here is a blogger who believes something called “music” exists independent of the quality of sound. He “doesn’t care about”  formats or the issues that affect sound quality.





The worth of something can not be judged by whether someone else cares about it or not. “Care” is a feeling, and feelings are not facts. There are no “facts” in a sensory matter like sound quality. Sound quality is subjective (“sounds better to me”). The best you can hope for is an informed opinion, based on active listening comparison that tells you which sounds better (to you). If you don’t compare you can not know. If you don’t want to know, that’s entirely up to you.

Formats, catalogue numbers, record labels and matrix codes of records made in the ’50s and ’60s identify which pressings are closest to the source, offering highest fidelity to the original recording and the most satisfying listening experience. Though there are exceptions, the first mastering of the original pressing is generally the benchmark, your best bet, though this may come at a price.

As an example, I recently A:B  sound-checked a 1958 US  promo mono of Kind of Blue ($400) against the 1st British Fontana mono issue($50) and 2nd British CBS mono issue ($35). The Britsh re-mastered by Philips and CBS from copy tape, just a few years apart, sound not even close. Both the British were  inferior to the US promo (so much for jingoism)  and inexplicably, the first UK Fontana was the lesser of the three. Experience is the only currency, not explanation, because you don’t have to know why.

People interested in improving their listening experience are not train spotters or stamp collectors. They are music lovers in search of the authentic music experience, being in the room with the musicians, eliminating the artefacts of sound reproduction, to get it straight into the vein. You can’t shortcut the equipment and the format issues, bypass them, and go straight to the music. The music is delivered through equipment , even if you don’t “care” about it.
Here’s how I think of it:


While it is possible to exist in only one circle, the goal is the best music delivered at the highest quality. If you want to enjoy life in the green, you have to develop some knowledge about both in order to improve your experience. This is the zen moment – your experience is not a fixed thing, it can be improved. Both music choices and hifi choices are equally important, one without the other is a reduced experience, life in the blue.

The effect of the original engineer on sound quality


The best quality of recorded sound is no accident. It starts with the recording engineer, who is as important as the musicians themselves. Engineers decided the make, model, number  and positioning of microphones, managed the recording process itself, and finally transferred the recorded music from tape to a master acetate via a cutting lathe.  The engineer needed to have empathy with the style of music being recorded if they were to make the right artistic decisions. Legendary engineers like Rudy Van Gelder, Tom Dowd, Richard Bock, Fred Plaut, and Roy DuNann assured the quality of sound etched into the groove. Their name on the credits tells you you can expect an exciting listening experience.

The importance of analogue information and components

Historically, the recording technology of modern jazz was valves and tapes. Every component and process  was analogue : physical continuous signal, which is one of the main reasons for its retention of life-like “quality”.
The introduction of first transistors and then solid state circuitry, and finally end-to-end digital music production resulted in reduction in sound quality. Analogue continuous signal was turned into digitally sampled and managed “information”. This information became massively over-processed, through complex circuit boards, complex arrays of components, and the presence of controls, to exploit the ability to control and channel sound. Not to say that one day digital sound quality may overtake analogue, but in my experience that day has not yet come.

Good-sounding vinyl records, made before 1975…

Many modern vinyl pressings sound no better than CDs, because, in most respects, that is what they are: a digital file pressed onto vinyl. Unfortunately, they generally sound worse. Original Blue Note, Prestige, Impulse! Riverside and Contemporary ’50s and ’60s vintage  vinyl  pressings are for the most part great musical experiences. In between the two are several decades of variable quality reissues.

Things went badly wrong some time around the mid-seventies. The oil price rise of 1973 sent up the cost of vinyl, which was then being used to press millions of records. Economies in manufacturing, such as impure recycled vinyl, excessively reduced vinyl thickness, excessive numbers pressed before changing stampers, and insufficiently quality control,  undid much of the good recording engineering. However the gradual introduction of transistors to replace valves, and finally the arrival of solid state circuitry, finally destroyed sound quality.

In addition, the necessary engineering skills largely disappeared, some brands of tapes degraded with age. Reissues of ’50s and ’60’s recordings by the ’70s and ’80s  became mainly inferior-sounding pressings.

 The arrival of the CD and with it, the transfer  of recordings to digital formats, largely finished off vinyl as a viable means of music distribution. The Sony Walkman didn’t require it,  now we have the download and streaming to portable phones.  Commercially-speaking, convenience and infinite choice have won over sound quality.  Few know what they had lost, most will never know. For the music consumer, it looked like the “march of progress”. From the sound quality point of view, it was the reverse.

The lure of infinite choice is handmaiden to novelty and ever shorter attention-span. Ask what is lost when no-one can cope with reading a book, even a chapter is too long, perhaps even a paragraph, some find a sentence challenging, why can’t it be fitted into a few words… a headline, or 140 character limits of a tweet. . Thinking shrinks if you let it. So does the ability to listen and appreciate, to navigate uncharted waters.

The importance of the modern Hi Fi

Extracting accurately the musical information written in the vinyl groove requires good equipment. Other than as a figure of speech, Hi Fi can not sound good – only music can do that.  This is another  Zen moment. The best Hi Fi “merely” faithfully replays what was recorded. It becomes invisible. The more invisible it becomes, the more easily you  can focus on the music content and not artefacts of reproduction.

This pretty innacurate article in The Economist magazine (inaccuracy is their specialty) debates whether vinyl sounds warmer than CD : It is not “warm” or “cold”, or clinical. The medium should be invisible, delivering what was recorded, as it sounded with the musicians in the room. If you need warmth, turn up the heating.

Primary importance of the turntable.

One component makes more difference to sound quality than all the others put together: the turntable. It is the source of the signal. Equipment further down the processing chain, amplifiers and speakers, can only work with the information they are given.

Retrieving a signal engraved in the groove wall of a  revolving plastic disc requires absolute rotational steadfastness of the turntable, physical sensitivity to one thousandth the thickness of a human hair captured by the tiny cartidge stylus and its coils, and amplifying this microscopically small signal to become moving air. Any weakness at source will go on to be magnified by amplifiers and speakers, magnifying noise with signal instead of just signal alone.

With a spinning vinyl disc, there are many physical forces to be managed – the constantly varying drag of the stylus in the groove  against the rotation of platter, the isolation of components from vibrations in their immediate environment, tiny variations in the stability of electrical supply to the motor, acoustic feedback from the speakers through the floor supporting the staging supporting the turntable,  the list is a long one.

Sadly, cheap components do not manage the forces that degrade sound, and can not deliver the highest quality sound. I want the best and I can’t afford it!   No-one starts with the best.  It’s a journey, there are many stops along the way, and its up to you where you are happy to step off.

Arriving at  high quality sound producing system

After the turntable and its tonearm and cartridge, you will need a combination of quality amplifiers and speakers, linked by high quality cables, mounted on vibration-free supports, all supplied with very clean power. After much experimentation, I am pretty well convinced of the benefit of valve-based phono amp and pre-amplification, combined with a solid state main power amplifier. However this is a big subject, for another time and place.

Building your own knowledge of what sounds good (to you)

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, sound in the ear of the listener: the only test for “good sound quality” is the subjective test of your ears. If it sounds good to you, it is. There are however some obvious sources of bad sound quality, for example where compression has been applied to make music overall louder, where excessive emphasis has been given to the bass (possibly to make it sound better on poor equipment, or just engineer’s preference),  the restriction of upper frequencies sometimes applied to reduce tape hiss, and inappropriate application or omission of reverb.
If you get past these hurdles, you are in with a chance. Whilst listener’s first point of comparison is often depth of the bass floor, more bass is quick to pick up, too often what they are hearing is booming uncontrolled bass. I’m thinking here of the acoustic upright bass, which has fingering and percussive quality.  When bass is controlled, taut, dry, more musical, good things happen in other parts of the register.

The late ’60s/ early’70s saw the switch to the electric amplified bass guitar, mainly the Fender bass, sliding down the strings, dropping bombs because with amplification you can. Similar things happened in the switch from acoustic piano to the electronic keyboard and synthesiser. Acoustic instruments and revealing hi-fi are a natural partnership but that is just my opinion, you are welcome to differ.

Auditioning hi-fi equipment 

Beyond the bass/treble issues, presentation, imaging, clarity, all the noise business, the  main thing you should consider is your emotional response to the music. Given an A and a B, which do you enjoy more?  Did one seem slower, the other more to tap your feet? Forget the why, get the what.
Some music-lovers become lost at this point because they have not yet learned to trust their ears. They want someone else to tell them which is better, seek the comfort of authority. They seek scientific evidence, electrical test charts, consult expert reviews, put their trust in dealers, or hope that buying expensive equipment and big-name brands will guarantee them quality.
As well as all the paid-for sources of information, and dealer advice, one source of hopefully “independent advice” is in enthusiasts forums. But not in Hi Fi. Unfortunately these tend to be plagued with trolls, who spread  fear of ridicule aimed at would-be improvement effort, especially fear some “charlatan” might be making money out of you.  Most online forums are haunted by  trolls experts such as these –


HiFi forum trolls never have any experiences to share, because they have never tried these things for themselves, because they “know” they don’t work. Their idea of a great day is typing “You are wrong because you are stupid” insults. The only way to know what difference anything makes is to try it. Then you are entitled to an opinion, bearing in mind what works for you may not work for someone else and vice versa. Even then, if you apply a tweak to an insensitive or unbalanced system it may not sound any better, indeed it may perversely sound worse by revealing a weakness elsewhere.
Nothing is certain. Until such time as you know everything, uncertainty is probably as good as it gets ( LJC)
Assume nothing, be open to try anything, let your ears be your guide. Everything is a variable, which can make things better or worse, or make no discernible difference. Value your experience – it is a trustworthy friend. Learn to ignore your worst enemy – your expectations. Have fun. Trust your ears. That simple, and that difficult.

Your Hi Fi journey starts here

Here is my suggested plan. You probably already have a “hi-fi” but be prepared to say good bye to older equipment if they can not take you to the level where you want to go, or only at exhorbitant cost. It was for that reason I abandoned my Linn LP12. There are some excellent  vintage components, lucky if you have those, otherwise, replace.
Build the best component separates system you can sensibly afford, in particular, the best turntable. I chose a new Avid turntable, retained my Linn main power amplifier (a workhorse that basically does as its told, like the Linn 242 speakers), but replaced the  Linn pre-amplifier with a vastly better custom-built World Design valve pre-amp, fitted with 1960s vintage “new- old stock” Telefunken ECC82 valves. The idea that it is better to have “matching components from the same vendor” may sound logical but in practice is not true.

I made my choice, there are many other good specialist hifi manufacturers,  and I have no experience on which to give advice, other than to ignore luxury consumer brands of hifi, like Bang & Olufson. Start somewhere, audition if you wish, but start. If I was starting again, and I am not, I would probably build amplification around Audio Note.

It all starts with the source:  the turntable (with separate power supply unit) then tonearm and cartridge, followed by a separate phono amplifier, pre-amplifier and power amplifier – not an integrated amplifier (and preferably all valve-based). Finally consider the speakers, often thought of as the most important but actually the least important. Buy the best components you can, then forget about upgrading them for long time. You are almost certainly not hearing a fraction of what your chosen equipment is capable of  – yet.

Then start to unlock the potential of your system. Upgrading to a better an interconnecting cable can make more difference to sound quality than upgrading to a “better” amplifier. You must improve the infrastructure –  power supply, component interconnects, cables, system supports. Component sellers can’t afford to supply the highest quality cables and still remain competitively priced, so they give just a starter.

Your objective is to extract and maintain a pure signal, free from processing artefacts, non-music information noise, and external distortion. Your enemies are impurities in power-supply, electrical resistance of connections, floor and airborne vibration, electromagnetic pollution, and quirks in room-acoustics, and probably more.  Each of these interfere with the tiny music signal as it  makes its way from the vinyl/stylus point of contact, through several stages of amplification, to its final speaker diaphram destination, in the process, magnified 100,000 -fold. Eliminating each interfering factor lifts a veil, and brings you one step closer to your goal of “musicians in the room”

Where to start with Infrastructure?

Though all infrastructure is important, probably the most important is your electricity supply. Household mains electricity is “dirty” – and dirt flows through your system alongside the music signal unless you take steps to “clean” it. Delivering stable clean power will enable your components to work with only the music signal and not accomanying noise.

Tip!: I experienced the most profound change in musicality somewhat late in the day by having a dedicated domestic electricity spur for the hifi diverted from the main domestic consumer unit, connected to audio-optimised wall sockets, and then passing power to components via a balanced mains unit (these electricity supply modifications made the most significant of all improvements I have heard)

All power leads and equipment interconnects supplied require ugrading, which should be cables made with multiple wires woven and screened to reject airborne signal-pollution (radio and wifi frequences) and connections which offer the least electrical resistance.

Finally, eliminate vibration through system racking, individual components support, points of floor-contact. Most critical is sorbothane-based support of the turntable and its power supply.

What changes in the sound?
Each improvement enables changes throughout the system, which is a complex set of interlocking dependencies. Everything part in the system needs time to adjust to other changes. 200 to 500 hours is not unusual. Some changes make things briefly worse until finally the corner is turned. Faith may be tested, but when everything is in place, the music will fall into place.

Rhythm and timing will make music come alive and fresh, proper control of bass will render it “musical” instead of boom and stop suffocating the upper registers. Artistic intent becomes immediately recognisable, emotion is palpable, communication between musicians laid bare, artists technique revealed in individual notes not smeared or blurred. The soundstage will become firm, forward, and expansive beyond the speakers. You will have arrived at physical presence of Musicians in the Room.

You will rediscover the qualities of music previously dismissed. You have a new record collection awaiting rediscovery. It is a journey worth making. Or maybe you are still grappling with the CD or Vinyl frontier..?

How to list an album on eBay properly.

The Perfect Ebay Record Listing

I reckon this is about the perfect eBay record listing. Everything you need to know in order to put your value the record and decide whether you want it. Not passing off a reissue as an original, all the run-out stamps clearly identified and an unambiguous statement of its original pressing status.

Clear grading detailed description of any surface damage, for example, 1″ long barely feelable scratch on Track 1″. No wriggle–room for “not as described”, but in return you get to know in advance exactly what to expect.

Pictures of front and back cover, and both labels. Good sharp properly lit photos with good colour fidelity. The only improvement could be the exclusive LJC all-in-one view of the run-out and the labels.

Pity it is a Buy-it-Now rather than an Auction, but that’s the sellers choice., and up to you.  He is a premium price record seller  – most sellers haven’t to need or time to be this thorough with run of the mill rock and pop, but this the standard of information to aim for.


Pity Ebay don’t show potential  record sellers this example of best practice. It would save everyone a load of aggravation.

What ever happened to Ray Yeager and his "Big Ole Red" Guitar?

What ever happened to Ray Yeager and the famous guitar called "Big Ole Red"?

Ray Yeager and "Big Ole Red"

Some songwriters go to Nashville and spend 10, 20 years, trying to get discovered, others spend their whole lives and never get a shot.

Dark hair and 6 feet 7 inches tall, with a homemade guitar made out of a dresser drawer, country singer and songwriter Ray Yeager stepped off the bus in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1965, and 5 minutes later he was signed to a 5- year recording contract with MGM Records.

Who has ever heard of such a story?

Ray Yeager was raised in North Miami, his older sister was the famous pin-up and photographer Bunny Yeager who discovered the legendary 1950's pin-up Betty Page.

Bunny took photos of her brother Ray for many years, and one day both of them launched a plan for Ray's success as a country singer songwriter.

Ray decided to make his homemade guitar out of an old dresser drawer. It was so large when you placed it on the floor that it stood up all by itself.

Ray eventually made a built in ashtray on the top for his cigarettes, added a pair of vice grips for tuning the keys, and put a big hole in the back of the guitar, stuffed a few shirts and socks in there, and told people he kept his dirty laundry there.

Ray then wrote a song called "Country Boy" that told the story of a guy who was raised in the hills, built his guitar from a dresser drawer, and goes to Nashville to try to be a star.

Ray had a song, his story, and his "Big Ole Red Guitar".

When Ray got off the bus, he went right into MGM Record Labels. He entered the elevator and immediately a man said "hold on for that elevator", and the man got in and asked "What the hell is that thing?", referring to the big guitar.

The man asked just the "right question" because that gave Ray the golden opportunity to answer him with his song, "Country Boy".

 Lyrics:
"You gotta guitar? What kind you got?
A store bought guitar? That ain't so hot.
I made my own, out of wood I can find, and it plays
as good as any ole kind, I'm just a country boy...."

Ray had sung the 1st and second verse and one chorus by the time the elevator had stopped.

The elevator had reached the 11th floor, Ray exited and the man immediately signed him to a 5 year recording contract.

That day, Ray put on a hillbilly accent, faking his way through the whole process, everyone believing he was an authentic country boy, but Yeager was a far cry from that. Back home in South Florida, Ray Yeager was known as "the singing cop".

The only horse Ray ever rode on was a horse powered Harley Motorcycle.

Instantly Yeager's new record, featuring "Country Boy", was picked by Cash Box and other music experts to be the next big hit.

Next, Ray went on the 1960's television show "To Tell The Truth" as the star.

Yeager then played at the Grand Ole Opry with Johnny Cash, and also made friends with Elvis one day while he was staying at the same hotel.

Everyone who knew Ray believed he was going to be a big star, but it never happened, and Ray simply walked away from it all.

He performed only once at the Grand Ole Opry. It was there also that Johnny Cash told Ray, "If you ever want to sell that guitar, you let me know."

Ray Yeager and Bunny Yeager making music and films.

In 1978, Ray and his wife sold their home in Hollywood, Florida, and right before they left he picked up the phone and called Johnny Cash and asked, "You still want that guitar?". Cash replied, "You know I do." and Ray sold it to him for a mere 300.00

The story of "Big Ole Red".

Everyone in Nashville wanted "Big Ole Red". When Ray played the Grand Ole Opry, everyone who was anyone was there in the audience. Backstage Ray had a crowd gathered around, but even more so for the big homemade guitar.

When asked specifically how the guitar was made, Ray played around about it, saying it was this old big drawer from a dresser, which it was; but all the additions, such as the ashtray and laundry in the back, were all a marketing tactic that worked perfectly.

In an article in New Times Magazine, Ray's son Billy Yeager, who also sings, writes music and produces his own films, stated that "That is the guitar I learned to play on when I was 6 years old."

Billy Yeager ( Big Ole Red sitting on the floor)

Yeager went on to explain in detail the hardships of playing on the guitar. He said he was so small that his arms wouldn't reach around to the strings, so for a few years he had to play it flat on his lap, which made his wrists very flexible for later on.

Ray was a devoted husband and police officer. He thought if he followed through with that contract and began touring, he would end up like everyone of those "over night stars" stories of alcohol, drug abuse, cheating and divorce. Ray wanted a solid family life and so the decision was easy for him.

Ray always had a burning desire and curiosity to see if he had what it takes to make it, but when he realized he did have the goods, that's when he knew it didn't matter anymore, Ray knew he was good enough and never signed to the label. Nobody could understand Ray's decision, certainly not his sister Bunny, who had invested years in Ray's publicity and marketing.

Bunny and Ray Yeager making movies together.

"Big Ole Red" had a real guitar neck from a Gretch guitar, a wooden bridge, and a big hollow sound.

Yeager also used a homemade strap.

Ray Performing in the 1950s.

Ray performing and singing on the Navy Ship.

When Johnny Cash died the guitar was auctioned. It sold for one hell of a price even by today's standards. (See my other posting.)

The guitar was said to have been bought by a vintage guitar collector from Germany.

Ray Yeager had a few 45 records pressed on a few different labels, today those are also rare and valuable to serious record collectors.

Ray never did end up in the country, or riding a horse as the song "Country Boy" stated, but he did drive a police car and police motorcycle, and starred in a movie featuring himself called "Jimmy's Story", which is a documentary about his son, Billy Yeager, who became the "Long lost son of Jimi Hendrix," but that's another long story.

Billy Yeager as "Jimmy Story" (Jimi Hendrix's Son.)

As for "Big Ole Red" you just gotta wonder? Could that really hold some dirty laundry in the back?

Very Rare Unique Guitars

Just about every guitar player around wants to pick up a fine vintage instrument. 

Below are some amazing acoustic instruments that are among the finest, and have craftsmanship that can’t be matched, others may be considered to be simply handmade junk, but you may be surprised.

If you find something that looks a bit peculiar or strange and very unique, or super vintage looking you may have just discovered the next big find. 

Vintage guitars are a great investment that only increases in value.

You might be asking yourself whether a guitar can really be a good investment. After all, to the untrained eye, most guitars are the same. However, the right guitar can be worth a lot to a collector. Guitars that have been owned by celebrities, or which are rare or unusual, can command very high prices indeed. If you’re worried about getting a return on your money, don’t be. Vintage guitars have consistently performed with more stability than the stock market. There are a number of reasons that collecting vintage guitars is an excellent strategy.

Here is a small list of some of the most rare guitars one can find. Most of these however have been sold, auctioned, re-sold, but...occasionally they do end up being sold again at auctions such as Christies, Sotherbys, and even end up being listed on e Bay, so keep your eyes out.

1967 Epiphone FT79 owned by Jimi Hendrix

Purchased in 2001 Private auction for 450,000.00

Market Value today 1,110,000.00

Jimi Hendrix Epiphone 

This one was found in a very old music store in NYC.
The owner kept it in the basement downstairs and never thought much about it. One day someone saw it, took down the serial numbers, did a little more research, bought the guitar for 200.00 and now this guitar is worth a fortune.

1957 Fiesta One of only 2 made owned by Buddy Holly.

Purchased in 1987 Private auction for 163,000.00

Market Value today 1,240,000.00

Buddy Holly Fiesta

Everyone thought this guitar simply disappeared, many thought it may have gone down with the plane crash, but 20 years later it was discovered at an estate auction. The guitar however was not known by its owners to be the one owned by Buddy Holly. They sold the guitar for 300.00. Today it is the price of one of those aircrafts.

Vintage Kay Guitar "Sally" owned by Elvis played in numerous Elvis Movies.

Purchased in 1983 Private auction for 83,000.00

Market Value today: 280,000.00

 Elvis had kept this guitar for most of his life, however it was stolen one night by one of his own stage managers.
It was discovered on eBay, it was listed as "Elvis's original guitar and sold for a mere 2600.00. If Elvis were in the house today, he would jumping and jiving to find his guitar worth this much.

3/4 Moon ( 1948) owned by Basom Lamar Lansford.

Purchased in 199 Private auction for 140,000.00

Market Value today 180,000.00

Basom Lamar Lunsford's 3/4 Moon

3/4 Moon has been sought after by some of the most famous banjo players in the world. For years people began to think it may never show up. But one day it did, on the Antique traveling television show. However, they gave it an appraisal of only 30,000.00, a year later it was sold at Christies for 300,000.00

Big Ole Red ( 1963) owned by Ray Yeager

Purchased in 199 Private auction for 30,000.00

Market Value today 110,000.00

Big Ole Red was a homemade guitar made from a dresser drawer by singer songwriter Ray Yeager ( brother of Bunny Yeager). The guitar enjoyed brief fame in a movie "Country A Go Go, and also was featured on the 1960's show "To Tell The Truth. Ray was friends of Johnny Cash, who at one time bought the guitar from Ray personally after he decided to "quite the music biz".



Debrie ( 1988) owned by Lorenzo Hierrezuelo

Purchased in 199 Private auction for 60,000.00

Market Value today 120,000.00

Lorenzo Hieeezuelo with "Debrie"

A metal guitar made from a can, one of Lorenzo's favorite.

This guitar became legendary in Cuba, South America, and was seldom seen in public. Lorenzo only played his prized "Debrie" in his free street concerts he would perform for friends and family.

The guitar was bought by Ry Cooder who later sold it to an unknown source, but was listed on record by Christies.

What Happened to the 80s'.?

NOTES: 

• Mimi's last name is now Hanson.
• Meghan Broadhead, who played Mimi's older sister in the movie, is her sister in real life; she did not respond to my interview request.
• Photos courtesy of Mimi.

How old were you when you were cast in Footloose?

If I remember correctly, I was eight years old during the audition process and the filming; I was in the third grade. The most exciting part of the whole thing for me was I missed the last part of my second grade year for filming. I was unaware they had a teacher on the set, so that was quickly dashed.

How did you get the role?

Actually, I had been acting since the age of four. My parents were both performers. My father was a stage actor and my mother was an opera singer; they were both commercial actors. I had been in quite a few commercials and some print ads at that point. Utah was really starting to pick up as a filming location, so there was quite a bit of film work that came through.

When we went on the first audition, my mother told me not to get too excited because it was a "cattle call." Initially I learned the lines for the younger sister, the part I finally played in the movie. When we got to the audition, I was told I had to read for the older sister. My mom scrambled to teach me those lines. It meant my older sister [in real life] and I would be reading for the same part. When it was my turn to go back, I had no qualms about expressing to the casting director [that] I was really upset because I liked the other part better and I was told I couldn't try out for it. The casting director shrugged and said "Well, I don't see why not." I read for the younger sister. The next callback, my older sister and I read together as sisters, and I think there was one more callback where we read for Herbert Ross (director) and Lew Rachmil (producer), though that might have been the same audition.

In the end, my older sister and I were cast together to play sisters in the movie.

What other members of your family were in the movie?

Aside from my older sister, my father was cast in the role of Mayor Dooley, my mother and my little brothers were extras in some of the large town scenes, and my 14-year-old brother was not in the film but got a job working for the company that catered the set.

Any funny anecdotes about your Footloose experience?

My funniest memory was the day we filmed the scene where the brick went through our bedroom window. Herbert Ross was a great director, but he had a bit of trouble evoking a performance out of me that day. I was so distracted by the movie glass on the floor once somebody told me it was made of sugar. I was also distracted with the fact that we were filming a nighttime scene in the middle of the day. I kept bringing what I perceived to be a huge mistake to the attention of someone on set (I don't remember who) and they kept assuring me it would look like night when the movie was done.

I want to preface this by saying I didn't have a single bad experience working on this film and Herbert Ross was one of the kindest men that I ever met. That being said, to try and direct a performance of a child who is scared, I remember him stomping around, raising his voice, slamming things to make loud noises, slamming around stuffed animals…but the problem was I was not the least bit scared of this man. I quite liked him and I found his tirade as an attempt to be humorous. My sister was doing a great job, pulling out all of the stops. I just couldn't get into it. Finally, they broke out the glycerin tears and did the best they could. I think I still didn't realize what was going on. It was one of those situations that clicked much later in life.

For the two dinner scenes that were shot, they asked my sister and me what we liked and didn't like to eat and constructed the final set food accordingly. When the day came to shoot the first dinner scene, a plate of food was put in front of me and I was getting ready to devour it; after all, they made everything that I liked. Whatever set member put this plate in front of me grabbed my hand and said "Oh no, you can't eat it." I was really confused. I was instructed to take bites only while the camera was rolling [and] only during certain shots. I was, of course, not allowed to eat the food when I had lines to deliver. The idea was that I wasn't supposed to fill up too fast because the filming was slated to take a while. I didn't understand all of the rules; what I did understand is that there was food in front of me that smelled really good, so the game became to shovel as many bites as I could into my mouth while the crew member who told me I couldn't eat wasn't looking. The inhaling of massive amounts of air with my purloined bites of food gave me a massive case of very loud hiccups. Suddenly the focus of everyone became curing my hiccups. All the stops were pulled out. It wasn't until I was grown and I realized how much a movie costs to film why curing my hiccups in this scene that had the bulk of my lines in the movie was so important.

I found strange [some] little details that Herbert Ross put into the movie. The actress who played my mother was made to wear a pregnancy pillow, though no pregnancy was ever referred to in the film. My sister was fitted for a retainer, though her teeth were perfectly straight…he just thought it looked better. We were also given roller skates and told to learn how to skate well, yet nowhere in the film were we ever on roller skates—I'm not sure if that was something that was cut.

What do you remember about your impression of Kevin Bacon?

I remember Kevin Bacon as being very nice. We did do quite a few scenes with him. I formed a pretty big crush on him. In fact, shortly after filming, I got a puppy; I named him Bacon. I remember him doing yoga between takes. One day he showed my sister and me a few yoga moves. He had a stunt double, but he actually did some of the gymnastics in the film (so I heard). When we had to film the little dance sequence where he is teaching Chris Penn how to dance, I didn't want to touch his hands as they were covered in blisters from the gymnastics.

John Lithgow?

He was very nice, but in my memories I have a fear association. John Lithgow is pretty tall. I remember him as towering over everyone. I really didn't interact with him much.  I'm trying to remember if I knew he was in The Twilight Zone [1982 movie]. I was very scared of The Twilight Zone as a child, mostly because of the theme song. I remember certain images from the television commercial, one of which was John Lithgow in the plane. I would scramble and hide when that commercial came on. I was surprised and kind of delighted when he came out with a children's album. It softened my memory of him.

Lori Singer?

Really very few memories. There were some scenes we were in together that were lost in rewrites before they were filmed. I met her during the rehearsal period, but that's about all I remember.

Dianne Wiest?

I had minimal interaction with her. I don't really remember her at all.

Sarah Jessica Parker and Chris Penn?

I had to put these two together when I answered; in addition, I have to add Francis Lee McCain and John Laughlin. These are the cast members I remember most. All four treated my sister and me wonderfully and I can't see talking about Footloose without mentioning that.

The motel that the production put us at had a swimming pool. The only stipulation was that my sister and I could not go swimming until after dark as they did not want us to get any sun. Chris Penn, John Laughlin, and Sarah Jessica Parker were always in the pool when we went down. They took time and they played with us. Over the course of filming, SJP taught me how to swim. I remember Chris Penn as being quite a clown. He was always making us laugh. It speaks a lot about him that he would take the time to interact with us. I cried off and on for a week when I heard he died. Seriously. I know that sounds dramatic, but he made that big of an impression on my life.

Sarah Jessica Parker was, and I bet she still is, amazing! I'm sure that you know that Tracy Nelson was originally slated to play Rusty. My favorite show at that time was Square Pegs. I was so excited to meet Tracy Nelson. I don't remember how the timeline worked, but I clearly remember being at a rehearsal and Tracy Nelson was there. I was so excited to meet her, but it was quick and it was disappointing.

After I was told that she was replaced by SJP, I was even more excited! I liked her better on the show. Again, I had to psych myself up to introduce myself. The difference was she was so sweet and so warm. She hung out with us, ate lunch with us many times, and genuinely listened to us. My sister and I found out she was in Annie. We loved that movie! She answered every single one of our questions about it. In retrospect, I think a lot of that care came from the fact that she was a child actress and she truly understood what it was like. I remember her so well; I am so sorry we didn't stay in touch with her.

Francis Lee McCain was also often with my sister, my mother, and myself in between takes. Most of the pictures I am providing you with were taken by her. She was very nice and took a lot of care in how she treated us. When, as a child, you feel like an adult has your full attention—I think [those] kinds of interactions go a long way. 

Did you attend the premiere, and if so, what was that like?

My sister and didn't attend the Hollywood premiere, but I remember there was a premiere party in Salt Lake City with a lot of the local actors in the film. We got ride in a limo, so it was really fun for us.

How often were you recognized on the street? Any funny stories about that?

Elementary school actually turned into quite a nightmare. When the move was a hit, kids were coming out of the woodworks to meet us; when the movie started to slip, the same kids would come up to me and say "Footloose sucks, you suck…" And so on. At the end of that school year, we moved to a new home. My sister and I decided we were not going to tell anyone about Footloose, but we were very quickly recognized.

When the movie was at the height of its popularity, a rumor started that Kevin Bacon was staying at our house. A car full of teenage girls pulled over by me on the way home from school one day and asked if I was the girl from the movie. After I confirmed, the same group followed me home for about a week. They stayed parked in front of our house, hoping to see Kevin Bacon. It was kind of scary for me. My father finally had to take care of it. He stormed out to their car and I was ordered into the house. I don't know what he said to them, but I never saw them again.

Do you remember what you earned for the movie, and do you still earn residuals?

Not at the time. I remember seeing the approximate amount on my social security report a few years ago. It was in the thousands.  I still get four checks a year. It pans out to be about $200-400 annually, small enough that I forget about them. Recently I found about eight uncashed Footloose checks while moving. I took them into the bank and they could cash only a few of them because [more than] 180 days had passed. The teller, who was maybe in his early twenties, called over his supervisor, who was maybe in her late twenties, to see if there was anything she could do about depositing the older checks. The supervisor started grilling me about why I had so many checks from Paramount Pictures. After trying to steer away from the subject, I finally told her it was because I was in a movie when I was a child. The supervisor, the original teller, and another young teller started pressing me for what movie it was. Finally, I said Footloose. *silence* The supervisor says "But wasn't that movie [only] a few years ago?" I told her I was in the original movie from the eighties. *silence* The teller asks "There was an original?!" That was the first day I felt really old.

What are you doing these days?

I'm finishing up my degree in economics with an emphasis on professional and strategic communications. I am also researching and slowly working on a book on wage inequality and the poverty trap in America. I don't work at the moment. I spend most of my free time with my six-year-old; some days that can definitely be counted as work.

It took me a long time to get where I am at. I continued to act until I was about fifteen, when I formed horrible social anxiety. I was so focused on eventually having a career in the entertainment industry that I tried many different things, looking for something that clicked. I worked on writing screenplays for a while. I submitted a different screenplay to Sundance Feature Film Lab every year for about six years. Twice, I made it to the final round, but I never got a lab spot. I bought camera gear and worked on filming a documentary, but that was too slow of a process. I tried my hand at short films. I actually shot a short film with some friends of mine in Austin, but I never finished it. I came to the hard realization that being in entertainment was not for me.

I took a job at a coffee shop to be free enough to work on some of these other things I was doing. Before I knew it, I had been working there for twelve years. At the same time, I had been slowly chipping away at my B.S. I took so long, mainly, because I had no idea what to do. When I finally really got back into school, I made a discovery: I love math. Not only do I love math, but I am really good at it. This was major for me because all of my life I considered myself more on the English side of the fence, so I never tried to like math. I always assumed I was not good at it.

I made the decision that I was going to major in math and take the actuarial exams. I decided to minor in business because I wanted to take some finance classes and the only way I could do it was to be accepted to the business school. Through taking microeconomics as a business prerequisite, I discovered that even more than I love math, I love economics. That is the first time, as strange as it sounds, that I have truly felt fulfilled.

Any interest in acting again?

I really have no interest in acting again. As I mentioned earlier, I have battled horrible social anxiety for many years. Around 2008, my little brother was on a reality television show. Though the show was [only] marginally successful, the network really latched on to my brother to do a lot of the promotional work. A segment was booked on The Today Show where he would show how he has integrated his new healthy lifestyle into his family. It was around my birthday and my brother worked it out so the network would fly me out to New York with him; the rub was I had to appear with him on Today and in an Associated Press interview. "You have to be on national television" is about the worst sentence you can speak to someone with social anxiety issues. I was mortified, but I knew it was so important to my brother and he worked so hard to make this happen so we could go to New York for my birthday. I had to keep reminding myself that I was in a blockbuster film. I have been seen by most of America, whether I like it or not. Footloose is what pulled me through.

Mimi is on the right.

In school, more recently, I have had the chance to work with two spectacular and inspiring professors who have really cultivated my love of public speaking, and I am forever grateful. It has exposed another side of myself that I really love. I love crafting talks and connecting with an audience, but 100% as myself. Acting…? No…! I am less about Hollywood and more about Ted Talks.

Where do you live?

Salt Lake City.

If you have children, how many and ages?

I have two children, both boys. My older, Christian, is 21. My younger, Leo, is six.  Yes…quite a spread. It's like having two only children.

If they have seen you in Footloose, what do they think about it?

They have both seen it. My oldest really didn't think much of it. My six-year-old was not interested in the movie, but was interested that I was in it. He has the acting bug and had been telling me long before he knew I was a child actor that he wanted to be in movies. I really don't want him involved in professional acting so young. My experiences were not bad, per se, but the aftermath was really pretty bad (in school and such). I would rather he be a kid. I let him do a YouTube channel with his father. They do toy reviews and they have a lot of fun with it, but that is about as far as I want it to go.

Have you ever participated in a Footloose-related event (reunion, convention, documentary, etc.)? If not, would you be open to meeting fans and signing autographs?

I haven't, no. I suppose I would be open to it.

When was the last time you saw a member of the cast, and was it on purpose or by chance?

None of the heavy hitters. The man who played the cop that pulled Kevin Bacon over was once a substitute teacher at my junior high school.

When was the last time you watched Footloose? How did you think it held up?

I have watched my parts with my son, but I don't think I have watched the full movie for about ten years. I mean, no getting around it, it is quintessential cheeseball eighties. I think it has held up in the sense that it is still talked about, still quoted, still spoofed in pop culture. For being an iconic movie of the eighties, it stands with a select few. Many people think Footloose when they think of eighties entertainment.

Do you have any mementos from the experience such as set photos, a script, or anything from the set?

I do have a few things. I have a script, pictures. It was really fun to pull them out. I actually used my Footloose script to teach myself to write in screenplay format. At the time I was not aware of the differences between a script and a shooting script.

Do you have clippings from 1980s magazine/newspaper interviews/profiles?

I don't.

What did you think when you first heard from me?

It was really out of the blue. My brother called me. I think you had sent him an email in February. He had forwarded it to an email I hadn't used since 2003. I'm happy to answer questions about the experience [but] was surprised that anyone had any interest in it.

How do you look back on your Footloose experience?

Very fondly. It was a great experience. It is magical to know that you were a part of something that blew up the way that that movie did.

If the experience changed your life in any way, how?

It could have changed my life. When the movie was a hit, my parents were contacted by one of the bigger talent agencies in Hollywood. My mother had planned to drive my sister and me down to L.A. to meet with them. At the last minute, my parents decided that they didn't want Hollywood kids, they just wanted kids. We continued to act locally, but never anything big. I am actually so thankful for that decision. I hear a lot of scary stories about child actors from that particular generation and it makes me so glad I was never subjected to that. My father passed away suddenly in 1989. I feel I got a lot of time with him that I couldn't have gotten if we had traveled down that road. So I guess my answer is no, but it was for the best.