by SteveFury »
Tue Sep 24, 2013 6:11 am
I have found 78's in the places already mentioned but some of my very best ones have been found at "junk" stores. These places are not thrift donation locations like GoodWill or "Thrift America" etc, but small road side buildings with a large variety of things laying outside. I might drive by and see the place has things like old car parts rusting in the rain, old wheels, rusty iron lawn decorations, gas pumps, cement bird baths outside... You name it, just junk for sale.
I'll park and go inside to see the whole place is packed with shelves of junk and ask the person if they have any old records. Once I came across a whole book/album of 12" Enrico Caruso disks for 25¢ each. They are in wonderful shape and while they may not be particularly valuable, I love to play them on my Vic. I think I spent about $25 at that particular place and left with a crate of acoustic 78's 25¢ each of various condition.
At another junk style store I bought another stack of 78's with a pair of Helen Kane's tunes including "I wanna be loved by you" and other great acoustic ones which I love to play.
Probably my favorite 78 is Begin the Beguine by Artie Shaw. I broke the record being careless and couldn't believe my luck by finding another one at a junk store. Then I broke that one too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNcPnEc99UE