About Luke's Records

I grew up in London with UK pressings of all the classic British albums. When I came to Canada and started exploring vinyl here I found the North American pressings of UK albums to be lacking. They didn’t look right to me, they didn’t feel right and they didn’t sound right. There was just something less authentic about them. When I started bringing UK pressings over from London, I found that other people felt the same way.  

 

Piles of records

Before long I had a business selling records from the other side of the pond to discerning record collectors on this side. I spent my adolescence in London record shops, never imagining I’d make a living from it one day.  


My process

I clean every record on my Degritter Mark II ultrasonic record cleaner. I inspect records visually under a 150 watt bulb and I play-grade every record. 

Degritter Mark II  

 

I’m running a Technics SL1200MK2 deck through a Music Hall PA 1.2 phono amp, into a Unison Research Simply Italy tube amp and a pair of vintage UK B&W speakers. 

 



I spend every week from Monday to Thursday cleaning, grading and pricing records. On Friday I photograph them all (three photos per record) and prepare a huge spreadsheet that loads all the record info onto the website. On Saturday morning I upload all the new records and send an email out to my database to let them know the new records are available in the "new arrivals" section. To join that list, simply scroll down my homepage to the "Join My Mailing List Here" banner. Saturday (and part of Sunday) are spent organizing and wrapping orders. They ship out on Sunday or Monday morning and I start the whole grading process over again.

Record grading

I grade every record according to the following guidelines:
 
NM (near mint)
Near mint is my highest grade. A near mint record will often appear flawless. Sometimes it will have minor superficial marks which do not affect play. A record will receive a NM- grading if it isn’t quite worthy of a NM grading.
 
VG+ (very good plus)
A VG+ record will show signs of having been played but these will rarely detract from your listening experience. There might be some surface noise that you hear at the start or end of each side, or in between tracks.
 
VG (very good)
A VG record will show significant signs of prior play and will have surface noise during playback. I rarely sell anything less than VG.

 

 

My price stickers

I go to a lot of trouble creating my price stickers. Buying records can be tricky so my aim is to take all the guess-work out of it for you. This is how to navigate my stickers. 

 


Top line: Price, then general grading – sleeve first/then the record.
Second line: Provenance – country of origin, month and year of release.
Third line: matrix numbers and any additional etchings/stamps.
Fourth line onwards: further description of record and greater detail of condition.

The site’s homepage links to the six broad genres of LP I sell: UK classic rock, UK folk rock, 1980s and beyond, hard rock/metal, Canadian and American. You can browse these sections or use the search function to find something specific. I’ve meta-tagged extra info for each LP, so if you do a search for Genesis, the band members’ solo albums will come up too. If you search for George Peckham, Denis Blackham or any other cutting engineer, all their records will show up neatly in one place. Each listing shows pictures of the sleeve, the label and a close-up of the price stickers. Yes, it’s a lot of work to photograph every record three times, but I do have some help!

  

  

Payment

I accept payment via Paypal, credit card, and interac e-transfer if you’re in Canada. If you’re here in Toronto and you’re coming to pick up your records from my Roncesvalles office, I also accept cash. Just select "bank deposit" as your payment method and "pick-up" at check-out.

Packaging and shipping

Before shipping your albums I remove the records from the jacket and place them in Vinyl Storage Solutions premium rice paper inner sleeves. I leave the price stickers on unless you ask me to remove them. I ship the record outside the jacket, both in the plastic outer sleeve. I mostly ship in Kraft’s sturdy, 200 lb. test, B-flute (1/8” thick) corrugated mailing boxes. I’ll occasionally re-use equally sturdy boxes which I have received records in. 

 
I ship with Chitchats. They have a fast, reliable service all over the world and they undercut Canada Post considerably. US orders I ship with them are driven across the border and sent USPS from Niagara Falls. Every shipment is tracked and I’ll always send you your tracking number and link.

 

Testimonials

 
This site
  
Hey Luke,
 
I ordered a few albums from your site a few weeks ago. I wanted to let you know it was excellent ordering from your site. Albums were exactly as described and much more detail was provided than anywhere I have ordered before. Shipping was quick. Overall a great experience. I’ll be ordering from you again.
 
Thanks, Chris
 

Hello Luke,

The records I ordered arrived today! They arrive safe and sound in Alberta. I’m just going through them now and they look wonderful.  Thanks for the fantastic job on boxing them up so well. My postman mentioned that you do a good job on packing the records. He said he has seen some horrible packages sent through the mail in the past. Also I just wanted to thank you for your accurate ratings on the stickers, it makes picking all the records a lot easier. It also makes receiving the records very exciting when they arrive as there’s no hidden nasty surprises with them. I really appreciate your accuracy and care in doing that.

Russ.

 

Hi Luke,

I was really impressed by the selection on your site and found several hard to get records that I had been looking for at good prices. I really appreciated the great contact and the very fast shipping. Can't say enough about the great condition, fair pricing, and solid shipping (4 days total and very well packaged) of my first order from Luke. Check out his site (Lukesrecords.com) for sure. Been hunting for this Housemartins album forever so Thanks again!

Colin, Regina

  

Canuck Audio Mart (100% positive feedback):  

Very happy with my purchase of records from Luke. Highly recommended!! Thanks again.
 
Beautiful albums, always a pleasure dealing with Luke, looking forward to the next gems!! Thank you. The best selection and best condition vinyl In the GTA!!! 


All records coming very fast. Condition superior. Packed with great precautions and provided with extra sleeves.
Extremely Professional Seller. Thank you. Will definitely buy from Luke again.
 
Highly recommend Luke. Ratings on vinyl are spot on. Will continue to purchase from him. Best.
 
The records were exactly as described and well packed. Will certainly be checking out other records in the future.
 
I just completed a transaction with Luke. I'm currently listening to one of the albums I purchased. It sounds exactly as described. This is the most complete and satisfying LP transaction I have had to date. I'm tired of putting my hard earned money down on used records that sound like rice crispies, or worse, and are being passed off as VG, or brand new crap pressings that come with clicks and pops pre recorded. This is the record seller us vinyl enthusiasts have been waiting for. I strongly recommend Luke as a seller. Look through the albums, read the description, that is exactly what you are buying. Thanks Luke, I'm looking forward to future business with you.

 

Ebay (100% positive feedback):

Immediate shipping of an accurately described and quickly delivered item.
 
Item arrived as described; Fast & Very well packaging, Nice Seller; Recommended!
 
Excellent Seller! Fast & Reliable Shipping. Item As Described. Would deal with again.
 
Excellent Seller! Fast Shipping, Accurate Description, 100% Satisfied. Five Stars!
 
LP properly graded and shipped as promised. Thank you!

 

Discogs (seller rating - 100%):   

Fast shipping, great communication, items as described. Would definitely buy from again. Thanks!!!
 
Excellent condition great seller easy to contact
 
Great experience and the LP was just as indicated. Item was packed well and arrived quickly. Recommend seller!!
 
Awesome seller, albums were well packaged and in condition they were listed. Would buy from again. THANK YOU!

  

 

 

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