Vince Guaraldi & Bola Sete From All Sides Vintage 1964 Fantasy 8362 NM Play Test

$

46

• Vince Guaraldi And Bola Sete
• From All Sides
• Stereo Fantasy 8362.
• 1964 First Pressing (based on jacket, labels, matrix).

Item Details
Manufactured in: USA
Pressing By: RCA Pressing Plant, Hollywood, CA
Original Issue: 1964
This Issue: Believed to be 1964 based on jacket design, labels, and matrix)
Label: Fantasy 8362
Runout Deadwax Matrix Numbers:
Side 1: (stamp:) F-2437 H
Side 2: (stamp:) F-2438 H
Was bought new by this seller many years ago and now offered from his private collection (you have absolutely known provenance). Has had just a few plays only on an expertly setup high-end audiophile turntable, arm, and cartridge. Has never been exposed to heat or tobacco smoke and always stored vertically in a specially designed record cabinet (Rackit) to prevent warpage.
Was cleaned on a VPI HW 16 with Audio Intelligent solutions and ultra-pure water rinse (50X purer than distilled water) before my pre-sale sound check. I neutralize residual static charge with a Zerostat immediately after cleaning. I wear nitrile surgical gloves while cleaning and play testing to avoid any chance of transferring finger oils to the vinyl.

Very sensitive play testing was performed straight off my Ayre P-5xe fully balanced phono preamp over Sennheiser HD 600 headphones using a Schiit Audio Valhalla 2 tube headphone amp fitted with NOS Soviet Voskhod matched tubes (see last photo).

Track list
For track listings, please see my attached record label photographs.

I never take "distant" photos nor the so-prevalent type with the LP sticking halfway out of the jacket. I take close-ups under photo lamps so you can see nearly everything I describe in the jacket grading. It is virtually impossible to know the true vinyl condition from any photograph. That takes very bright and close visual inspection PLUS play testing with thorough coverage on high resolution equipment.
Grading Details
Note: Grading LPs by text characters is subjective and at best are only a guide as no two used records are of exactly the same quality. I do not use "EX" grades as my VG+ is right below "NM-." I never sell a "G" play grade and very rarely ever sell a "VG" play grade. Please, refer to both my photo evidence and detailed descriptions to judge by YOUR OWN grading standards. Questions are always welcome. eBay no longer allows me to enter separate grades for each side of the sleeve or record so you may not see any in the box above but are listed below. Play quality is personally most important to me so vinyl visual qualities are graded and described in detail separately for your complete assessment.

Outer Jacket Inspection/grading:
VG+/VG++
The jacket front has accumulated wear from adjacent shuffling in my record shelves over many decades. There is obvious ring wear, blunted and creased corners, and some moderate edge wear. Still a very study jacket with no seam splits. The rear face is better than the front with a still-white overlay and smooth surfaces. The lower left/right corner creases keep it out of NM territory but its still closer to NM- than VG+.

Vinyl visual inspection/grading:
NM/NM-
Side 1 seemed to have nothing visual that could possibly affect play. Very clean and lustrous. The label on Side 2 has a LAST vinyl wear prevention treatment sticker as I often treated most new LPs with it before first play. The only artifact I could detect on that side was an extremely thin and barely reflective hairline trace running though T1 to T3. I'm sure its just on the very top surface of the vinyl but still made a note to myself to check those tracks carefully on play testing. .

Play Testing:
NM- to NM/Solid NM
Extensive play testing was performed after visual inspection (continuous written notes were taken). I listened to the beginning, middle, and end of each track for a few minutes on each needle drop. When the track width was noticeably greater I took more play samples to get good coverage. I also listened to all lead-in, lead-out and transition grooves between each track. Some tracks were played all the way thru when digitizing my favorites to 96k/24-bit WAV files. This allowed me to go back and re-check some of my notes on digital playback in ProTools. Here is rundown of each side from those notes.

Side 1 Play
I listen to all transition grooves because it gives me a baseline for the overall character of the vinyl noise floor. The background of this side is mostly little high frequency impulses of very short pulse width. Its a bit courser than "white noise" and its very much totally masked while music is playing. It never expresses itself as a tick or click, and is audibly non-distracting. During the quietest passages I had to really strain to pick out any of it behind the music. I'm convinced that this vinyl character is exactly the same as the initial pressing with nothing added by playing or handling. The transition grooves showed me that the vinyl kept getting quieter as it progressed to the lead-out. The production audio quality is very high. The presentation sounds transparent, open, and has wide range frequency extension. T3 and T4 were my favorites of this side, especially T4, a Latin jazz classic I recorded while play testing. It had superb audio quality and was totally clean.

Side 2 Play
I ended up play testing Side 2 100% because I digitized the whole side. The music just kept taking me in and I realized I had to keep it for my jazz digital archive. In addition to musicality appeal, this side also had superb audio reproduction. It had a very "open" quality with an expansive soundstage. My notes said that "the music just breathes with life." T1 is a fresh take on a pop standard written by Bobby Scott and Ric Marlow and made famous by Herb Alpert. A longer track, where each musician gets to do extended solos. Throughout, the vinyl stayed near dead-quiet with no distracting vinyl noise picked up on my headphones. T2 was cut noticeably hotter than the other tracks (-6dBFS peaks on my ProTools meters) and the music sounded very bold and incisive. It was reminiscent of Vince's "Cast Your Fate" playing style. The drum's ride cymbal had exceptionally realistic audio reproduction. The transition grooves here were very smooth and quiet. T3 and T4 were likewise musically keeper tracks free of any distracting vinyl noise and their transition grooves were very quiet. When I finished the side my notes said: "Solid NM, plays exactly like a brand-new record."

I was really happy to get reintroduced to this LP after so many decades of turntable absence. I'm looking forward to enjoying the best tracks streaming from my digital music server. I'm also sure that anyone who buys this copy will enjoy the pure analog reproduction quality and appreciate it's preservation. Side 2 has an edge over Side 1 for the best dynamic range (it is sourced from a different lacquer and metal parts, so that's quite possible).

Packaging

• Record will be placed outside the jacket to protect against seam splitting.
• Original inner sleeve is included separately.
• Record has been placed into a new MFSL-style "rice paper" plastic sleeve, as the original is paper and may be holding onto some dust as well abrasive. This will keep vinyl surfaces clean and well protected during shipping and ultimate buyer usage.
• Outer jacket is contained in a new clear polyethylene protective sleeve.
• Sent in high quality record mailer with cardboard stiffeners and all corners double-taped.

Shipping

• Shipping will be via USPS Media Mail for a flat charge of $3.98 per single album sale.
• A combined shipping discount is available on multiple sales completed on the same day($3.98 plus $0.50 for each additional LP).
• If you do buy more than one LP on the same daydo not pay immediately but wait for my all-combined invoice.eBay does give you the option to "Request an invoice from the buyer," but this option is not available on the eBay mobile app. A discount for the combined items will show on that invoice. Then, once payment is received, the items will ship.