Every soul collector has a story about the “VG+” 45 that arrived sounding like bacon frying. Vinyl grading is the shared language that is supposed to stop that happening, and when buyer and seller both understand it properly it works remarkably well. When they do not, it is the single biggest source of disappointment, returns and bad feedback in the hobby. This guide explains the standard scale, where soul records in particular trip people up, and how to grade your own copies honestly before you sell, swap or insure them.
The short answer, if you only read one paragraph: grade the record and the sleeve separately, grade under bright light, play it if you possibly can, and when in doubt, knock it down a grade. Nobody ever complained that a record sounded better than described.
The Standard Vinyl Grading Scale
Most dealers, eBay sellers and Discogs listings use the Goldmine system, set out in detail in Goldmine’s Record Grading 101. It runs from Mint down to Poor. The value guide below follows Goldmine’s own rough percentages of the Near Mint price.
| Grade | What it means | Rough value vs NM |
|---|---|---|
| Mint (M) | Absolutely perfect, usually sealed or never played. Use it sparingly, if at all. | Negotiable premium |
| Near Mint (NM or M-) | Looks freshly opened. No visible defects, no writing or stickers on the label, no spindle marks, plays without surface noise. | 100% |
| Very Good Plus (VG+) | Light scuffs or very faint scratches that do not affect play; slight warp that does not affect sound. | Below NM, often well below |
| Very Good (VG) | Lost its gloss, visible groove wear, surface noise in quiet passages, perhaps small writing or a sticker. | Up to 25% |
| Good / Good Plus (G, G+) | Plays through without skipping but with significant noise and wear; label damage likely. | About 10 to 15% |
| Fair / Poor (F, P) | Cracked, badly warped, skips or repeats. | 0 to 5% |
Two things stand out. First, the drop from NM to VG is brutal: a record that is merely “Very Good” is worth a quarter of a clean copy at best. Second, Goldmine itself estimates that only around 2 to 4 per cent of 1950s and 1960s records survive in true Near Mint condition. If you are being offered a stack of NM 1960s soul 45s, be politely sceptical.
Why Vinyl Grading Is Harder for Soul Records
The scale was written for records in general, but soul collecting adds its own complications. Most of the records people chase were played hard in their day, at parties, on jukeboxes and on cheap portable players, and many of them were pressed by small labels with little interest in quality control.
Styrene versus vinyl 45s
A large share of American 45s, estimated at half or more, were pressed on styrene rather than vinyl. You can usually spot styrene by its glued-on paper label rather than a label pressed into the disc. Clean styrene can sound bright and quiet, but it wears quickly, and a worn styrene 45 crackles and hisses through the loud passages in a way a vinyl copy does not. Columbia and Epic used styrene for most of their singles, while Motown pressed on vinyl. When you are buying a styrene 45 unheard, a visual grade tells you less than usual.
Label condition matters more than you think
Writing, stickers, tears and drill holes on a label hit the value hard even when the record plays perfectly. Soul 45s are full of all four: DJs wrote names and tempos on labels, shops stamped prices, radio stations marked the plug side with an “x”, and record companies drilled cut-out holes to mark clearance stock. Specialist dealers often grade the label separately for exactly this reason. Abbreviations to look for in listings include “wol” (writing on label) and “sol” (sticker on label), along with “dh” for drill hole.
Promos, demos and the wrong kind of white label
Promotional copies, marked “Not for Sale” or “For Promotional Use Only”, are often the preferred format for northern soul and deep soul collectors, and some rarities only exist that way. Grade them on the same scale, but always state promo status clearly. The value implications are covered in our guides to essential deep soul 45s and the northern soul scene.
Old LPs play better than they look
Goldmine’s own advice is that records from the 1950s to around 1971 tend to play better than they look, while those from the following two decades tend to play worse. A heavy original Stax or Atlantic LP with some cosmetic scuffing can sound far cleaner than its appearance suggests, which is good news when you find something like the original pressing in our Otis Blue review in less than perfect shape.
How to Grade a Record in Six Steps
- Find strong light. A bright desk lamp held close and moved across the surface shows scuffs and hairlines that ceiling lights hide.
- Check the vinyl. Look for loss of gloss (a sign of groove wear), scratches you can feel with a fingernail, warps and off-centre pressings.
- Check the label. Writing, stickers, drill holes, spindle trails and bubbling under a glued label all need noting.
- Play it. Listen to the whole of both sides on a decent, properly set-up turntable. Intros, fades and ballads expose surface noise; note any clicks or skips and where they occur. Discogs recommends play-grading wherever possible, noting that a VG+ record should in theory sound as good as an NM one.
- Grade the sleeve separately. Look for ring wear, seam splits, creases, writing and price stickers. For a 45, say whether it comes in a company sleeve, a generic sleeve or none.
- Write it up honestly. Give a grade for record and sleeve, then add the specifics: “VG+ (wol), light hiss on intro, plays great.” Specific notes earn more trust than a bare letter.
Buying Graded Records Without Getting Burned
When you are the buyer, ask two questions before anything else: which grading system does the seller use, and have they played the record or graded it by eye? Many dealers cannot play every item they list, so a visual grade is common and not a red flag in itself, but you need to know which you are getting.
Look at the seller’s other listings too. Someone who rates everything NM is telling you about their optimism, not their stock. Sellers who use VG and G+ freely, and who add notes about specific flaws, are usually the ones whose VG+ means what it says.
Finally, weigh grade against rarity. For a common Stax or Atlantic single, hold out for VG+ or better; there are plenty out there. For a genuinely scarce 45, a clean-playing VG copy can be a sensible placeholder until a better one turns up, and for some titles that day never comes. If you only want the music, the labels in our soul reissue guide will give you a clean pressing for a fraction of the cost of an original.
Grading Questions Collectors Ask
What does VG+ mean on a vinyl record?
Very Good Plus means the record shows signs of careful use, such as light scuffs or faint scratches, but these should not affect playback. In practice VG+ is the most common grade for well-kept older records and the realistic target for most collectors.
Should I grade a 45 by sight or by playing it?
Play it whenever you can. Visual vinyl grading misses groove wear and worn styrene, both common on soul 45s, while some scuffed records play beautifully. If you sell without play-grading, say so in the listing.
Does writing on the label affect the grade?
Yes. Under the Goldmine scale a Near Mint record must have no writing or stickers on the label, so writing on label (wol) pulls the grade and value down even if the record sounds perfect. Always mention it.