Schmilco Vinyl Mix

[gopokes]

So after not hearing back from the schmilcovinyl@gmail.com address that Wilco put on their Facebook page, I reached out to Kung Fu regarding my defective orange vinyl. I received a blanket letter stating that I can either receive another orange or the 180g black. Two things I thought were interesting....

 

1. They either didn't sell all 3000 or they are having more pressed. 

 

2. In order to receive another copy of the orange vinyl, I have to provide proof that I destroyed the original. Since I chose the black I can keep the orange as is. I did enjoy the humor in which they asked me to destroy it! From the email.......

 

If you choose the orange replacement, we will need photograph evidence that your original defective copy has been destroyed. You can shatter it, you can bake it into a chip bowl, you can make a clock out of it, you can scratch it with a key, we just need to know that it has been rendered un-playable. We will ship your new copy as soon as we receive pictures.

[worldrecordplayer]

Interesting, this is the response I received, didn't say anything about destroying my orange:

 

Sorry for the delay in response. There is a known issue with the Orange pressing and we've been a little overwhelmed by emails and phone calls. We apologize for any issues with the Schmilco Limited Edition Orange vinyl pressing. The defect is not unique to your copy, but a fault with part of the vinyl pressing. We are happy to replace your orange copy with either a newly pressed orange copy or the heavier and better sounding 180 gram black vinyl. It's a better listening experience because black vinyl sounds better than color and the heavier vinyl weight means it is less susceptible to warping.

Please let me know which you prefer.

[nalafej]

Interesting that they flat out say that the black vinyl sounds better. Am I the only one with orange vinyl that thinks it sounds right?

[TCP]

Interesting, this is the response I received, didn't say anything about destroying my orange:

 

Sorry for the delay in response. There is a known issue with the Orange pressing and we've been a little overwhelmed by emails and phone calls. We apologize for any issues with the Schmilco Limited Edition Orange vinyl pressing. The defect is not unique to your copy, but a fault with part of the vinyl pressing. We are happy to replace your orange copy with either a newly pressed orange copy or the heavier and better sounding 180 gram black vinyl. It's a better listening experience because black vinyl sounds better than color and the heavier vinyl weight means it is less susceptible to warping.

 

Please let me know which you prefer.

That was the response from Kung Fu or was that from the gmail address gopokes posted? 

[tinnitus photography]

if there's a known issue w/ the pressing, why don't they replace everyone's copy, rather than having to have you get in touch w/ the issue?

weak.

[gopokes]

if there's a known issue w/ the pressing, why don't they replace everyone's copy, rather than having to have you get in touch w/ the issue?

 

weak.

Agreed. Although, many people here say their orange copy is fine. 

 

That was the response from Kung Fu or was that from the gmail address gopokes posted? 

 

Here is the entire email from Kung fu. (I never heard from the gmail address that Wilco posted on their Facebook page).

 

We apologize for any issues with the Schmilco Limited Edition Orange vinyl pressing. The defect is not unique to your copy, but a fault with part of the vinyl pressing. We are happy to replace your orange copy with either a newly pressed orange copy or the heavier and better sounding 180 gram black vinyl. It's a better listening experience because black vinyl sounds better than color and the heavier vinyl weight means it is less susceptible to warping.

If you choose the orange replacement, we will need photograph evidence that your original defective copy has been destroyed. You can shatter it, you can bake it into a chip bowl, you can make a clock out of it, you can scratch it with a key, we just need to know that it has been rendered un-playable. We will ship your new copy as soon as we receive pictures.

 

If you choose black vinyl, we will ship it as soon as you respond to this email. We will not need you to destroy your defective orange vinyl in order for us to send a black replacement.

 

Let me know how you would like to proceed.

[worldrecordplayer]

To answer the question above, I posted the email response I received from Kung Fu. I had sent them an email with my customer order number and that was the initial response. Today I received a follow up that there is nothing more I need to do, they will be shipping me a replacement 180 g. black vinyl and I will receive a notice when it ships. 

[rhino4evr]

So... I finally got a chance to play my orange copy (first record in yet new house!) and it sounds great. Thank goodness. Very little to no surface noise. The second side seems a little wobbly but plays back just fine.

[worldrecordplayer]

Got my 180g black vinyl replacement. Sounds markedly better than the orange version: a very quiet, flat and smooth playing disc. Thank you Kung Fu.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[TCP]

Did they send just the record or did it come in the sleeve?

[sonicshoulder]

Yeah I'd imagine there's something weird going on with your set up. I can't think of how the pressing process went wrong for that to be the case. It's possible, I suppose, but you should do some tests and make sure everything is set up correctly, just to be sure!

[sonicshoulder]

I actually run through a Sonos but when I read this I thought maybe my two Sonos 1's which are in a stereo pair possibly had been turned off. Played it again today, stereos on...no vocals. All the other songs on the album are good. Very strange but it's a pretty piece of music so I've really come to enjoy it.

[worldrecordplayer]

Did they send just the record or did it come in the sleeve?

 

Came in the full packaging, inside plastic cover to boot.

[gopokes]

I received my black vinyl from Kung Fu to replace my orange version. The black sounds far better than the orange. There is absolutely no surface noise. I hope they repressing of the orange vinyl is improved. That being said, I have no regrets changing to the black version.

[tinnitus photography]

i listened to the orange vinyl version of the LP today via headphones... a bit of surface noise in the right channel at times, but nothing outrageous nor constant. didn't see any off-pressing issues either. i'll keep my copy.

[TCP]

Just scratched my orange copy to get one of the new pressings. Purposefully scratching a record felt very wrong but I already have a black copy, which does sound way better. I did notice that even the sleeve was worse with the orange copy, the colours were pretty muted in comparison. 

[rhino4evr]

I got a signed copy of the vinyl in the mail courtesy of Tony Marghertia Management. I was hoping it would be a 180g black version, but it was the orange vinyl. Thankfully my original pre-ordered copy is in good shape. I'll probably just frame this one, but would have switched out the records if I could.

[The Inside of Outside]

My orange vinyl mix is sounding just fine. Did not know that black vinyl generally provides a better sound quality, however. I'll be purchasing black vinyl from now on I think.

[BillLee]

It's a myth that colored vinyl sounds worse than black, probably perpetuated by limited edition/bootleg pressings manufactured by record plants with poor quality control.  My white Star Wars LP sounds fine, as do several of the colored vinyl reissues that Newbury Comics has put out.  In the case of the Schmilco vinyl, it just sounds like many of the orange pressings suffered from bad QC, while not so with the black.  They may even have been pressed at different plants, not sure.

[TCP]

It's a myth that colored vinyl sounds worse than black, probably perpetuated by limited edition/bootleg pressings manufactured by record plants with poor quality control.  My white Star Wars LP sounds fine, as do several of the colored vinyl reissues that Newbury Comics has put out.  In the case of the Schmilco vinyl, it just sounds like many of the orange pressings suffered from bad QC, while not so with the black.  They may even have been pressed at different plants, not sure.

 

Thank you! I have numerous records where I have coloured versions and black versions. Sometimes the black sounds better. Sometimes they sound pretty much the same. And sometimes the coloured sounds better. Just like having two different pressings of the same record on black vinyl will sound different. It's part of the charm of the format! 

All that said, picture discs definitely do sound worse than black/coloured vinyl, so try to avoid those, everyone! 

[rhino4evr]

The black vinyl is 180g, and while that doesn't mean it will sound "better". The heavy vinyl is more durable and has less chance of warping over time. That being said it's not as "sexy" as the colored vinyl, so there is your trade off. Like the above poster said, it has more to do where the vinyl was pressed and QC.

 

Since the "vinyl craze" is still in full force, these "limited edition" copies can get farmed out to pressing plants that may not have the same quality control standards as the big pressing plants.

 

If this keeps up, you will see more records advertised based on where they were pressed. I've seen this on several releases already actually. I know that all the Neil Young recent reissues were pressed in some place in Germany that is known for quality pressings. The recent Beck re-issues advertise the pressing plant as well.