Vinyl corners cut

[jahspear]

Why does a lot of 2nd hand Vinyl have a corner cut?
It's so annoying!

[ZarcyD]

This should answer your question
What is a Cut-out
Cut-outs are records which have been cut or drilled in order to indicate they have been sold at a discount price.
Cut-outs are predominantly a US phenomenon is used mainly by distributors to prevent dealers trying to return discount items for a full refund.
Some labels and even shops have used the same method to prevent returns. It has also occasionally been used to identify promos, which have been given away.

The term Cut-out refers to records which have been marked in a number of ways:


Cut: this is the commonest, a saw cut is made near the corner into the sleeve
Cornered: the corner is cut away diagonally
Drilled: a drill hole is made either near the corner of the sleeve or right through the vinyl (on the label)

History and notes
Cut Outs were most common in the 70s and 80s, the practice has declined, but cut-out CDs from the 90s do turn up.
Some titles were dumped in huge numbers on the US market.
Shops buying cut-outs in had little control over what titles they got, so many music shops avoided them, this meant they surfaced in discount stores Etc.
Most Cut-outs in the UK are US imports, huge numbers were shipped over in the 70s and 80s, often at ridiculously low prices. The only UK pressed cut-outs I have found evidence of where packs of 12" singles sold off by the HMV chain store in the 1990s.

Value
In the US the cut-out still has a stigma attached to it, and prices may be lower than for an uncut copy, in the UK collectors tend to pay less attention, however those UK records cut by HMV must be considered as damaged.
As a rule go for the uncut copy when you have the option...C.D

[zapatoo]

I seem to remember that making them cut-outs or drilled meant they were imperfect, so attracted less (or none at all) import duty when arriving in the U.K.

That's what I was told way back then, anyway

[ahorn]

Those were the times, mainly late 70's and the early 80's when there were tons of jazz, soul & funk cutouts for sale on almost every corner shop. Overlooked by almost everyone. I didn't know anything about the music, just bought them because they were so cheap and I wanted jsut about any record that I could afford - it really didn't matter what they were. Thanks to those cheap records I now have a great collection of said categories and I don't have to go bidding them at ridiculously high prices on e-bay.
They are still evyrywhere circulating but of course the prices of old cutouts are in different class nowadays. I don't mind those cutout or saw holes if the record is in good shape otherwise.

[freewheelinfrankie]

I suppose a little saw cut or hole or bit off the corner isn't disastrous, though of course if the record subsequently becomes valuable this kind of damage to the sleeve will reduce the value - the higher the value the greater the percentage drop I would imagine. The amount cut off can be quite big though - I have a Standells lp with about 3cm cut off the corner. Kind of annoys me though - the same sort of vandalism that deliberately wrecks a house so that no one can squat it, if not on the same level of moral dodginess.

They don't really seem to have got their heads round doing this to CDs though - I've encountered a few with a drill hole through the corner and without exception the jewel case is cracked as a result, if not smashed.

ff

[kas]

Cut out records turned up in large quantities here in Finland during those years. Some of the discount department stores had full bins of them - mostly dull US easy listening and mainstream country...
But there was also a small record shop in my home town, which imported records, mainly from US and Canada. The shop had a lot of good records there as cut-outs, at a discount price, so a good bargain for us kids. I still have a cut-out "Blackheart Man", gatefold sleeve and all, and also "Marquee Moon" by Television and a bunch of others. The catch was you couldn't sell them for a decent price, if you didn't like them.
Nowadays cut-outs turn up at charity shops and flea markets every now and then.