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Magazine Overflow!

stringthrough

stringthrough

Supporting Member
Nov 26, 2011
3,031
5,491
The great state of New York
#1
So I've accumulated over 30+ years of Guitar Player, 10+ years of Bass Player and 10+ years of Vintage Guitar magazines. I don't want to throw them out because now and then I like to go back and read an old article or maybe even a whole issue.

So my question is, has anyone come across, or has created a cost-effective archiving solution for such a large number of magazines?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
 
#3
I used to save every copy of every music mag that I subscribed to over the years--Bass magazines and all the guitar mags that were once published along with several issues of Keyboard. After 20+ years, it got to be ridiculous, so I embarked on a quest to save the articles I wanted and turn them into .pdf files which are now stored on a flash drive. Took me a few years to get it done---but it's done.
 
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#5
I just put mine into appropriate boxes after a few years, keeping them in chronological order.

This past December I ordered a subscription to American Bungalow magazine and whatever back issues they had. They sent me 90 back issues, going back to 1996! I also have every issue of Forza, and View Camera (Aug. 1988 up till I ended my subscription in 2012). A bunch of other various magazine titles, too:

This Old House
Bassics (every issue until they folded)
Vintage Guitar
American Bungalow
Bass Guitar Magazine (UK)
Forza
Old House Journal
Cavallino (going back to 1986)
Bass Player
Rangefinder
Camera & Darkroom (every issue)
Arts & Crafts Homes
International Photo Technik (Linhof publication from the 1950s through late 1990s)
Shutterbug
View Camera
Stereophile
Studio (photography)
Audio
dB (sound engineering magazine)
Mix (audio engineering)
Road & Track

And, I am sure some others I don't recall. Then there is all my SO's magazines! :eek:

Edit: double post of a magazine title.
 
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#9
Killed_by_Death said:
Those vintage magazines are going to be worth a fortune, you should vacuum seal them individually :smug:
I sold my vintage Larry Flynt mags to a collector at a Comic-Con.
Click to expand...

I should, especially some of the oldest ones. A few years ago I (foolishly?) decided to complete my entire Guitar Player collection. I actually purchased a few issues from the late 60's on Ebay (I believe GP started in '67). They were a bit pricey and they were not very informative so I gave up on the idea.
 
#10
Jeff Scott said:
I just put mine into appropriate boxes after a few years, keeping them in chronological order.

This past December I ordered a subscription to American Bungalow magazine and whatever back issues they had. They sent me 90 back issues, going back to 1996! I also have every issue of Forza, and View Camera (Aug. 1988 up till I ended my subscription in 2012). A bunch of other various magazine titles, too:

This Old House
Bassics (every issue until they folded)
Vintage Guitar
American Bungalow
Bass Guitar Magazine (UK)
Forza
Old House Journal
Cavallino (going back to 1986)
Bass Player
Rangefinder
Cavallino
Camera & Darkroom (every issue)
Arts & Crafts Homes
International Photo Technik (Linhof publication from the 1950 through late 1990s)
Shutterbug
View Camera
Stereophile
Studio (photography)
Audio
dB (sound engineering magazine)
Mix (audio engineering)
Road & Track

And, I am sure some others I don't recall. Then there is all my SO's magazines! :eek:
Click to expand...

That's SOME collections you have there. All of the sudden I don't think my problem is that big... :laugh:
 
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#14
In a previous life I use to never throw motorcycle mags away. Then it was photography mags. Then it was computer mags. By the time I got to the bass mags I decided not to keep anything more than a couple of months. If an article is important I cut it out and put it in a binder.
 
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#16
stringthrough said:
Brilliant product! Thanks!
Click to expand...

50 years of magazines x $3.90 for the rails so that's $195 and figure one 4" heavy duty binder for each year (give or take) so that's another 50 years at roughly $12 per binder. So add in another $600 for that.

That brings the total up to $795 roughly.

Wow! That'd score you a decent bass for that much cash.

You sure must love those magazines if you're gonna go that route! :woot:
 
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#17
40Hz said:
50 years of magazines x $3.90 for the rails so that's $195 and figure one 4" heavy duty binder for each year (give or take) so that's another 50 years at roughly $12 per binder. So add in another $600 for that.

That brings the total up to $795 roughly.

Wow! That'd score you a decent bass for that much cash.

You sure must love those magazines if you're gonna go that route! :woot:
Click to expand...

I do like my magazines a lot ... I just ordered 3 packs (about $15 after shipping), good for 36 issues, and I have a couple of spare 4" binders. If the "trial run" works well I may gradually migrate my magazines to this storage solution, starting backwards from my oldest, most fragile issues..... Yes it's expensive, but if done over an extended period of time won't hurt as much.
 
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#19
stringthrough said:
Yes it's expensive, but if done over an extended period of time won't hurt as much.
Click to expand...

I hear you. I have a house full of books, LPs, cassettes, CDs and DVDs I keep meaning to downsize "real soon now."

I actually do have it all catalogued thanks to the wonders of software and computers and some great programs that can read barcodes. But reducing their (substantial) numbers remains an elusive goal for me too.

About five years ago I tackled my magazine collection that pretty much caught the birth and entire history of personal computing up until 1988.

I kept the most historic issues - such as Byte Magazine's issue that had the brand spanking new Macintosh computer on the cover and the Radio Electronics issue with the IMSAI Build Your Own Computer article that pretty much launced the personal computing revolution. I kept some covers and started tearing some noteworthy articles out. But after filling two banker's boxes with tears and not seriously reducing the rest of the collection, I did a Bilbo Baggins on the rest.



It only stung for half a minute. After that it felt liberating. YMMV. :thumbsup:
 
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