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Calling all Garrard 301's owners/ sophisticated

Hi all,

I just scored a cream, oil bearing Garrard 301 from Ebay Australia. The deck was shipped on Monday and it was delivered to me in California yesterday. After taking the deck out , put the correct pulley on, I gave the deck a run just to test its working condition. As what the seller said, it ran fine, quiet. I was trying to familiar myself with the switches and how the deck work so I did turn it on and off a few times. After deciding that everything was fine, I turned it off and the power cord was still plugged in. About 10 min later, I smelled something burning and sizzling and it turned out that it was the "Spark suppressor" (!Q@#!@) . I quickly unpluged the unit and felt the spark suppressor and it was a bit hot and sticky. Since i have heard of Garrard 301 and Thorens 124's Spark suppressor go bad sometimes, I quickly checked the deck and it still works!!!

Luckily, I found a replacement sold on Ebay UK and I already order 2 of them.

My question is: Is it safe to just go ahead and replace the Spark Suppressor or should I check for anything else before replacing it?

Do you know what is the reason might cause the Spark Suppressor to burn?

Thanks so much in advance!!!
jaytea

Showing 1 response by gp49

gp49
52 posts
 
Yes, the spark suppressors go bad. All it is: a capacitor across the switch contacts. A replacement capacitor would be easy to source, but it wouldn't LOOK like the original Garrard part.

A typical electronics hobbyist probably has something suitable in his "junk box." Just make sure it is of high enough voltage. On 120v in the USA, a 400 volt capacitor would be safe, allowing for spikes, most surges, and the peak-to-peak AC voltage.
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