Fairchild 440 w/Pritchard Arm - Worth restoring?


About a dozen years ago, a friend gave me an old turntable. I didn't have time to deal with it then, so I put it in the attic, and there it sat. I recently moved to a new house and when I was unpacking I ran across the box with the turntable. I was going to just toss it up on eBay (and still may), but I want to learn more about it first.

I plugged it in, and the motor made a bit of squawking, but it ran. I opened the motor housing and put a few drops of oil in the end cap where the shaft spins. Sealed it back up and it purrs like a kitten. The box had an old but unused belt, so I put a few drops of oil on the spindle bearing, and dropped on the platter with the belt. I checked the speed with my strobe, and with a little adjustment, I got the speed spot on and steady.

I haven't checked the tonearm and cables, but looks like this machine could actually play vinyl. Looks like these were sold as kits. The base is walnut, but whoever built the kit used some plywood for the top. If I were going to keep the turntable, I'd make a new top of walnut and refinish the rest of the base.

I can't imagine the Fairchild replacing the SME 20 as my main vinyl spinner, but it does pique my interest. Does anyone have any experience with these units? Any issues pairing a cartridge with the Pritchard tonearm?

Thanks for you insight.

Ken
iflyfisher

Showing 1 response by nandric

The ''cantilever weight'' you mentioned is actually anti-skate

weight. About 1 g. if I remember well. I am not sure if there are

more versions of Pritchard than one. My sample had problematic

(plastic) headshell and wiring. Rewiring is more ease done than

a new headshell. But to get an more rigid coupling with the
arm-wand you will need a new headshell.