Help me buy a Garrard

Pani;

My pleasure. Have fun on your journey :)

There is a NIB NOS 301 on the Gon now...

You can always look up Woodsong Audio. You can see my work on my website, and also on my Woodsong Audio flickr page. Google search for 'Woodsong flickr'

I have done full service restorations on Garrards for the past 9 years, as well as building top quality plinths for them.



There have been a fair number of Audio Grail and Loricraft refurbished decks which have been purchased by my clients, and sent to me to install into my plinths. They are nice, nothing magical there, just consistent, reliable work.

I am personally NOT a fan of chassis repaints unless one wants to change the color. The main area of paint chipping, and almost every cream colored Garrard I have seen suffers from it to some degree, is at the mounting holes. On some of the repaints, the paint chips there too, and can easily look worse than the way the old enamel chips. I had my own mounting hardware made, polished heads to match the original, and I relieve the back angle of the fasteners to be a little more gentle on the paint at the mounting holes. The old enamel on the original cream color Garrards cleans up very nicely. In every instance I have seen big improvements. That said, I am about to paint a couple 301 chassis' in the next month.

My favorites are the old grease bearing Hammertones. Some of the old ones which are in in good shape, that hammered enamel does not seem to chip as easily at the mounting holes.

I also help source Garrards for clients, and have refurbished around 70 of them to date.

One additional thought, there are a number of aftermarket idler wheels available. This is a great idea on paper, however, in my experience the quietest idler wheels have been old original idlers that are in great shape, and many are still in good shape. If any of you decide to go this route, test for yourself, using a stethoscope, or with your ear pressed against the plinth with the platter running. Test the original, and test the new one. The idler drive circuit is the main source of noise on these decks, and second, the motor. I have spent many, many hours learning where the noises come from, and how to make them quiet. As far as idler wheels go, 'if it ain't broke, be careful if you try to fix it'!

As for the Kokomo, it will leave a dimple in the bottom of the spindle. I do not recommend the Kokomo. It does give some sonic benefit, though. One of the things that I often do on refurbishments, if the bearing thrust surface is worn, is to have a local machinist 'turn' the pad down a little.

The Garrards can be awesome decks! Enjoy!

Thanks Noromance for the info. But the guy will not ship. I live on Singapore so there is no way I can collect it from him directly :-(

Ilikmangos, thanks for an insightful post.
When you say you like the grey hammertone ones the most, is it for its special sonics or just the paint quality ?