Technics SL-10 Linear Tracking

See my post above. Ortofon TM20 from The Needle Doctor. The regular mount version of the same cartidge, which is the OM20 received very favorable reviews from The Absolute Sound. The SL10 will benefit from a good isolation platform. I use a Townsend Seismic Sink sitting on 2 inch aluminum spikes with brass cups coupling it to the rack.

A lot of people hate the technics linear turntables. I have one and love it. Grado cartridges come in P mount, I have a silver on mine and it sounds fantastic. I bought this for the tiny footprint to use on my desktop for ripping vinyl to my hard drive but it sounded better than my main TT so now I move it all over the house. I was intitially looking for an SL-10 because it has a built-in preamp but decided to get a cheaper tt (I think it is a SL-Q6?) that had been fully serviced. The SL-10 seems to be the most popular(selling on ebay for 200+), it was quite expensive back in the day. I've played a few new LP's 10-20 times and hear no wear/distortion so I would ignore anybody telling you to get a thrift store DD TT that probably doesn't allow for tonearm adjustments. I've had these and they will ruin your collection.

I've got one that I haven't used in years, and the problem I have is that the arm won't move. Is something broken or is it just stuck. It will lower onto the record and begin playing but won't move past about 1/2 of the first track. Thanks. Stephen

I have an SL-10, purchased new in 1980. 1st couple of years it was troubled with the arm setting down and then dragging across to finish, lifting, returning to start and then shutting off. Very random and therfore unreliable. After 2 or 3 years of repair it worked perfectly. I put it into storage for the past five years, when I took it out the platter would rotate but the arm would not move. I emailed Panasonic they said to bring it to the head office/service depot in Toronto. They just looked at it and said, "Do you realize how old this piece is?" The tech there said it could be a belt or a motor, neither of which were available from Technics, however, an aftermarket tech may be able to substitute another belt. Is there anyplace that this can be repaired? Or can parts from other models be substituted in, i.e. from an SL-5, SL-7, etc.
Please help.

I got the arm working by replacing the stretched out very small rubber belt. I went to the hardware store and bought a like size rubber O ring used for faucets etc. Works just great! Cost 69 cents and I think much better than a new aftermarket belt.