Vintage DD turntables. Are we living dangerously?

Ok, boys.
i really couldn't care less what anyone else does. My advice is sincerely offered, and that's all it is... advice. A more conservative approach with which I would also agree is to inspect all the existing electrolytics for swelling or leakage of fluids, and then to replace only those that exhibit such signs.

Obviously , any work done by an incompetent person could create problems, rather than fix or prevent them. That's always a caveat.

Anecdotal reports that this or that DD has run apparently well for decades with no servicing prove nothing. It's a fact that electrolytic capacitors have a finite life span, like it or not. I do agree as I wrote above that regular use and controlled temp and humidity could greatly prolong trouble free service. Do you still have a problem?

By the way also, unless one has owned the DD from new, one cannot be certain that the electrolytics in the circuit were not already replaced by a previous owner, thus making it seem as if the turntable is defying laws of nature. That's one more reason why anecdotal reports should be taken with a grain of salt, albeit the Sony in question apparently is in the possession of its original owner. Cool.

Conversely I've been in to a lot of units for various reasons that appeared to be working fine that weren't.  The good DD circuits are great at compensating for all kinds of ills.  I've seen grossly miss-calibrated drives where the motor was fighting itself, and the owners heard no audible ill-effects. 

Every SP-10MKII/2A/3 I've been in has had physically and electrically leaking caps.  The ones that would still spin seemed to spin fine, even though upon measurement they were clearly unhealthy.

Some fare better, some worse.  The bottom line for me when doing a refurb is that the average life of electrolytics is well established, testing each one isn't worth the time, and there's no way to predict when a cap may become marginal or flat-out fail.  Failed or failing caps don't always physically leak or vent. 

I've never been an advocate of shotgun parts replacements in place of fault-finding and repair, and do caution amateurs that doing so can cause issues as they may indeed cause other failures in the process. 

Once in a great while I do end up eating some hours when replacing known problematic parts due to other failures.  It's rare and I don't charge for that time.

This isn't my day job, and my primary motivators are to ensure pieces leave performing at least to factory new levels, and to do everything within reason to ensure I never see a unit come back. 

Laying here on the couch listing to Alice Cooper muscle of love vinyl on my 1976 DD turntable and liking it a lot. Yes I'm the original owner, never had it serviced and had it in storage for a few years (controlled environment) It may be that I'm very fortunate or lucky. I do agree with Lewn that sooner or later something will go wrong. I think he thinks in preventative measures which is sensible. I don't take his thought as terrorizing at all. The only regret I have reading this thread is that now I'm actively looking at tables that may replace the vintage table when it's time has ended. In any case I will have benefitted greatly from it's many years of service and I can tell anyone here it will be very hard to replace.  

I think the point of this thread, most of all, is that we don't have to give up on our vintage DD turntables purely for reasons of their having aged into obsolescence and unrepairability.  In general, they can be brought up to date functionally, and they can be repaired if malfunctioning.  In other words, we are not living dangerously.  Prudently, maybe, but not dangerously.