Vintage DD turntables. Are we living dangerously?

@pbnaudio @Lewn

I do not know grand master JP but, I’m sure, I can not and I do not want to send the turntable to the world; I live in Italy and would have an exorbitant cost of shipping, repairing, customs and taxes; I have to fix it and restore it completely and I have to do it yourself.
I’ve already got the service manual and I have a look at the two big mother board .... there will be a lot of work for me next winter and I hope there are no custom made ICs for this turntable.

I already have a decent experience with the Techncs SP 10 II ..... I have restored a pair with their power supplies by disassembling all screw on the screw (even the engine) I had to repair broken tachometer coil wires, and put everything completely new and two others are under construction.

All this is just for passion and because I love collecting old high-level turntables that would end up in trash because they're broken. :)



for example this is 3ad my last restoration with more photos If you are curious.......
http://forum.videohifi.com/discussion/375892/technics-sp-10-mk2-inizia-il-restauro-refurbished-e-fin...

@lewm 
Same answer for you  :)

@pbnaudio 

ooopss ....I forgot ..... for plinth there are many great looking photos on the internet and you tube for the TT 101 and others will arrive, but before the turntable will have to work, otherwise it's all worth having a nice plinth and broken turntable.  :(

Best groove, I did not realize you live in Italy. (Lucky for you, by the way.) I don’t know about cost of round-trip shipping to JP in New York City, but I do know that his repair work is very reasonable in cost, surprisingly so in relation to his skill set. The TT101 circuit is very complex, given the "bi-directional servo" system, so I wish you best of luck in figuring out the cause of your problem. You might benefit from talking to JP, even if you feel you cannot afford to ship the TT101 for repair. There are several chips in there, but one and only one of them is the main controller. Of two "broken" units that I know about, including mine, neither of them needed a new chip, fortunately. But I may be able to help you out if it turns out you do need a new controller chip.

Definitely you should start out by replacing all the electrolytic capacitors, unless you know for sure that this has been done recently.  The lifespan of an electrolytic is typically less than 30 years, and shorter still if the unit has been sitting for many years without power.

Best Groove,

Lewm has stock of one of the unobtanium IC, I have of the other, so should you need one I can help too.

Best of Luck


Peter