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garrard 301 and its' restorations

i was looking at a recent  you tube video of a restored garrard 301 in action. the platter motions while playing an lp were  very "wobbly" and bouncy ,like it was tracking a warped record or a spring in the suspension was "detuned"  is  this an optical illusion or is this normal to the idlers ?. i've never seen this on a vpi ,acoustic signature ,technics 1200 direct drive , kronos ultra high end etc .


 

theoriginalthor1
theoriginalthor1 OP
107 posts
 

he was using an ortofon 12inch arm and a ortofon spu variant.and headshell


theoriginalthor1 OP
107 posts
 

go to:

locus design group;

upgrade turntables

Garrard 301, Orthofon spu

two videos


its a nice old school turntable!

lewm
12,994 posts
 
Whatever it is that you are talking about, it is not "normal to idlers".  Idlers can be judged by the very same criteria used to judge belt- and direct-drive turntables; the platter should never wobble visibly.  At the micro level, probably no turntable is absolutely perfect in that regard, but if you can see the phenomenon, you've got a problem.  My guess is that the LP was warped.
theoriginalthor1 OP
107 posts
 
it is clearly unstable  
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islandmandan
1,260 posts
 
The Garrard 301, and 401, have no suspension. The platter sits atop a spindle that is around 5-6" long, in a substantial bearing well, and bronze bushings. This bearing well is affixed solidly to the chassis. I can't imagine a scenario in which a platter/spindle would be so unstable. The spindle/bearing on my 40+ year old Garrard 401 is still functioning as well as it did when new. It has to be caused by something else, as mentioned, a warped record or such.

Regards,
Dan
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