Vintage DD turntables. Are we living dangerously?


I have just acquired a 32 year old JVC/Victor TT-101 DD turntable after having its lesser brother, the TT-81 for the last year.
TT-101
This is one of the great DD designs made at a time when the giant Japanese electronics companies like Technics, Denon, JVC/Victor and Pioneer could pour millions of dollars into 'flagship' models to 'enhance' their lower range models which often sold in the millions.
Because of their complexity however.......if they malfunction.....parts are 'unobtanium'....and they often cannot be repaired.
halcro
I will never puncture my precious golden age vinyls or expensive MoFi prints for such bullshits....baaaahhhh.
Chak, can you post some photos? I yield to Raul’s description because I know he’s seen, tried out, or owned most everything, but the notion of drilling an LP as he described it seems dubious at best. On the other hand, my sample of the SS 300 has the tiny hole described by both you and Raul, and I don’t see how it could be used to fasten the mat to the spindle or the platter. Thanks if you can manage it.
By the way, if one were paranoid about the platter mat slipping on the platter, very thin double-sided tape would forever take care of that problem. As to the issue of an LP sliding on the surface of the SS 300, I find that doubtful. There is some frictional connection between the LP and the platter mat. Besides, I use a record weight or a clamp.
Dear @lewm  : "   but the notion of drilling an LP as he described it seems dubious at best. "

dubious? when you never had on hand the original one and where you never experienced it. How dare you to post that so secure statement?

You are totally wrong because that tiny hole is for what I posted.

Anyway, I don't care any more because I don't own any SS-300.

R.
@bimasta

 RAUL disagrees with you, Chak —"That tiny hole at the inner position in the SS300 is not to fix it to the spindle. SAEC makes a research about and they found out that the LP/records tend to slide through a metal mat surface so its advice is that with a small nail use that hole to fix the LP to the mat and for this you have to make a tiny hole on each LP at exactly the metal mat hole position then and before play you insert the tiny nail in the LP through the metal mat hole. In this way the mat and LP spins at unison/evenly."

Neither seems worth the bother to me, or even the few seconds to think about it. And note it could be done with any other mat regardless of the material, and no one ever bothered.

Hmm, interesting. I have 6 page manual with my NOS NIB SAEC mat, the manual is in Japanese of course, but there are some pictures.  

I will translate from Japanese to make sure about it. 

Making a hole in the record label is indeed a strange idea, because to fix the pad from the top of the record it must goes through the record to reach a treated hole in the mat. 

Fixing the mat to the spindle hole with that thin metal "bridge" under the record surface is what i expected. But maybe i'm wrong, anyway it would be nice to find the answer. It is crazy if SAEC suggested us to drill the records :)) I think a heavy record weight on top could solve the issue, but SEC never made any record weights, just a mat. 

I will post some pictures later.