DIY TT

@rauliruegas 
I have an old Sota Saffire TT with an SAEC WE0317 arm.
Current MI cartridge is a Garrott Bros p77i, which replaces a worn out Blue Point Special… They are sort of like the SoundSmith in that they are MI.

I just picked up a secondhand phono stage that allows for LOMC cartridges to be used. So the Hana ML, AT Art, etc can now be considered, where as the previous phono stage (old ARC PH2) only did 47k MM at 42 or maybe 48 dB of gain.

Holmz-ie, The title of this thread is "DIY TT".  So tell us about your DIY TT. It can't be a Star Sapphire.  I thought you brought up a few DD turntables, like the aforementioned Denons.

@lewm Iwas responding to Raul, who asked 

Btw, which TT/tonearm/cartridges do you own?

So yeah mentioning the TT - I guess also could mean that there are the implicit question of:

1. Maybe just stick with the Sota?
2. Cannibalise the Soto for motor and speed controller?
3. Modify the Sota to accept a second tone arm?

But I think Raul’s question was more of a perspective to understand where I am coming from? (I dunno, I am not a mind reader.)

if you canabalize the SOTA, you should keep everything but the the cabinet. The platter, bearing, motor, subchassis, springs, etc, just make tge box that sits in bigger. the subchassis will need a whisker of modification to support the back arm. 

Thanks Jim - I am relatively handy with the wood tools.
Not great - but good enough to with table saws and routers.

I might pull the Sota apart and inspect the bearing and take some measurements.