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LP spindle hole off center

Hi Everyone,
I was just listening to a new album I bought, "4:13 Dream" by the Cure. I noticed a lot of distortion in the right channel. I looked at the record as it was playing and saw the tonearm swinging inwards and outwards a LOT. I surmise that the spindle hole is off center by a good distance. I would estimate it is off by approximately the radius of the hole itself.
Three questions:

1) Is this the likely cause of the distortion?
2) Why the right channel?
3) Has anyone ever attempted to manually "fix" an off-center spindle hole? Any success?

Cheers.

Tom
tfkaudio
rushton's avatar
rushton
2,445 posts
 
Fixing an off-center spindle hole is a pain, but it can be done. The way I've handled this on a few occasions is to determine which direction the hole needs to be moved, then use a fine-tooth 1/4" diameter "rat tail" file to file that one side of the hole. One ends up with an elongated oval hole. Using a clamp on the turntable then makes it possible to position the new edge of the filed-out spindle hole against the spindle and clamp in place.

Good luck.
davetherave
95 posts
 
There used to be a $7,000 turntable by Nakamichi that could correct for off-center lp's. You could search for one on Audiogon.
markphd
667 posts
 
It would certainly cause distortion, although I don't know why it would only be one channel.

I have an LP which has a hole that is off by more than the diameter of the hole itself. I just drilled a new hole with a forstner bit. Worked fine.
brf
1,715 posts
 
Use a record that has a perfectly centered hole and use it as a template to drill a new hole.
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