Experience with Transcriptor Turntables?


Anyone own or have experience with the rather flashy looking (for their time) turntables called Transcriptor, especially with the vestigal arm? Am interested in comments of performance and availability - including parts. Thanks.
cccc
I may have sold more Transcriptors turntables back in the '70s than any other single person in the US. The turntables weren't as quiet as their best competition nor today's better options. The main veering was good but not great from a noise standpoint, and both the Saturn's acrylic plate plinth and the Skeleton's plate glass base tended to be good conductors of motor noise. The conical metal springs motor suspension wasn't the wisest choice for motor isolation, especially since the motto was mounted to a thin sheet metal plate that was reverberant itself. Now, all that said, if you were tolerant of the noise anomalies -- and many people were -- the tables sounded smooth and musical with good dynamic presence. I also personally owned a Saturn and a Glass Skeleton for many years.

The Vestigal tonearm was a brilliant compromise, with strong advantages and liaiblities. Its biaxial design was a nod to the sharp degradation of vinyl after the 1973 Arab oil embargo, which resulted in a big boost in the use of non-virgin vinyl, thinner LPs and "innovations" like RCA Dynagroove, aka Dynawarp. Before record weights and perimeter rings, David Gammon gave us very low vertical moving mass to improve the practicality of very high compliance cartridges like the ADC XLM series, the Empire 9000 and the Shure V15, in an era of non-flat LPs. The arm also had surprising synergy with the lower compliance moving coils of the day. Even the horizontal moving mass was much lower than most tonearms. Downsides were fickle setup, a relatively short length that increased tracking error at the extremes of the groove area, and of course warp-wow caused by the very short stylus-pivot distance for the vertical movement bearing. But on the plus side, where it played cleanly, the Vestigal arm could give standard-setting dimensioning, great detail and revelation, and very strong transient performance.

Eventually, the Vestigal arm fell by the wayside, Transcriptors was undercapitalized to begin with, and turntable design moved to maximum intimacy of contact between the LP and the latter. Transcriptors tables became objects of art for looking cool, but not taken seriously by 1980.

The Souther Linear Arm was influenced by the design choices made for the Vestigal (I can say this because I helped Lou Souther complete work on his tonearm and his exposure to the Vestigal via me triggered some design ideas on his part). I still have a Vestigal which I use occasionally, and still admire for its strengths, but my choice of cartridges today allows me to surpass it by other means.

David Gammon's son revived the Transcriptors company in the last 10 years and offers more modern variations on the Transcriptors theme, plus he has some parts available for the older tables. I believe he still has limited reconditioning services. IIRC the URL is transcriptors.uk.co or transcriptors.net, but checking now I am getting no destination. A Google search also leads to a dead end, so perhaps the revived company hasn't survived the 2008-2009 crash.

After many years of scarcity, I see Glass Skeletons on eBay two or three times a year, at least. They are not difficult to tune up if everything is working. A dead motor or chewed bearing would be difficult to overcome. The tonearms can use a rewire, but the main issue is condition of the jeweled needle bearings. They don't take much abuse, and from what I've seen of used ones, these 30-35 year old items get regularly compromised or ruined by people who don't understand the design and incorrectly torque the bearings. The arm should move freely and neither chatter nor bind.

Feel free to ask specific questions on matters I didn't address here.

Phil
They were probably the most striking table ever made. Russ Beardsley at Harmony House in NYC told me around 1970 that he had sold 11 the first weekend he had them just by putting them in the window and turning them on. Did have problems as outlined above. Never had one, although I was a dealer for Michell, which was in some ways a continuation of and improvement on the Transcriptors. I purchased a Vestigial arm but was so horrified at its flimsy appearance I sold it without taking it out of its box. Buy either one as an object of art, not as a working table.
213cobra
Thanks for the fulsome and very informative/helpful info. Your experience with performance seems to mirror mine except that you have a ton more experience with them and the knowledge to go with it. The reason for my inquiry is that I have had a Skeletal since 1976 or before (colleage Max Gottschalk, designer in Tucson, got me into some interesting audio components, including a Saturn before I traded up to the Skeletal) and I am thinking of using it again in a display type setting. That Vestigal arm is tougher than it looks and sounds very good. I think the bearings are still fine, but that web or framework on which the table rests has sagged and I would like to find a replacement - or find a way to straighten and brace it - or duplicate it with other material. Do you know of such solutions. I also will try to get into contact with David Gammon's son as you suggest might be possible. You are a marvelous source - thanks - and likely that I will be back to you.

Stanwal
It indeed is very striking - viewers seem to go nuts about the styling - and I was able to overlook some of the mechanical issues in that it did sound very good at the time. I agree with you - if i did not own this one, would not now buy one for performance. Thanks for your reply.
I loved the turntable since I saw A Clockwork Orange. My brother-in-law had one that I could never get him to sell to me. Over Easter when they came to visit there was a large heavy box on the table and he said it was for me. When I opened the box - there it was in all it's glorious beauty. However, to say the least it needs total restoration. I just received a quote from Michell of 495.00 (pounds) or about 750 usd. (I'm on disability and music is my life). My other turntable is an LP12 and the motor just broke. Does anyone in the U.S. restore the Transcriptor Turntable? I already have someone to fix my LP12.