Garrard 301 restoration project

Tonight's Update - The Garrard Project Pt XV - Armless - Quite literally!

I've dreamed about having 2 arms on the 301 for some time now and have decided to get the SME 3009 fettled and in working order. I salvaged the arm from a deck on ebay and it was in very sorry state. It needed a complete re-polish as it was full of rust! So far I've replaced the grommets in the tonearm mount and polished up the RCA's to the tonearm lead. The counter weight needed re-threading and the tonearm came without a domed mounting nut. I managed to find one in Canada of all places. I now have a light weight (REGA) headshell and I have a choice of three Shure carts the M55E, the V15 mk 3 and the SC35C all great little carts for the low mass 3009 tonearm. The SC35C needs a new Stylus, this has been ordered from Korea. The 3009 also needs a re-wire and shall be getting full service and fettle via J7 @ Audio Origami. The Panzerholz tonearm mount in now complete and as you can see mounted onto the 301 plinth. I had to make 4 custom made mounting bolts and I'm currently in the process of drilling out the remaining material to house the 3009 tonearm in the plinth but I was thwarted by my drill running out of power :steam:. So, tonight I decided to switch on the 301 for the usual Sunday evening of Jazz to find an annoying ground loop hum, a little detective work and the SME 3012 has lost the right channel. Another job for tomorrow:(. So, quite literally the 301 is now Armless :lol:.

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As ever stay tuned. :cool:

Tonight's Update - The Garrard Project Pt XVI - Moving on.

The 3009 is finally being boxed up and on it's way to Glasgow. The plinth is still in a state of being finished off and I still need to install the Audiosilente parts. I now have a new Speed controller on it's way from the land of Oz. This new speed controller is accurate to 1000th of a RPM which should improve pitch stability no-end and hopefully produce even more detail out of the deck. I also intend to get a new SPU. So, exciting times ahead for the 301. Watch this space.

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Tonight's Update - The Garrard Project Pt XVII - Fully armed and err... ready!

The 301 was in a sorry state. The SPH bearing seemed to generate a shed load of noise. The 3012 didn't work, the plinth needed modding and the SME 3009 needed a complete overhaul. So what's been done? Well the 3012 now works and the 3009 has been fully origami'd thanks to J7. The plinth (after a shit load of work) has been modded to take the SME 3009, I made a custom Panzerholz mount. I've re-installed the Pheonix Engineering PSU and tachometer after has some real issues with the Aussie replacement that I ordered. The whole 301 system has been up in limbo as the Croft EPOCH pre-amp is about to be sent for major mods with Mr. Firebottle Both tonearms work but the 3009 and the 3012 need properly setting up, I cant see the point in doing this until I have the Croft back from Alan. I've currently got the 401 bearing installed and will over time make some comparisons against the SPH bearing. I also intend to service the 301 with oil that I purloined from Martin Bastin some time ago. I also fancy trying a 401 motor in the 301 and also intend to rebuild this with Audiosilente products just form some fun.

The 301 now sporting a load of SME arms.

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The full 301 system

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Old faithful re-instated.

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Now, I'm off for a single malt.... :cool:

Tonight's Update - The Garrard Project Pt XVIII - SPU's

The 301 hasn't really been updated that much since I bought my Silver Meister v2 SPU. I snapped this Royal N SPU when it came up for sale I'd always fancied trying the Replicant stylus and the price seemed fair. It didn't quite sound right when I first installed it and even after fettling the 3012, checking alignment, anti-bias etc. So I dug out my spare bag of loading resistors for my Paradise phonostage and plumped for 300R loading value, I decided to remount the thing on my Orsonic head shell and bought a new set of 5N purity silver cartridge leads. Well what a difference! :eek: Gone was the slight loss in resolution and sound-stage compared to the Silver Meister v2 SPU and hello was a wonderfully detailed and slightly brighter presentation. A step up from the Silver Meister SPU. The loading resistors in the Paradise are not my usual Z-Foils which are within 0.1% tolerances so I ordered some new Z-foils with loading values of 300/400/500R so I should have some fun playing around with these. I've now bought a Garrard 401 partly as a resto project and partlt out of curiosity to see if the 301 sounds any better by mounting a 401 motor :eyebrows:.


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Right, that's enough for tonight. As ever, stay tuned. :cool:

That's a stunning turntable Andy :eek:

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Originally Posted by brian2957

That's a stunning turntable Andy :eek:

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Thanks very very much!

Nice one. I see that you started this thread in 2011, so quite some time in the making. Bet you’re well happy.

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Originally Posted by Primalsea

Nice one. I see that you started this thread in 2011, so quite some time in the making. Bet you’re well happy.

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Yeah I think that's pretty spot on. I like to tinker and try new or different things. I've been lucky so far in that everything I've done has shown positive incremental benefits, some more than others.

Tonight's Update - The Garrard Project Pt XIX - a part rebuild after 8 years of nothing!

The 301 is being tweaked again as it started to develop a slight "knocking" sound. So out can the whole of the idler wheel housing. The idler wheel mount has received two precision bushings with a better tolerance than the old 60 year jobbies that currently resided. I have sent the thing off to Martin Bastin just to make sure that it's as good as can be. Presently, the idler wheel housing has had 3 new isolation grommets fitted and a new set of idler wheel springs as one appeared a little sprained. The Royal N SPU that I use as part of this system has been reworked by Killian Bakker over in Holland and I have a new set of 5N silver cartridge leads for the ORsonic headshell. I've also just started producing a slightly thicker Panzerholz tonearm mount for the SME 3012 so that we can a little improvement with VTA and VTF variables. More to come. Some pictures later,....