Lenco GL 75 restoration

[candg.wales]

Hi guys

I have just acquired a very* good condition and silent running GL75 with integral arm for £20

*I am thinking about replacing the rather corroded and inferior* tonearm. I am aware of the various threads on this topic on here but just wanted to freshen this topic up a bit and make it current.

I wondered how anyone is getting on with an arm replacement on this great TT ?

I am really not keen on any mods and looking for the perfect replacement drop in arm. I have an original Shure M75 ED, Goldring G800E and Audio Technica AT 91

I also have an old Project Debut 2 with arm. How good is this arm and would it be possible to use this on the Lenco TT ?

Any help would be great guys


Cheers

Graham

[Thing Fish]

I know most if not all Linn arms fit straight into a lenco although you do have to shim the arm pillar.

[DSJR]

I still want Funk-Arthur to see if he can fabricate a new pipe/cartridge mount/V bearing for the existing L75 bearing housing. The 75 horizontal bearings are easily adjusted for minimal play and low friction and a custom tube assembly would just be a drop-in fit, the wires travelling down the middle of the bearing assembly. This would enable the excellent cueing and bias bits to still be used and may not cost too much...

I also believe Speedy-Steve was going to look at something along similar lines and this could also be right up Audio Origami's street as well if Johnnie was interested.

As an interin, the Dezmo V blocks seem to work well in the stock arm and the exit wires to amp are very easily replaced if you can solder. This will mean the arm in stock form will take cartridges like the Sumiko Pearl and Pickering XV15/625 (if still available), as well as good classics like the A&R P77 (ask EsCo for a new stylus for it - I think it's around £75 IIRC), as well as established cheapie favourites such as the Ortofon OM5e/OM10, AT95E and 110E and (bless it) the Rega Carbon (I'm going to try a Jico made? Dual DN251e with aluminium cantilever and elliptical stylus in mine) I've even seen one tracking a Dynavector 10X IV in my time, so this means by inference that a DL110 will also be a perfect match and these higher output MC's won't be sensitive to increased cable capacitance or possibly ageing internal wires either!

See, the L75 in fettled form isn't quite as bad as you'd think, and as long as the counterweight hasn't sagged badly, should still out-perform knackered old Linn Basik arms with gooey counterweight inserts and loose fittings/joints!

[synsei]

You really don't like the Linn Basik do you Dave. The one I ran for a while was as tight as a drum with no sign of goo, which was handy. Consequently it performed really well with various carts and it was an absolute doddle to set up. I liked it very much

[DSJR]

Dave, I speak from long experience with these arms.

At Listen Inn, in the late 90's we could still get counterweight inserts for the LVX and Basik Plus, but eventually Linn ran out of stock and ceased any support for these arms. A good Basik Plus IS a superb lowish mass tonearm by any standards, but thirty years of knurdling cartridge bolts, over stressing the bearings and fixing-joints in the process (it's not as well/solidly made as an ittok for example) really IS going to take its toll on many examples I'm afraid, so TAKE CARE with any considered sample, as spares are not available!

I'm trying to look at the bigger picture here. SME's of most ages can be serviced and were well built to start with, Rega RB arms can be serviced too and/or there may be a favourable service-exchange situation should it be needed. Even the R200 can have the bias belt replaced I think (I wish I could remember which toothed belt it was - I think it was from a Mitsubishi video machine but can't be sure). Yes, I know you can't readily fit these to a Lenco top plate without major surgery, but I feel it needs to be mentioned!

IF you can find a minter Basik Plus with good counterweight that doesn't spin freely on the rear beam (kills the sonics) and if you can carefully check the little #0 screws that hold the shell, pipe and bearing block together, then you'll be fine, but I DO know these arms well and my comments aren't just a dig at Linn, who gave up on these arms, as well as the Ittok and their early electronics some years ago now.

Actually and without checking, one of the shorter? Jico's may fit I think.

[synsei]

Fair enough Dave. I knew mine was a good'un as it came from an ex Linn employee who'd really looked after it, bless his cotton socks. It looked and operated like new. I was pulling yer leg by the way

[DSJR]

Difficult for an Aspergically inclined bod like me to gauge the mood online Hopefully by now, you know I mean well, even if it doesn't always come out properly - cough -....

Actually, if ANYONE has any spares such as I've described, it's the uber-Linn-Guru in Leicester, who's Linn-chip is so far inserted it's in danger of coming out the other end - ouch! Actually, he's one of the few left who can properly sort out old LP12's - modern ones are properly made and any idiot can set 'em up to a fair standard...

[synsei]

No worries Dave, I value your opinion, you know that

The Basik I bought (off ebay incidentally) was fitted to a Thorens TD316 and I went to pick it up from the chaps home in Matlock. After he told me he used to work for Linn I asked the obvious question, "why is it not fitted to a Linn?"

"I don't like Linn turntables" was his honest but rather refreshing answer...

[Oldpinkman]

Now I'm going to be ever so good, and not be rude about Linn. I'll just enjoy other people doing it. If you have reservations about the LVX you should have seen my first separate tonearm - on my original PT - an LVV. If you want a really good laugh you should have seen the free cartridge which came with it. I still have mine in a box (that is an old shoe box of hifi bits - not a manufacturers original box).

So I'll try to get back to the thread. I'll talk to Arthur about an FX dot cross mod for the arm. There is a bit more to it than that, but I know these things are on the agenda. I think it would be better as a maybe an Fx tube, rather than an insert to the stock GL75 - because that headshell is not a thing of beauty. Don't expect it this week - he was flapping again when I last spoke. I think though that it is going to remain a moving magnet only arm even then - knife bearings are not great with low compliance cartridges.

My understanding is that it is pretty common to take the GL75 and stick it in another plinth, rotated by 90 degrees. Indeed - there are some "plug and play" plinths on ebay, and doubtless elsewhere. On this basis, pretty much any arm can be fitted. The F5 is about £600 - has better bearings and arm tube, and I suppose having shot my mouth off about it on a technics, I now have to try to find a GL75 to try it on. Its cueing device is not as good as the 75 arm - but good enough. It's a rega mount. All the future generations will have the same mount - so as upgrades just plug in. The Fx3 prototype, if we ignore some issues like cueing fouled by anti-skate weight, and loose arm rest assembly making it a brave man's job using it on a suspended deck, is quite astonishing. Big bucks though if you are looking for "bargain" 2nd hand upgrades. The RB300's should be a good first move if you can sort the mount in the plinth.

If you plan to stick with those traditional cartridges, or can get lucky and find an epc205, then an f dot cross mod to the original would be viable. My first deck was a GL75 with a G800 (I upgraded - for a princely £5 more to a G800E) and they are ok - but there is a whole world of wonder in front of you if you get the bug

Finally - if you are trying to keep on a real budget, that tube comes off easily enough and can be sanded and sprayed some exotic custom finish, and is fine with the likes of the G800E. Have fun!

[Moko]

The other arm that is a drop in replacement is the Ortofon AS212 which can be found fairly easily, as it was used on I think a Telefunken deck, best place to search is German Ebay for one but generally they seem fairly easy to come by.

Working on the arm is also pretty easy, and if your really adventurous you can convert it into a pretty decent 12" arm, there's plenty of info over on LencoHeaven.