garrard gp15 - not spinning!

[Frankyc2003]

Hi there,
http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/zz275/frankyc2003/VintageHackerGerrardGP15RecordPlayerNorthLondonPic ture1.jpg
A very good friend of mine has just acquired one of these for very little money, the only problem is when you switch it on, it turns quite slowly before it dies. The platter stops and stays static from then on.
As I am not really familiar with these units, I was wondering if anyone here would have a similar unit or had had the similar problem.

Thanks a lot everyone for your help!

:cool:

F

[DSJR]

Look here first -

http://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/index.php

What you have there is one of the better 1960's record players by Hacker (GP15 I believe), a FAR cry from the usual Dansettes and better than the next tier Bush record players too IMO. The turntable looks to be an AT6 like mine and ALL of these tend to seize up as the decades go on...

Firstly, the amp has some critical capacitors which should be replaced, even if they are working still. Nothing to do with Hacker or their excellent build quality - their amps would please the likes of Glenn Croft I think, but purely due to nearly fifty years of time and drying-out of said caps..

Service manuals can be downloaded once you've signed up to Vinyl Engine. The one for the Garrard SL65 covers practically all these "Autoslim" derivatives as the mechs are far more similar than different, despite Garrard refining details over the years from 62 to 70...

The AT6 like all Garrard auto decks, uses grease which dries out and hardens (I call it "Garrard Glue"). There are loads of threads on the above site concerning freeing off the bits. Firstly, the record player should be fully disconnected from the mains and transit screws undone to clamp the deck to it's mounting board.

Firstly, the platter should be taken off. Swing the steady-arm up and away from the parked position, the main spindle pulls out and this should allow easy access to the trim over the platter circlip. this trim is long obsolete (mine's missing) and GREAT care MUST be taken in levering it out, as it bends easily. if like the later 60mk2 you won't need to remove it and it's glued in anyway -

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q8/DSJR_photos/f3e6d121.jpg

The circlip is a one-way-round affair as well, replacing this the wrong way round won't allow you to lock the spindles in place (there should be a small one for single play and these can be got on eBay from a much trusted US supplier).

With the platter off, it'll look like a cleaner version of this -

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q8/DSJR_photos/6a89d4c6.jpg


The screws holding the wooden deck plate to the case should be carefully removed and them the motor board can be lifted out. if it's anything like the GP42 Gondolier record player I had (the replacement for this one), the mains and signal wiring can be carefully unplugged from the amp unit. The deck on its board will then just lift out. The mechanisms can then be attended to.

Clean off any hardened grease NOT WITH WD40, which should be avoided at all costs IMO. Do NOT over grease as I did on this 60mk2 (now sorted :lol:) -

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q8/DSJR_photos/edef337f.jpg

The trip pawl below must be free to rattle around on the main cam, which can also be removed and cleaned up. shaking the cam and getting the pawl assembly to rattle tambourine style is correct - I prefer to leave this dry and a tiny drop of sewing machine or clock oil ONLY on the pivot, NOT on the sliding parts -

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q8/DSJR_photos/08501709.jpg

The slider below won't look quite like this later one, but must also be dry and free to slide -

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q8/DSJR_photos/000bac3b.jpg

The idler wheel must be cleaned carefully and its pivot oiled with a drop or two of clock/sewing machine oil and the main spindle greased with LM grease around the ball-race and some EP80 gear oil around the shaft proper, as this stuff is more viscous and stays there. The motor top bearing can be got to with a drop of clock oil on the tip of a screw-driver, but the bottom bushing needs to have the two motor screws removed and the lower bearing gently pulled away. I can't remember if there's a thrust-ball in the bottom bearing, but if it falls out (if there), replace it or the motor won't run :)

You should find in the first instance that cleaning the mechanism should prevent the deck from grinding to a halt (as said, a very common thing), but doing some of the other things will certainly get the deck working again.

It looks as if there's a Ronette Stereo 105 cartridge or similar. I like these a lot, although a modern non-turnover type such as a BSR SC12M will be better and safer for your records (it sounds quite passable via a high impedance line buffer into a HiFi system too). That's for another day/post/thread.

Hope the rapid scramblings above will assist you and entertain the snobby "Audiophiles" here as well :lol: I really need to get a life, don't I???

P.S. I MUST repeat - PLEASE don't over-do the grease or oil, as a tiny drop or smear goes a long way. The 60mk2 of mine needed a heck of a lot of cleaning off after I took these pics and the 60mk2 was run practically dry for decades with no ill effect - ask "Beobloke" here ;). The general advice is only to lubricate "sparingly" what was originally lubricated and the service manual goes into greater detail on the points to check.

[Frankyc2003]

:cool:

Many thanks for the very thourough explanation!
I will pass the notes to my friend! and fingers crossed it will spin vinyl soon!

cheers

[camtwister]

What we have here is a Hacker Cavalier, possiblly with a stereo pick-up (although you'll need another amp and speaker for two channel listening).
The AT6 auto-changer supplied by, as you know, Garrard.

Francois, I've serviced several of these and everything Dave says is 'cock-on'.

Check the condition of the springs that locate the idler wheel against the platter and the motor's shaft, when the unit is in 'play' mode.

The Hacker amp used a Mullard ECL86 valve, in a single ended output stage (I think) and would shove about 3 watts through the elliptical speaker. Hacker produced more powerful units in time, such as the Grenadier and Gondolier, which were IMHO the best quality portable units of this nature made by a British company in the 1960s. Well worth saving. Good luck.

[DSJR]

Absolutely. I had the Gondolier GP42, the Grenadier replaced this, with wooden veneers on the lid and speaker surround and was the first to have transistorised Class AB amps. I believe the add on amp really was a slave on this one, the volume duties being carried out on the main player unit, rather than on each amp/speaker combination.

The last one, which put me off 'cos I was snobby about Garrard decks being best, was the Talisman GP46. I didn't realise back then that Garrard had, or were about to, severely balls-up (the quality of) their auto decks and the change to the later BSR models may have been seen as a way of keeping the quality to the same excellent standard for this kind of deluxe unit.

Anyway, all I can say is, that if it wasn't for my Hacker record player, I probably wouldn't have got into "prog," then listened to it on my friend's Dad's SP25/Metrosound ST20/Wharfedale Denton mk1's, discovering "stereo" in the process. The rest is sordid history :lol: