That i can relate to.
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Nice plinth. Ant of BTE Designs built me something similar, including armboard, for my G99
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...edc8ff28_h.jpg
I like the look of that.
Just had a good old read through Andrew and it was fantastic to see the attention to detail and thoroughness you went to. I’m sure it’s paid dividends.
Did you end up using the SPH bearing at any point?
Ive got one here to compare with the new CTC brass offering but Ray seems to think that balls are a big no no in the bearing as they screw the spindle and pad over time? Any thoughts? Surely this would take years of normal usage
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Yeah lovely job
Thanks very much Karl for your kind words. No I didn't use the SPH bearing although I still own one as a spare. The SPH is good but I think the modded Bastin Bearing bearing (to my ears) is better. I've not tried one of Ray's bearings even though he lives less than two miles from me!! I've heard conflicting opinions about each approach to Garrard bearings, but then you would wouldn't you. I suppose every party has an agenda and ultimately that's to sell a bearing. I have done a LOT of research into Garrard's probably too much! I've spoken to a lot of the current luminaries on the subject, these include Martin Bastin, Terry at Loricraft, Matt at Audiograil, and a few others. The overriding consent of opinion seems to be that the original Garrard bearing when fettled works best. I suppose you might need a larger bearing if your going for over sized platters but I doubt one man in a shed with a lathe will have spent as many man hours or pounds experimenting or listening than a paid laboratory full of staff and designers with infinitely more complex gear for the job. I suppose the big take away is trust your ears.
Thanks Grant, appreciated.
Yeah that’s exactly what I thought to be honest.
I read that Ray said he’d done experiments with balls but after 1000-1500 hours or so they always damaged the spindle/thrust I’m sure my oversized platter and Tenuto would speed that up a touch as they are very heavy .
That amount of hours would equate to a few years worth of spinning for me so if I had to replace the bearing every few years I wouldn’t mind too much anyway.
What exactly does Martin do to the bearings to give such an improvement?
Cheers
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Hi Karl,
I'm not sure what Martin does with the bearing. Your bound to get some wear and tear on the thrust plate. I use my 401 2-3 hours every Sunday to listen to Jazz so thar's about 100-150 hours a year, so I'd be looking at taking 10 years to show some wear on my thrust plate if I went for the Kokomo design (the ball bearing mod). So, I'd buy three Kokono thrust plates and that would probably see me to my wooden box! :deceased:. I used a Tenuto and standard platter on my 301 for 5 years and never had any wear on the standard Garrard thrust plate. Thrust plate wear usually means scraping of the platter and a metallic sound when the platter is slowing down when you switch it off, so you could listen out for these noises if you do wear down your thrust plate.