Goldring Lenco G99 Help please

[gavinsims]

Hi all,

I'm currently helping my mate sell some of her music stuff and need some help with a turntable she has. It's a Goldring G99. It's on a wooden plinth, and has a Lenco arm and Ortofon VMS 3 MKii needle. We plugged it in and it still turns with correct speeds, but not sure of sound yet as we need to get hold of some speakers to try it on. We're wondering, if the sound output is working and good, how much we can expect to get from an auction site, and if sound doesn't work how uch to expect for the parts. Ive put some photos below.










The arm is a lenco arm




We're not sure what this is.


Any help would be greatly appreciated guys, I have looked on the net, but obviously different arms, needles, plinths, etc seem to dictate different valuations and prices.

Thanks all

[tommy6206]

you'll need to conect it to an amp and use speakers or headphones to check the sound.The last photo is part of a dust buster not needed so take it off if you dont have the rest of it.

[gavinsims]

Hi Tommy,

Thanks for the info. Will remove the dust buster. We do have an amp and speakers, so tonight will be the sound test

Thanks again
Gavin

[Barry]

Goldring G99s are attracting a lot of attention these days, as a more reasonable alternative to the Garrard decks; the latter now are commanding very high prices.

The Goldring P77 arm you have is a quite capable design, but is not sought-after, largely owing to the unique headshell fitting.

Including the Ortofon cartridge, I would expect the entire assembly would easily fetch £200.

We're not sure what this is.

It's the base and pivot of a Watt's "Dust Bug": an 'in-situ' record cleaning brush. These were popular in the '60s and despite their lack of effectiveness, were fitted to many decks of the time.

The greatest problem with them now, is the rubber suction base tends to leave a "ring mark" on the deck of the fascia once removed. To collectors, this is will make the deck less desirable: marks left on the fascia of a Garrard 301 are impossible to remove without a paint re-spray.

Trust this is of some help.

[DSJR]

Nah, what you want to do is to donate it to my turntable retirement home!

The deck will need a darned good clean, lube and a re-plinth to bring out the best in it I think. There's loads on Lenco-heaven about these wonderful old turntables and very much potential in this design if you're prepared to work at it.

The arm is a bit of a rarity I think. The bearings may not need the attention of the L69/75/78 arms and the mass would work a treat with some of the more durable 2g trackers out there (plenty to chose from) - the Ortofon in there barely gets there IMO (I have the VMS5e II and it's easily beaten these days).

To summarise, it depends how far you want to go with it. The basic deck and arm are forty years old at least and deserve some TLC. Modern budget decks are so good (I'm thinking of the Rega RP1 as it's one I know at £250 or so), you'll need to be thinking of a few hundred to spend on the Goldring in terms of plinth and possibly main bearing and tonearm fettling/replacement. The Lenco bearing can be refurbished and there was someone offering a higher quality one for a trade-in of old bearing plus £100 or so..

Good luck with whatever you do

[gavinsims]

Guys thanks so much for the info. I'm going to keep doing a bit of research then we'll get it on the market. Can't believe how many responses I had so quickly

Shame my similar guitar search is having no luck lol.

Thanks again guys

[The Grand Wazoo]

Gavin,
Just a few thoughts from me.
There is a thread on the Lenco forum which kind of tracks prices, but 99's aren't all that common compared to the other models. Like everything else, at auction the price depends on who's looking for what you are selling at the time you're selling it.
What would be good would be for you to decide on a fair price for it & then offer it to the AoS forum membership first. That way, you'd be sure of it going to a serious home. I say this with impartiality, as I already have a G99!
Even better, why don't you sort it out & make it the heart of a great hi-fi for yourself - it really does have the potential to be the source of a very serious system.
Cheers

[Beobloke]

That's a very nice deck and I've always fancied trying one of the P77 arms.

If it did come up for sale on AoS I could be seriously tempted!

[Barry]

I misread the cartridge designation as VMS 30 MkII. It has already been commented that I don't read post carefully enough but having said that, the G99 with the P77 arm should make an excellent combination.

The P77 was the top of the range arm for Lenco and, in my opinion, was superior to both the L69 and L75.