My Garrard 401 project is ready

[selfaddict]

This is my project, which started because I wanted to upgrade my cartridge to Koetsu Black on my Funk Vector. Unfortunately Roksan nima and Koetsu Black were not match made in heaven, so I ended selling the Funk and Nima and replaced them with second hand Garrard 401, which turned to be in very good original condition.

Then I started to looking for suitable plinth for the Garrard 401 I found Slatedeck. But after several e-mails with no answer I needed to find alternative plinth manufacturer. I finally found this company:

http://layers-of-beauty.co.uk/

The owner Russel Collinson was most helpful and as seen on the page he had made several plinths from Finnish extremely good quality Birch plywood. I have always loved the exposed plywood and this was the material I wanted to have to my plinth made from. So after several long e-mails we had finalized the specs and Russ was ready to start making the plinth.

I had bought Jelco SA-750BL 12" tonearm to go with Garrard and Russ made the plinth wide enough to take the Jelco on right upper corned and on my request made space for the second arm, 9" length, on left upper corner. This is an option I wanted for the future. I have always wanted to try 78RPM's so at least I have the option to do so if I want now.

The installation was very straightforward process. I had specified the thickness of the armboard to 15mm to make sure the Jelco do not get too unstable if raised too high from the plinth. This was very good in deed because this made sure I had enough room to adjust my VTA as I wanted and keep the tonearm stable. Russ had installed 4 threaded inserts to fix the armboard securely to the plinth. He also included new set on longer mounting bolts to fix the TT from below to the plinth. I just needed to replace the original rubber washers between the plinth and TT, these I found from e-bay easily.

After this it was a simple task of adjusting VTA and cartridge alignment. I used info from vinylengine site to get a rigth alignment protractor for my 12" Jelco. After this it was just to ENJOY the music and I have to say it was all worth the money and head scratching.

[Rare Bird]

The plinth with the rounded edges looks very Art Deco..looks cool. Fidelity Research 'FR-64' is a good arm for the '401'

[Rare Bird]

This is nice even though i prefer English Oak finished.

Looks like Santos Rosewood veneer ontop

(That's a Thorens Book under the table)

[selfaddict]

The plinth with the rounded edges looks very Art Deco..looks cool. Fidelity Research 'FR-64' is a good arm for the '401'

I saw the rounded edge model with vertical layers of plywood and wanted it immediately . My plinth is solid plywood,so it is heavy and stable as I wanted it to be. When talked with Russ, he actually said this model was his first design. If you look his furniture he has used a lot of exposed plywood.

Now I am just waiting my isolation feet to arrive.I bought 4 disks of silence, and they are specified up to 90kg carrying capacity,so should be enough .

[DSJR]

That looks really excellent to me and, personally, I like the multi-level birch ply idea, each level jigged out differently as Martin Bastin's now costly plinths did. All you need is a properly fettled Decca (trust me, I know these things ) and you won't go wrong

How much are Russ's plinths approximately?

[selfaddict]

That looks really excellent to me and, personally, I like the multi-level birch ply idea, each level jigged out differently as Martin Bastin's now costly plinths did. All you need is a properly fettled Decca (trust me, I know these things ) and you won't go wrong

How much are Russ's plinths approximately?

Hello Dave.

The plinths range from £120 up wards, depending on the construction and the finish. My plinth is solid birch plywood and finished in piano lacquer high gloss finish and because this extra work it cost me £340 plus shipping. Russ really took his time and the finish is flawless. He said to get this finish it needs 30-40 layers of lacquer.

Sorry my ignorance, but what do you mean properly fettled Decca ? Are we talking about Decca cartridges? At the moment I have second hand Koetsu Black , which has been re tipped two times by the previous owner.

[Rare Bird]

Hi Juha

They are nice, the cut out neatness is a lot to be desired though, i'm a fussy swine, the insides has to be as perfect as the out..I think also 30-40 coats is a bit of an exageration on his part tho

[selfaddict]

Hi Juha

They are nice, the cut out neatness is a lot to be desired though, i'm a fussy swine, the insides has to be as perfect as the out..I think also 30-40 coats is a bit of an exageration on his part tho

cheers for the fussy swine

I used to be one as well, but have given up. If I want quality I approve, only way is to do it myself. And at the moment it is not possible unfortunately, so I need to rely on others.

I do not think 30-40 layers in not far off because the exposed end of plywood sucks a lot of lacquer before you start to get anywhere high gloss finish.

[Alex_UK]

Brilliant, Juha - you might remember I too have a (slow) project 401, and am reluctant to go the slate route as I just love the look of a 401 in a decent wood plinth (ideally Zebrano or maybe Ebony veneered) - I'll contact Russell in the New Year to see what he can come up with. Thanks again!

[DSJR]

My big old ATC's were laquered piano black finish and the lacquer was about 2.2mm thick - you lot can work out how many coats it took to get the finish.......

There are Decca's and there are Decca's.. Unfettled ones are very crude and the pin enters the groove with a nasal "snap," the extreme treble taking off and, it's rumoured, shaving a 19KHz tone into the grooves as well..... fettled Decca's which includes all current production and fully re-built and re-tipped older ones are a different kettle of haddock altogether, retaining the life and "verve" in the recording, having a ruler-flat frequency response from 60Hz to 10KHz and very little if any misbehaviour outside these limits.

Koetsu Blacks have always been my favourites of the older models (I have one myself with a channel down ) and you'll get much of the drama from it that a Decca gives. It's just that the Decca's work so well with Garrards and you have an arm that will stay together with one...

First though, I'd get a Wave Mechanic power supply (or similar) to regenerate the 50Hz supply at a steady voltage as I understand the 401 motor changes its speed with changes in voltage (it's not a "Synchro Lab" type as Garrard made for their other decks and certainly not a fully synchronous motor as I recall) - confirmed in a HiFi mag article from the early seventies.