401 idler wheel oil

[Made in 1968]

Totally fine if you want to do that but the amount of money people spend doing such things begs the question why & its must be so flawed to them they need to spend so much when they can go buy something cheaper & technically better. One simple reason i buy certain vintage is my obsession of the era & also how they look.

I have a tiny rumble i can hear when i have headphones on but i have no intentions in eradicating it.. I accept its is part of the original design, i just service as per service data & leave it.

[Pharos]

In my life I have experienced fairly extreme poverty, and with my training have been able to salvage equipment which needs attention, and with a little work and cost, produce a very good value result.

I understand and appreciate the love of an earlier era's equipment, and the extent to which this can apply also to our feeling for the past in general, but we cannot resist change which often gives improvement.

[Patrick Dixon]

Upgraded by the designer, Not someone else. That is fine in my books.

Might be other people within the same org rather than the original designer. Then again if the original designer left and started another firm and upgraded it would that be OK?

I think you are in danger of tying yourself up in semantic knots, but it's completely up to do what you do and don't accept. For myself, everything can be improved and I'm fine with upgrades if they are an improvement. Where something is 'of its time' and will never be state of the art then that's a different matter. I'm not into putting lipstick on pigs.

[DiveDeepDog]

The original designer hasn't got to deal with 50 years of use? I've had a few Garrard's through my hands, its obvious when they're low milage. Things like the idler wheel fit is directly proportional to use, as such I've a small bottle of SAE50 which seems to work well.

Sewing machine oil is far too light and really only good for cleaning IMO.

[Wakefield Turntables]

The original designer hasn't got to deal with 50 years of use? I've had a few Garrard's through my hands, its obvious when they're low milage. Things like the idler wheel fit is directly proportional to use, as such I've a small bottle of SAE50 which seems to work well.

Sewing machine oil is far too light and really only good for cleaning IMO.

Good point Mark. It's always advisable to check for idler wheel "give" by assessing the slackness of the idler wheel's spindle by doing the 12 to 6 and 3 to 9 test.

[A.Grail]

Grease is often used to 'pack out' a worn bushing - The idler bushes of the 301 and 401 are sintered bronze (I.e Self lubricating) The oil used in the sintering process is SAE 30 oil most often. I'm not saying grease is a bad thing but that is not what sintered bushes are designed for.