Garrard Turntable on The Repair Shop

[disarmamant]

This weeks episode included another of Mark Stuckys ‘repairs’ on an old Ferranti radio set. He did his usual procedure of replacing most of the capacitors, but when he powered the set up he managed to destroy , amongst other components, what he called an ‘intermediate transformer’, I’m assuming he meant an IF transformer (intermediate frequency transformer).

His next step was to declare the radio set unrepairable and produced another radio ‘a donor set’ to replace the original that he’d rendered unrepairable. He also found the original speaker, which looked like a field coil speaker, to be unrepairable and replaced that with a different speaker. The owner ended up with a radio set with only the case being the original part.

To be fair the owner was over the moon with the result, but was probably blissfully unaware of what had occurred while the radio was in the capable hands of Mr Stucky.

[Patrick Dixon]

I'm not sure he 'destroyed' the transformer. These are old sets and you can't always retain everything, may of them have already been 'bodged' in period.

Many restorers would have stuffed the old cap with the new replacements to retain the original look of the insides, but the 'customer' wouldn't really be bothered, and as in this case would be delighted just to get the radio back shiny and working.

[Oddball]

I think that sometimes they are jack of all trades to an extent although there are a few masters on there

[Barry]

Perhaps the producers of the Repair Shop should be informed that in future all repair work of vintage radios and electronics ought to be directed to an address in Northants.

[Beobloke]

He smacked the spindle with a hammer, whilst pulling the platter up with a 'claw' he had made out of an old coathanger. That is what you have to do with a splined fit; especially if the two parts have not been separated for a long time. AFAIK the 'thrust bearing' on a 4HF is like that on the SP25: the platter runs on a washer supported by ball bearings in a well in the chassis.

Regarding the stiff/seized speed change mechanism, again the lubricant was years old and all it needed was some fresh lubricant and a bit of working to free it up.

It was a Garrard 4HF fitted with a ceramic cartridge after all - not a 401 fitted with a Koetsu. What he did was quite sufficient and the results obviously delighted the owner.

I finally watched this last night. As to the speed selector mechanics, it seemed clear to me that he had to lubricate it and work it purely to get it apart. When the camera came back to him later he explained that he had stripped, cleaned and re-lubricated it.

Ultimately, it ended up working and the chap who brought it in was happy, which is all that matters. I'd have done much more had it been my own (including finding an original Garrard mat!) but that's not what the show is about.

As an aside, it could be a lot worse - they could have given it to that Tim the Gramophone bloke who did one or two electrical audio jobs before Mark appeared on the show. On one of these occasions he tripped the breaker in the building after failing to make any basic electrical safety checks on a radio chassis that he then merrily plugged in and switched on! He may be good at wind-up gramophones but shouldn't be allowed anywhere near electricity in my view. It seems I wasn't alone as he hasn't been seen for a while...

[Oddball]

I finally watched this last night. As to the speed selector mechanics, it seemed clear to me that he had to lubricate it and work it purely to get it apart. When the camera came back to him later he explained that he had stripped, cleaned and re-lubricated it.

Ultimately, it ended up working and the chap who brought it in was happy, which is all that matters. I'd have done much more had it been my own (including finding an original Garrard mat!) but that's not what the show is about.

As an aside, it could be a lot worse - they could have given it to that Tim the Gramophone bloke who did one or two electrical audio jobs before Mark appeared on the show. On one of these occasions he tripped the breaker in the building after failing to make any basic electrical safety checks on a radio chassis that he then merrily plugged in and switched on! He may be good at wind-up gramophones but shouldn't be allowed anywhere near electricity in my view. It seems I wasn't alone as he hasn't been seen for a while...

Well , like a fair few of us ,I have watched it from the start and to my mind ,its less about the skills of the repair and more about finding real tearjerking stuff to show Joe Public

[Barry]

I think it is about both aspects: that of the skills displayed by the restorers/repairers, and of the delight shown, often emotional (or to be cynical "tearjerking") of those who bring in the items.