The Garrard 301 Restoration Project PT XCIII - Three Amigo's upgrade update


This project has been going on now for over 10 years and still I tinker. Last year I flirted with the idea of having a three armed plinth with three vintage SME tonearms. Ultimately I wanted the ability to use my favourite SPU, have very good MONO playback for my growing collection of MONO LP'S and then also be able to mess around with vintage MM's from the 1970's, mainly to play classical stuff, I do think that a decent MM cartridge and DECCA SXL's are a combination which is extremely hard to beat. Let's fast forward to 2026 and I twisted my own arm and bought a very nice example of a fixed shell SME 3009 which had basically been designed as a tonearm for the Shure V15 mk3. I got a good deal and the RCA conversion had been done which means I can use my favourite IC's when the time comes (hello Yannis)!



So here is my newest 3009. You can also see that I have started to make a Panzerholz base for the tonearm. I only have a few pieces of Panzerholz left now so I have to be extremely careful that I don't bodge anything that I make. I've included another photograph showing my Shure V15 mk 3, I can't wait to get this setup and then start playing around with some of the more exotic JICO stylii. I no longer trust the internet (or sadly) people on the various forums to send undamaged or knackered Stylii so I trust JICO, yes they are expensive and they take ages to arrive and the customs can be a PITA but at least you get what you paid for. JICO are supposed to be making a brand new V15 mk3 cartridge but the world still waits.



Finally a quick shot of what the three SME's will look like when I eventually modify the current plinth to accept a third arm.



The plinth will need to be dismantled and I will have to form a channel in the plinth to hide another setup of Interconnects which will connect the SME 3009 and then run out into the EAR 834 clone phonostage. Speaking of which I now have three phonostages linked to the 301, my Paradise phonostage takes care of SPU Silver Meister Mk2 and Jazz duties. The Croft phonostage is specifically for MONO playback and the EAR clone is especially for my MM adventures. The EAR can accept different capacitance loads, has the ability to switch bewteen two sources and has a MONO switch should the Croft break. So far my rack has been very accomodating and I managed to house the EAR 834 clone without having to dismantle the whole thing or buy some more bamboo racks. Here's a quick photo, things are a bit cramped but you can see both phonostages sitting on top of each other.



Finally, I've always wanted a Panzerholz plinth for the 301 but cost is quite prohibitive and I've never really managed to design a plinth that worked for my needs, well, that's not the case anymore. I will be seriously thinking about getting some Permali and making another plinth for the 301 around the same desigbn as the bamboo plinth which currently houses the 301. The project still has some way to go. There appears to be many upgrades which I still haven't tried but that's for another year, as ever stay tuned......