Beechwoods' Goldring Lenco GL-75

[Beechwoods]

I'm thinking Beech and Maple. I considered Ash as well, but it seems to be noted for it's sustain qualities in manufacture of guitars so maybe it's not such a good idea!

Hopefully I'll be able to find the quality and wood I want from the BWRP - that way it'll have some history which would be nice. We will see.

[Primalsea]

Funk Firm use lightweight chassis and platters and when I heard it I was very impressed. It certainly seemed balanced and pacey (for lack of a better word). But the whole system is based on the same philosophy, everything is lightweight. I don't believe you can mix heavy and light constructions together as it has never worked for me and others have also said the same. Personally I went down the heavy route but this was determined but the fact I have a 401 which is a heavy piece of kit.

Beechwoods, I have sent you a PM as I will be changing my plinth soon.

[Prince of Darkness]

I'm thinking Beech and Maple. I considered Ash as well, but it seems to be noted for it's sustain qualities in manufacture of guitars so maybe it's not such a good idea!

I should have said Maple was more noted for its sustain in guitars (think Gibson Les Paul) than Ash (Fender). The Les Paul has a body constructed from Mahogany with a Maple cap added specifically to improve sustain.

[lexi]

If the thought of glue making a layered plinth too hard, then might I suggest using Sikaflex to bond the wood together. This is a flexible Polyurethane that cures to very stiff rubber.

I would imagine it`s damping properties to be better than glue. It could also be sanwiched in such a way to provide a band of the actual Sika to show a coloured layer in the thickness that you choose. Black is very nice against natural woods. Masking tape is used on either wood surface and the excess squeezed out. Scrape off with a wet spatula and then tool in with wet finger flush. Pull tapes off and check or tool more with wet finger very carefully..............brilliant stuff and indestructable.

[Beechwoods]

Redid the mains wiring into the Lenco this evening and powered it up for the first time. While I've not checked the speed it spins silently, no platter noise. Very pleased. Also replaced the iffy looking audio cables off the distribution block (left the tonearm wiring because it looked ok).

I got myself an old Shure SM55e cartridge / stylus a week or so ago.

Tomorrow I try playback.

[Beechwoods]

Plugged it in. Rigged up an earth return. Turned it on and lowered the tonearm. Silence. For a moment. Then the song started ('Killing Me Softly' by Roberta Flack).



Jesus!

This deck is so quiet, and that's when it's stuck in a plastic container in lieu of a plinth! Playback is great, I just want to listen to more vinyl to see how it performs! Plinth and tweakerage next

[John]

great to hear its up and running can u add some pics soon

[Beechwoods]

Productive day today. My plinth is now 75% done. Paul (Primalsea) gave me his old 401 plinth now he's upgraded to a slatedeck and that has given me the basis of my own plinth. Rather than cut away at and then add an extra layer to the 401 plinth to allow for the different shape of the L75 cutout I tracked down the same monolithic beechwood chopping board that was the surface of Paul's plinth and cut that to shape using the 'official' Lenco Lovers template. Two hours of jigsawing later and I have a Lenco shaped cutout... and the TT fits excellently. The base from Paul's plinth goes on tomorrow. Thereafter, pictures.

I'm not 100% sure I've got the cartridge set up properly though. It follows the Lenco recommended stylus path, and the common Baerwald protractor. Most music sounds great, but a couple of albums I have distort in the left channel; like the weight or geometry is wrong. One of these has only been played a couple of times. Any thoughts?

[John]

Butcher block will make a great plinth
Getting the Cartridge right can be a findly process its worth trying a few times just in case its alignment issue

[Primalsea]

Thats super that its coming along nicely. As for the cartridge just check that you got the nul points correct but to be honest there is a bit of slack in this. Alignment doesn't get rid of tracing distortion it just minimalises it on particular areas of the record. Different alignments reduce distortion in different places.

Check that the cartridge is level with the platter and that the platter itself is horizontal using a spritlevel, this is quite important as it effects antiskate.

Some records can have real bad sibilance try dampening the headshell with a scaletrix tire or something similar to see if this is your problem here.

And wheres the pics damn it!!