Fisher P-294

[IdahoFish]

Greetings! So I was fortunate enough to be given a Fisher P-294 that has been in the family for years and had been sitting in storage collecting dust! Got it home, cleaned up, and fired it up to find that the RPMs on the BSR turntable were stuck at 78.

Popped it out of the cabinets, took the screws out and figured out how to manipulate it by hand to change the speed. Probably need to dig into the BSR turntable section to figure out a permanent fix?

Anyways, wanted to ask what I’ve got here besides a beautiful(heavy...oh my god heavy) piece of family history. I’ve looked around the fisher consoles website and found the same manual that I have attributed to a 1969(I’d love if that was true, I own a 69 vw bus) but haven’t been able to nail it down. Below are some pictures...any and all input/comments/links to where a guy would find a new stylus welcome as I’m looking to continue using this bad boy for years to come! Pics below and what is this little remote looking thing?!?

 

[Dswankey]

I believe that remote looking thing is for the record player.

If you haven't been to this sight, here's a link however not a lot of info

http://www.fisherconsoles.com/

http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/fisher-consoles-1966-1972.388885/

http://fisherconsoles.com/owners manuals/philharmonic p294 om.pdf

 

[IdahoFish]

Nice, thanks dswankey! Funny enough I went through each of those links before I made the executive decision to take her apart and tinker(and after calling 4 local A/V businesses to see if they’d work on it, all of them telling me to basically pound sand haha) and still was left a little unsure. I gathered the remote thing is for the record player, just not sure how it would work. There’s no way to take it apart, it has the BSR crown logo and says “point arrow at front left corner” with a button you push up...but I’ve done that enough times with no results that I’m starting to feel nuts lol

 

[thornev]

That "remote thing" is a 45 RPM adapter. It is not meant to be taken apart. It should fit over the 33 1/3 RPM spindle so that you can stack several 45 RPM records on it and play them all without intervening.

 

[IdahoFish]

Wow, thank you thornev!! Truly appreciate the answer! That makes a lot more sense than pointing it at a 40-50 year old record player and expecting magic...ha.

 

[larryderouin]

Get something to DEGREASE and CLEAN the linkage, and then coat all the shafts, bushings, and anything else that moves with Lithium grease. A Light coating will suffice.

 

[audmod01]

The record changer is a BSR made unit. You can find service data on-line. They are fairly easy to work on. The main issues for a record changer with accumulation of years is to re-lubricate the motor and the sliding and rotating parts of the change cycle system. You can use 3-In-1 oil for the motor armature. Use lithium grease for the sliding and rotating change cycle parts. Use the 3-In-1 oil on the shaft area of the idler wheel. Don't go overboard with the oil on the drive motor. Use a small slender screw driver to apply drops of oil to the top of the shaft/bearing area and rotate the shaft with your fingers. Do the same with the bottom bearing. There is a felt wick inside the bearing that will soak up the oil if applied slowly and allowed to work its way into the bearing. You may need to spend hours doing this and perhaps apply some more over several days to get the oil worked well into the bearings and felt wicks. Don't try to give the motor a sudden bath in oil! Too much oil is as bad as not enough.

Clean the outer rim of the idler wheel with alcohol and Q-tips. If it is glazed on its outer rim, you can carefully use some fine sandpaper against that surface while rotating it with your hand. Do not make flat spots by sanding up and down on the rim, just a rotation method works. The turntable platter comes off with the removal of a spring clip at the base of the record spindle. Do not loose that part! You may be able to get that spring clip out with a small tip screwdriver and/or an awl or dental pick tool. Check the turntable bearings which are under the turntable platter. Use some of the white lithium grease there to make sure the ball bearings are lubricated well, but not to excess.

In case the idler wheel is beyond use after cleaning and/or sanding rebuilt idler wheels are available from thevoiceofmusic.com operated by Gary Stork. He is able to rebuild the idler wheels with new rubber rims using a casting and vulcanizing method. He supplies idler wheels for just about every brand of record changers and some manual turntables. Generally he requires you to send him the old idler wheel and he rebuilds it to like new.

Good luck!

Joe

 

[IdahoFish]

Thanks Larry, I read your reply this morning before heading to work and knew that was going to have to be the next step. As my wife and I were listening last night we noticed it seemed to be rotating a touch slow and as nice as it would be to just plug and play...that’s not how the game goes with classics unless you put in the work.

Holy s*** Joe, if you were here I would buy you a beer/pitcher/keg in a heartbeat...or at least slide you a $20!! You have no idea how hard it has been to find anyone competent/nice enough to provide these kind of instructions in Boise ID. I’ve watched 5-10 videos of old British dudes tearing into their BSRs and don’t think it is at all beyond my technical capacity.

Thank you for taking the time to write up such a detailed and kind response! I’ll be picking up 3 in one oil this evening and some more lithium grease for my new weekend project damn, never been happier to have signed up for a forum, you guys rock!

If anyone has a link to a video of someone doing this type of maintenance on a BSR turntable please feel free to ship it my way. I’m a visual oriented learner, and I’m not above googling these type of things on my own, there’s just so much content out there you don’t always know if the person you’re watching is doing things the correct way haha.

I’ll do my best to document the work I do(for better or worse) throughout this thread...and hopefully by Saturday I’ll have amassed enough knowledge to feel confident in lubing this thing back to glory!

Thanks again, these types of responses are more than a newbie dude deserves!

-Rob

 

[SFVin]

I happened to

The record changer is a BSR made unit. You can find service data on-line. They are fairly easy to work on. The main issues for a record changer with accumulation of years is to re-lubricate the motor and the sliding and rotating parts of the change cycle system. You can use 3-In-1 oil for the motor armature. Use lithium grease for the sliding and rotating change cycle parts. Use the 3-In-1 oil on the shaft area of the idler wheel. Don't go overboard with the oil on the drive motor. Use a small slender screw driver to apply drops of oil to the top of the shaft/bearing area and rotate the shaft with your fingers. Do the same with the bottom bearing. There is a felt wick inside the bearing that will soak up the oil if applied slowly and allowed to work its way into the bearing. You may need to spend hours doing this and perhaps apply some more over several days to get the oil worked well into the bearings and felt wicks. Don't try to give the motor a sudden bath in oil! Too much oil is as bad as not enough.

Clean the outer rim of the idler wheel with alcohol and Q-tips. If it is glazed on its outer rim, you can carefully use some fine sandpaper against that surface while rotating it with your hand. Do not make flat spots by sanding up and down on the rim, just a rotation method works. The turntable platter comes off with the removal of a spring clip at the base of the record spindle. Do not loose that part! You may be able to get that spring clip out with a small tip screwdriver and/or an awl or dental pick tool. Check the turntable bearings which are under the turntable platter. Use some of the white lithium grease there to make sure the ball bearings are lubricated well, but not to excess.

In case the idler wheel is beyond use after cleaning and/or sanding rebuilt idler wheels are available from thevoiceofmusic.com operated by Gary Stork. He is able to rebuild the idler wheels with new rubber rims using a casting and vulcanizing method. He supplies idler wheels for just about every brand of record changers and some manual turntables. Generally he requires you to send him the old idler wheel and he rebuilds it to like new.

Good luck!

Joe

Hey there I happened to just pick up this same unit anyone know what type a needle replacement I need I want to stock up on 2 for the future.

 

[larryderouin]

Lift the tonearm up so you can look at the cartridge. (A mini mirror will work too). FISHER most often used a variant of the Pickering V15-ATE type. Common as Small block Chevy Engines. Get an elliptical that is rated for a changer. VTF should run about 2-4gr.

There is a small Phillips screw on the top of the headshell. Undo it and the cartridge will drop out (still attached to it's 1/2" mount and wires.) take a couple of pictures and use them as a visual when you go looking (this will give you brand and type, so you can look for stylus).

www.turntableneedles.com or www.thevoiceofmusic.com.