My Garrard Lab 80 Obsession

View attachment 881239 View attachment 881234 ] So what are photographs of a British MG-B sports car dashboard doing on an Audiokarma forum page dedicated to the Garrard Lab 80?

Edmund W. Mortimer, Garrard's chief engineer and author of the book, The Garrard Story, wrote about going to the USA and riding with the sales manager of Garrard's USA importer British Industries Corporation. The BIC manager was driving his MG-B sports car, and said that he was impressed by the switches on the dashboard of the car, visible in the centre of the dashboard in the photo. Mortimer took note of the switches and they became the inspiration for Garrard's tab controls, which first appeared on the Lab 80 in 1964, disappeared for a couple of years (1968-69), and then reappeared in the SL95B, SL75B and SL72B and AP76/AP96, continuing in the Zero models, the Models 82, 86SB, 990B and others.
Fascinating story. My copy arrived yesterday so I'm only on the first chapter. Good read so far.
 
Garrard tables with a Sure cartridges sounded just as good as many of the thought to be high end tables. The Garrard Type A went into many high end stereo cabinets.
 
Wow. very informative thread. I am in the process of cleaning lubing my fathers lab 80 he bought new. It is missing a few ball bearings which I will order. I have a question about the bearing race. How do you get it off to clean and lube it and the washer underneath. It has a mixture of grease and oil and grit and I was hoping to take it off to clean it but it will not slide up the spindle because it makes contact with one of the gears. Am I missing something? I have downloaded the manual and read this entire thread and can not come up with the answer. Maybe I am just fried from lubing this puppy. Any help would be appreciated as I am putting together my Dads stereo from 1964 together which was a fisher 800c, Ar3s and this Lab 80. I have already rebuilt the fisher and the AR's, now I am onto this magnificent beast.
 
I can't answer your question but I am envious of your dad's rig. When you can let us know how it sounds and posts some pictures. I used a 500B and 400 with my 3's and loved the combo.
 
I have a question about the bearing race. How do you get it off to clean and lube it and the washer underneath. It has a mixture of grease and oil and grit and I was hoping to take it off to clean it but it will not slide up the spindle because it makes contact with one of the gears. Am I missing something?
You need to remove the main gear, anyway, to clean and relube its pivot. Once removed, the bearing race, etc. can come right out.
Rick
 
I have a Garrard Lab 80 Mark II. Cleaned and lubed but I think I have missed something because at the end of the record when cycling the tone arm back I get a lag in speed. I have the service manual and have searched high and low for the cause of the lag. It was stopping completely but after disconnecting the spring on the lifting cam for the tonearm the stop turned into a lag in speed. When I manually cycle(turning spindle by hand and engaging trip switch) it feels like it is binding at the beginning of the cycle and then later. It does seem as though it maybe related to the spindle(bearings checked and lubed) or a part underneath. Anyone have any thoughts on what I have missed?
 
Did you remove, clean and re-lube the pivot on the main gear? In my experience, that is what causes many problems of this type. The main gear only rotates during a change cycle.
Rick
 
Rick is correct. The grease in the centre of the main cycle gear/cam hardens with age and causes a lot of drag on its shaft. The only correct cure is to remove the main cycle gear/cam, to gain access to its centre bore and to its shaft. ALL old grease must be cleaned off, all residue removed (easier said than done) and fresh grease applied at reassembly. It is a complicated process; virtually everything that the main gear/cam drives needs to be removed to get the gear/cam out. But doing so is vital.

Best thing about it is, you should never have to do it again. Modern grease is much more stable than the old stuff from fifty years ago.
 
Did you remove, clean and re-lube the pivot on the main gear? In my experience, that is what causes many problems of this type. The main gear only rotates during a change cycle.
Rick
I did clean and lube the pivot. This is the one attached to the gear?
 
Rick is correct. The grease in the centre of the main cycle gear/cam hardens with age and causes a lot of drag on its shaft. The only correct cure is to remove the main cycle gear/cam, to gain access to its centre bore and to its shaft. ALL old grease must be cleaned off, all residue removed (easier said than done) and fresh grease applied at reassembly. It is a complicated process; virtually everything that the main gear/cam drives needs to be removed to get the gear/cam out. But doing so is vital.

Best thing about it is, you should never have to do it again. Modern grease is much more stable than the old stuff from fifty years ago.

This I hadn't done but have now and it has improved cycling. Thank you.
The player works great in manual but is intermittent in auto. When I use the auto switch it will raise the tonearm and then set back down and switch off. It may do this three times in a row and then it work properly. It seems random but i don't know. Any thoughts?
 
I just bought one of these yesterday. Cannot wait to get it. I hope it doesn't arrive destroyed! I have wanted one for a long time. Doesn't have a plinth, though. I guess I will have to have one made.
 
I just scored a great condition Lab 80 in a trade for some vintage hand planes. It even has the "caketop" dust cover though it is quite beaten up. I seriously think I got the better part of the deal as this thing is cool. I love the look, the weight, the definiteness of the switches (loud click) and the wooden arm.

It is quite functional but had been neglected for the last two years or so. I only have the short manual spindle at the moment. After downloading the service manual I have gone through and done some adjustments to get it to play right and sound good.

The only problem I am having is that the arm will not return all the way to the resting point. This happens even if I stop the turntable and physically try to move the arm to the right. It stops just short of the arm stand where you can secure it. I would have to force it over and I am not willing to that.

In reading the manual I cannot find a setting/adjustment for the return. Perhaps I missed it but if anyone could point me in the right direction I think fixing that would put me in a very happy place.

Since it works quite well does the above issue imply that I need to take it apart?

Cheers. James
 
I have a Lab 80 that's cosmetically in MINT condition. Has all the attachments to stack 33's and play 45's. But it doesn't work well at all. Plays extremely slow and the auto functions work half the time. Really need to find someone to restore it because it sounded great when it was right. Caketop cover is even in beautiful condition.
 
I had the post two posts up. Can anyone help me identify this Shure part number? I have posted pics here
 

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Hi. I figured it out myself. Wish I could win a prize!:) I am really liking this turntable and have enjoyed reading up on its history.
 
The only problem I am having is that the arm will not return all the way to the resting point. This happens even if I stop the turntable and physically try to move the arm to the right. It stops just short of the arm stand where you can secure it. I would have to force it over and I am not willing to that.

In reading the manual I cannot find a setting/adjustment for the return. Perhaps I missed it but if anyone could point me in the right direction I think fixing that would put me in a very happy place.

Since it works quite well does the above issue imply that I need to take it apart?

Cheers. James

There is no adjustment. The setdown point on the tonearm rest at shutoff, however, varies according to the setdown point on the record when auto playing. If yours is a Lab 80 Mk I and you do not have the tall auto spindle, there is no way other than by futzing with the mechanism while it is in operation to check that auto setdown point on the record. It could have been adjusted incorrectly by a prior owner. For now, until you do get that auto spindle, you can try to follow the instructions for the setdown point to get it onto your tonearm rest.

HOWEVER there is the possibility that the tonearm, due to old, hardened grease, isn't fully returning due to stuck parts in the complicated mechanism underneath the tonearm. Does your Lab 80 shut off at the end of a record?
 
Hi GP49. Thanks for the post. I will poke around with the adjustments like you suggested. I have been awaiting a new stylus which just arrived. I do not recall if it shut off at the end. More tests now that I have the stylus and I will post back here. My TT is a LAB-80 - the original one as far as I can tell. Is that the same thing as a Mk 1?
 
The original Lab 80 was referred to as the "Mk I" after the Lab 80 Mk II was introduced (there cannot be a "Mk I" on its own!). The two differ in appearance of the control panel and tab controls. The mat of the Lab 80 Mk II says such but they are interchangeable. The tonearm pivot housings differ but there are many Lab 80s with Lab 80 Mk II pivot housings...the Lab 80 was so popular than Garrard ran out of them, and substituted the Mk II style.

The functional difference between the two is that the Lab 80 Mk II can play a single record automatically with the short single-play spindle, by pushing the AUTO tab control. The original Lab 80 does not do that unless modified with several Lab 80 Mk II parts, which is possible but a complex task (I did it on my Lab 80). Both were designed to lift the arm at end of side and park it on the tonearm rest.

We need to find out whether your Lab 80's tonearm fails to return to its rest because it is not entering the auto shutoff mode.

IMAGE: Lab 80, original (LEFT, with Tripoise spindle). Lab 80 Mk II (RIGHT).

View attachment 906165Lab 80 vs 80 Mk II.jpg
 
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Hello,

I do not have an email alert setup on this and did not know there was a response. Anyway, mine is the Lab 80 on the left but I do not have the tall spindle. I have the new stylus now and will get to work on it this week. My issue seems to be a physical one in that the arm even when the power is down feels physically blocked from going all the way and on to the rest spot. I could force it but that seems unwise. It otherwise plays well and sounds good too.
 
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