Davisonxmp
New Member
Hopefully this thread will provide some future person a point of reference the way that I have used other threads on this site for my own reference.
I'm going to put my questions in bold as I come across them. Hopefully there are a few people who can help me out. I recently picked up a Rek-O-Kut Rondine Jr L34 from an auction. I paid around $200 for it which I feel is on par for what it is. I'm looking for any and all advice on restoration. I've spent some time reading through other's threads on similar tables but I'm not versed enough to follow along with all of it.
I started by plugging it in and low and behold, it worked. It was spinning slower than expected which I'm guessing is because of the condition of the idlers. The motor itself seems to be working properly. Then I moved on to disassembling everything and kind of taking stock on what all I had.
I believe the tonearm is an ESL S-1000 from Ortofon. I have the original head shell as well. This tonearm has the rotated diamond pattern instead of the standard square one. The head shell is not in great shape. It's missing the lift lever and the wiring needs help. I have a soldering iron on the way but I have never soldered anything before so that will be interesting. I'm guessing that I'll have to attach new leads into the head shell because the old ones are not great.
The wiring that comes out of the tonearm is also in very bad shape. Does anyone have experience with this tonearm specifically and rewiring? I'm hoping it's a relatively simple task that I can do with not much experience.
My plan is to get an Ortofon bronze or blue, still up in the air.
Unfortunately the tonearm is missing the counterweight so if anyone has a line on where I can pick one up (whether oem or a generic that is compatible), please let me know. I spent a few minutes searching online and wasn't able to find much information.
The board it all runs to is stored inside, along with the power cord, and it runs out of the bottom through a square hole cut in the corner. So my plan is to wire a new plug coming out of the back of the box, but I'm looking for recommendations on a female RCA board to mount to the back instead of having it hardwired. If you have suggestions on a decent one that looks nice, please send it my way.
My plan is to also hard wire a nice looking on/off switch on the top rather than just relying on sliding the knob from 33 to 45. Will there be negatives to this if it's left on 33 and turned off via a switch instead?
I have read plenty about replacing the isolating washers so I will be ordering a set of those asap. I'm still unsure about replacing vs refinishing the idler wheels.
I am very new to working on small motors like this. If anyone has advice on things that are critical to do, please let me know. I have access to electrical tools so if there are tests I can use to ensure that it's running at full capacity, that would be great.
My plan for aesthetics include building a new box. I purchased a few board feet of some figured walnut. I'll be building a 16(w)x16(d)x6(h) which is what the original box is. I also have some padauk and yellowheart that I'll be using to put two small strips that go up the front side, cross the surface, then go down the rear. I'm trying to replace all the hardware with brass which I think will end of clashing with the tonearm, but I can't afford to pick up a black tonearm to even out the look.
Before pictures are all below, I'll be building the box this week and will continue to post updates as I make progress. Thanks in advance for all the help.
I'm going to put my questions in bold as I come across them. Hopefully there are a few people who can help me out. I recently picked up a Rek-O-Kut Rondine Jr L34 from an auction. I paid around $200 for it which I feel is on par for what it is. I'm looking for any and all advice on restoration. I've spent some time reading through other's threads on similar tables but I'm not versed enough to follow along with all of it.
I started by plugging it in and low and behold, it worked. It was spinning slower than expected which I'm guessing is because of the condition of the idlers. The motor itself seems to be working properly. Then I moved on to disassembling everything and kind of taking stock on what all I had.
I believe the tonearm is an ESL S-1000 from Ortofon. I have the original head shell as well. This tonearm has the rotated diamond pattern instead of the standard square one. The head shell is not in great shape. It's missing the lift lever and the wiring needs help. I have a soldering iron on the way but I have never soldered anything before so that will be interesting. I'm guessing that I'll have to attach new leads into the head shell because the old ones are not great.
The wiring that comes out of the tonearm is also in very bad shape. Does anyone have experience with this tonearm specifically and rewiring? I'm hoping it's a relatively simple task that I can do with not much experience.
My plan is to get an Ortofon bronze or blue, still up in the air.
Unfortunately the tonearm is missing the counterweight so if anyone has a line on where I can pick one up (whether oem or a generic that is compatible), please let me know. I spent a few minutes searching online and wasn't able to find much information.
The board it all runs to is stored inside, along with the power cord, and it runs out of the bottom through a square hole cut in the corner. So my plan is to wire a new plug coming out of the back of the box, but I'm looking for recommendations on a female RCA board to mount to the back instead of having it hardwired. If you have suggestions on a decent one that looks nice, please send it my way.
My plan is to also hard wire a nice looking on/off switch on the top rather than just relying on sliding the knob from 33 to 45. Will there be negatives to this if it's left on 33 and turned off via a switch instead?
I have read plenty about replacing the isolating washers so I will be ordering a set of those asap. I'm still unsure about replacing vs refinishing the idler wheels.
I am very new to working on small motors like this. If anyone has advice on things that are critical to do, please let me know. I have access to electrical tools so if there are tests I can use to ensure that it's running at full capacity, that would be great.
My plan for aesthetics include building a new box. I purchased a few board feet of some figured walnut. I'll be building a 16(w)x16(d)x6(h) which is what the original box is. I also have some padauk and yellowheart that I'll be using to put two small strips that go up the front side, cross the surface, then go down the rear. I'm trying to replace all the hardware with brass which I think will end of clashing with the tonearm, but I can't afford to pick up a black tonearm to even out the look.
Before pictures are all below, I'll be building the box this week and will continue to post updates as I make progress. Thanks in advance for all the help.
