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My Garrard Lab 80 Obsession

gillsev said:
Bravo! Now I know I wasn't alone. :D
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In 1966/67 I don't think you could go to jail or get in trouble with child protective service for spanking.

When I was 5 or 6 I had a kiddie phonograph. I would press the arm down against my favorite songs which would leave a white mark on that passage. That way, I knew where it was. Lots of white rings and vinyl shavings. :D
 
KevinL said:
In 1966/67 I don't think you could go to jail or get in trouble with child protective service for spanking.

When I was 5 or 6 I had a kiddie phonograph. I would press the arm down against my favorite songs which would leave a white mark on that passage. That way, I knew where it was. Lots of white rings and vinyl shavings. :D
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Yeah, I remember during my pre-Lab 80 days when I too had a kiddie radio/ phonograph where I'd tape about a couple of quarters on top of the ceramic cartridge's headshell to prevent it from skipping. No clue about VTF back then as I left traces of white concentric grooves on the record.

It was a Trini Lopez too - my favorite record! :sigh:
 
Garrard Lab 80 MKII arrived from EBAY and have question.

I set up the turntable and all the functions worked at first. Now after about an hour of running, when the auto cycling starts, the turntable slows and stops. If I rotate the platter by hand, the cycling will start after a very hard spot to rotate. Any suggestions? New to this forum. Thanks
 
bradshawsa8 said:
I set up the turntable and all the functions worked at first. Now after about an hour of running, when the auto cycling starts, the turntable slows and stops. If I rotate the platter by hand, the cycling will start after a very hard spot to rotate. Any suggestions? New to this forum. Thanks
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Hardened up grease on the mechanical parts and a stiff idler wheel are part of the problem. Might require a total strip down and relubing, and definitely have the idler wheel replaced or rebuilt. It needs to be soft and pliable for it to attain traction on the platter and pulley.
 
Deseret News Magazine (3/19/1965)

deseretnews31965.jpg
 
kaplang said:
That is beautiful!

It was also the TT that introduced Garrards patent on the Bias Compensator that we know as Anti Skating. The table should be listed in the TT hall of fame IMO
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Here is the ad that verified its patent on the new Antiskating feature ...

antiskate.jpg
 
I have a Shure M95HE in my Lab80 MKII tracking at 1 gram ----No Problem at all.
James
 
bradshawsa8 said:
I set up the turntable and all the functions worked at first. Now after about an hour of running, when the auto cycling starts, the turntable slows and stops. If I rotate the platter by hand, the cycling will start after a very hard spot to rotate. Any suggestions? New to this forum. Thanks
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I'd say, put a couple drops of sewing machine oil into the channels of the camwheel. Notice how stiff the turns are? Also put a drop of sewing machine into the pulley shaft. Rotate it manually a few times to get the oil saturated. If you start the automatic cycle and hear a whirring noise, the the idler wheel is slipping and is probably glazed over. They can be sent in to be rebuilt. :yes:

Oh, and another thing: If the cueing tab is out, and you hit the auto tab, the TT will freeze and you'll manually have to turn the platter to get it to rest and then push the cueing tab back in. Pardon if you already know this.
 
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My 80 had a slow down problem when I first got it and I took some fine sandpaper and roughed up the idler wheel (it was still soft and pliable). That cured my problem.
I believe the more you use your turntable things will start to looosen up a bit.
James
 
Had a Lab 80 & loved it - thought it came out a little later than '64, though - probably bought mine in '67.
I think the tonearm was a little more massive than My Dual 1019 - any thoughts?
 
Finally, Lab 80 pic

I promised a pic of my Lab 80 and I finally got around to bringing it down from the 3rd floor for a quick photo. I believe it to be one of the transitional models as it has the record size indicator of the Mk I, but the covered arm of the Mk II. Am I right? Any other peculiarities of this table anyone can think of?

It has a ways to go before I can put it to real use as I really need a new idler (works, but not great) and the little weight on the anti-skate just slips up and back when it moves. I could just put a bit of mastic on it, but is there a better solution anyone has come up with? I'm guessing the rubber grommet inside it has dried up. Look forward to a bit of time to work on it.... in March Break perhaps?
 

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fiddlefye said:
I promised a pic of my Lab 80 and I finally got around to bringing it down from the 3rd floor for a quick photo. I believe it to be one of the transitional models as it has the record size indicator of the Mk I, but the covered arm of the Mk II. Am I right? Any other peculiarities of this table anyone can think of?

It has a ways to go before I can put it to real use as I really need a new idler (works, but not great) and the little weight on the anti-skate just slips up and back when it moves. I could just put a bit of mastic on it, but is there a better solution anyone has come up with? I'm guessing the rubber grommet inside it has dried up. Look forward to a bit of time to work on it.... in March Break perhaps?
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The only real solution is a new or rebuilt idler. Any thing else is just a "Band Aid" that will never be any good. What I did to prove my idler was the culprit before purchasing a rebuilt one was to put a rubber band around the existing idler and see if it helped improve the LAB80 performance. Without the rubber band the TT platter would not spin evenly and the automatic features did not work at all. With the rubber band on the wheel the platter spun faster and the automatic features somewhat worked. This told me the idler was in need of replacement. Doing a Google search for an idler I found prices from $25.00 to $40.00 that appeared to be the same thing. I went with http://thevoiceofmusic.com/catalog/...earchType=MfgName&MfgName=Garrard&Categories= for $25.00 + $5.00 shipping. My LAB80 TT now works just fine with the replacement idler.

PM me if you have any specific questions
 
kaplang said:
The only real solution is a new or rebuilt idler. Any thing else is just a "Band Aid" that will never be any good. What I did to prove my idler was the culprit before purchasing a rebuilt one was to put a rubber band around the existing idler and see if it helped improve the LAB80 performance. Without the rubber band the TT platter would not spin evenly and the automatic features did not work at all. With the rubber band on the wheel the platter spun faster and the automatic features somewhat worked. This told me the idler was in need of replacement. Doing a Google search for an idler I found prices from $25.00 to $40.00 that appeared to be the same thing. I went with http://thevoiceofmusic.com/catalog/...earchType=MfgName&MfgName=Garrard&Categories= for $25.00 + $5.00 shipping. My LAB80 TT now works just fine with the replacement idler.

PM me if you have any specific questions
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I absolutely agree that the idler should be replaced on these tables and that will be the first thing I do when I get time to finish working on my Lab80. Even if they're working to a reasonable degree it is only a matter of time before performance degenerates seriously. The rubber is over 40 years old after all. What I'm wondering about is what to do with the weight on the anti-skate arm? It slides freely up and down as the arm raises and lowers. I believe it is a rubber grommet inside that's supposed to hold it in place by friction? Any thoughts on what to do to make it stay in place? Any way to replace that?
 
fiddlefye said:
I absolutely agree that the idler should be replaced on these tables and that will be the first thing I do when I get time to finish working on my Lab80. Even if they're working to a reasonable degree it is only a matter of time before performance degenerates seriously. The rubber is over 40 years old after all. What I'm wondering about is what to do with the weight on the anti-skate arm? It slides freely up and down as the arm raises and lowers. I believe it is a rubber grommet inside that's supposed to hold it in place by friction? Any thoughts on what to do to make it stay in place? Any way to replace that?
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You will need a small ball bearing for the hole in the anti skating lever and a rubber band of some type to hold it in place. I found a black rubber insert at my local hardware store that I cut to size to hold the ball bearing on the arm. It was made of rubber and can stretch. You can use anything that works and holds the ball in place. If it's black it will look like it is original
 
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