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Restoring Garrard Type A

patricklm

patricklm

New Member
Hi all, I recently got a Garrard Type A and am cleaning it up and re-lubricating it. Has a Empire 108 cartridge and is hooked up to an Eico HF-85. It’s actually in amazing condition considering it’s been sitting in a basement since the 70’s. The idle wheel rubber is in great shape. The only thing that appears to be getting old is the foam mat that sits under the heavy platter. The turntable is console mounted so I have a question about removing the clips shown in the photo. If I turn the screw the entire spring rotates. What’s the proper way to remove them? Obviously don’t want to force them.
Also looking for a list of what all to lubricate once I have it out of the console. I’ve found some videos on YouTube but if anyone has any great links let me know! I’m sure I’ll have more questions.

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original Type A with the leveling adjustment thumbwheels on the side of the chassis where the screws are? Only way I know to remove those is to unscrew the thumbwheel until the record changer lifts off the base, then you can tip these at an angle to get them free of the base.
 
Even though your motor mounts seem fine, I'm willing to bet you'll benefit from some new ones. The old ones kinda sag out over the decades.
 
Does anyone have a copy of the service manual? I don’t have an account at VinylEngine and they’ve closed registration and it looks like it’s available there. Searching for it has failed me.
I have the turntable out and am trying to trouble shoot a problem - the left channel appears to not be outputting. Throwing a multimeter at it right now but a schematic would help.
 
I just got one off VE but its 17 MB. Too bg to post here. If you send me a pm with your email address i can try sending it that way.
 
I’ve been testing stuff from the RCA connects through to the cartridge and I’m getting continuity on everything except white which is the channel that isn’t working. Any thoughts on where the short could be? I can only trace it to where it enters the tonearm and then out at the cartridge (Empire 108). I’m of course assuming that there is supposed to be continuity on white.
 
Yes, white is the Left channel’s hot lead.

How about when you remove the headshell….. do you have continuity to the pin on the tonearm side that goes to white?

There’s a diagram 13 in the service manual that identifies the pins.
 
Thanks! I got a copy of the service manual shortly after I posted that. Unfortunately I’m not getting continuity between the cartridge white and white at the RCA jack. Trying to figure out where there might be a problem. I’ll try tone arm with a paper clip or something. Not sure where else there could be a problem.
 
Remove the headshell and check it and the arm for continuity separately.

The headshell pins may not be making good contact.
 
loudnoises said:
Remove the headshell and check it and the arm for continuity separately.

The headshell pins may not be making good contact.
Click to expand...
I pulled the headshell and checked continuity on white which should be the bottom hole on the to arm. No luck. I double-checked red which is upper right and that one beeper just fine. So looks like it’s somewhere else along white. Any ideas?
 
And just a wild thought. I check and I have continuity with both green and black. Could I swap black for white? Isn’t black left-ground?
 
You only need one ground wire if they're summed at the cartridge. The channels can share. My 4hf runs stereo with 3 wires in just this manner. Just jumper the white and black pins at the cart abs use the black wire. Odds are pretty good you won't even need to connect it at the rca end at the grounds are usually summed inside anyways

That being said, the arm wires are pretty old and pretty beefy, i wouldn't think they'd just break in the middle, but they could. Not the most difficult arm to rewire. First thing would be to pop the socket out of the arm and look at the wire connections.
 
if it broke anywhere my bet is at the pivot. Either from some sort of damage or just years of flexing where it comes up through the middle and goes down the arm. Might be worth an inspection of the leads from the RCA jacks back to where it vanishes up the arm. Can't really see much else without taking it apart.
 
loudnoises said:
You only need one ground wire if they're summed at the cartridge. The channels can share. My 4hf runs stereo with 3 wires in just this manner. Just jumper the white and black pins at the cart abs use the black wire. Odds are pretty good you won't even need to connect it at the rca end at the grounds are usually summed inside anyways

That being said, the arm wires are pretty old and pretty beefy, i wouldn't think they'd just break in the middle, but they could. Not the most difficult arm to rewire. First thing would be to pop the socket out of the arm and look at the wire connections.
Click to expand...
Do you know how to pull the socket out? Thanks!
 
On similar arms there are set screws under the arm at the connector. What I can't remember is if you screw them in (like an xlr) to remove or unscrew them. I've only done this on the 4hf.

Be aware, these plastic connectors are old, be gentle. If it breaks just save all the pieces and glue it back together, replacements don't generally exist.
 
Hi all!

A couple problems fixed. I am running an external wire between the RCA and the cartridge and it works so there is a short somewhere in white. So that gremlin has been chased down. I might just cleanthe routing up and leave it external for the time-being and figure out what the weight difference for the tonearm is. The unit came with the groovy stylus pressure gauge that Garrard makes so I can mess around with that.

Here’s my current issue. I sanded down the idler and gave everything a good lubrication. The autochanger is working but it kind of conks out when I hit “off”. It’ll pull the tonearm up and then return it to the holder but not quite complete the cycle - I have to manually spin the platter then it’ll complete the cycle by lowering the tonearm the final little bit and switch off. When I switch it on with auto or manual it spins right up, it’s just the “auto off" that seems to be an issue. Wondering if something else needs a little more lubrication. Any ideas for this wacky swiss watch machine?
Getting closer to mounting it back into the console!
I’ll post some photos of the full console when I do. It’s got an Eico HF-85, HFT-90 and HFT-94. Thanks!
 
Just to update on the wiring, finally got around to pulling the connection plug at the end of the tonearm. The wire was broken there. I resoldered it today and it’s working so that’s one problem solved.
Only other problem is the mechanism stalling when moving the tonearm back in place. I have lubed everything but manually moving the gears you can feel that there is resistance from the big spring. Not sure if the idler is at fault for not gripping enough or what. I sanded and cleaned it but maybe I have to break down and get a new one.
If anyone has an idle wheel they feel like giving up let me know!
 
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