This sad and grungy SL-1300 had seen better days. It did not have a cover, the plinth was pretty worn with scuffs, wear and scratches all over. Speed was erratic and the automatic features did not work at all. The cuing was also shot so the arm dropped like a rock. On the bright side, the tonearm had no signs of damage so I decided to take it on as a project and try to save this turntable.
The erratic speed was easily solved with some Deoxit to the speed trimmers. Speed was now perfect as per KAB Speedstrobe. I opted not to recap at this time. So now on to address the mechanical issues. I took apart the cuing mechanism, cleaned it and applied new silicone.
Then I inspected all the internal mechanical components and luckily no plastic parts were broken. I degreased all of the old gunk from the internal parts including any springs. Once clean, I applied light oil or grease where appropriate. I also put a few drops of Technics oil in the spindle.
Cuing was now working beautifully and dropping slowly. All Automatic features were also working as they should now. I made the fine tuning adjustments. Everything was working smoothly and perfectly. Now it was time to address the cosmetics.
Platter polished.
Knobs cleaned.
Plinth painted.
Drilled holes to accept hinges for new Reloop cover.
Carefully removed the Reloop badge.
Replaced it with a Custom Technics badge designed to fit the Reloop cover.
Custom Technics badge for the plinth.
The finished product. A very solid deck. Ready to be loved again.
The erratic speed was easily solved with some Deoxit to the speed trimmers. Speed was now perfect as per KAB Speedstrobe. I opted not to recap at this time. So now on to address the mechanical issues. I took apart the cuing mechanism, cleaned it and applied new silicone.
Then I inspected all the internal mechanical components and luckily no plastic parts were broken. I degreased all of the old gunk from the internal parts including any springs. Once clean, I applied light oil or grease where appropriate. I also put a few drops of Technics oil in the spindle.
Cuing was now working beautifully and dropping slowly. All Automatic features were also working as they should now. I made the fine tuning adjustments. Everything was working smoothly and perfectly. Now it was time to address the cosmetics.
Platter polished.
Knobs cleaned.
Plinth painted.
Drilled holes to accept hinges for new Reloop cover.
Carefully removed the Reloop badge.
Replaced it with a Custom Technics badge designed to fit the Reloop cover.
Custom Technics badge for the plinth.
The finished product. A very solid deck. Ready to be loved again.
