Technics Tonearm Troubles

[asdfxy98e]

Hey AK. I was always into spinning vinyl (if only to support local bands), so imagine my pleasure when my uncle gave me his Technics 1200! It's the classic silver MK2 model, and was completely stock. It came with the original headshell, the original 45 adaptor; hell, even the original dust cover! All for the price of $0.00! I thought it was too good to be true, and it turned out that it kinda was. The tonearm rest was busted, the RCA connectors were shot, the pitch control was relatively unresponsive, the tracking light was toast, and, most egregiously, the tonearm was f'd up. I fixed everything else, but the tonearm still eludes me. It always wants to turn strongly away from the spindle when you take it off the rest, and changes pulls when you push it close to the spindle, moving strongly to the centre. That being said, what would you guys recommend? Does the bearings just need to be lubed? Do some screws need to be adjusted? Do some wires need to be moved? I'm only $40 deep into this project; should I just take the plunge and replace the whole tonearm setup to avoid the impending nightmare? Thanks.

 

[SSaxdude]

There's some videos on YouTube about testing the bearings on a SL-1200 to see if they're shot. It's easy and doesn't require any tools.

The bad news is that if the bearings are bad, the tonearm will likely need to be completely replaced. At least $40 + the price of a new tonearm is cheaper than an SL-1200 if you bought it elsewhere. And you don't even have to stick with a Technics tonearm; you can use something else like a Rega tonearm if you wanted.

Hopefully, the bearings aren't toasted. And if there has to be a problem, hopefully it's the antiskate spring. That wouldn't be a difficult or costly fix.

 

[WaynerN]

I'd talk to Kevin at www.kabusa.com. He is the 1200 guru and probably could fix it for you or at least steer you in the right directions....

'ner

 

[asdfxy98e]

Thanks guys! Yeah, it looks like the bearings are screwed; it's acting just as how shot bearings would. Crap. I don't think I'll replace the Technics with a Rega, I like Technics arms, and I've heard bad things about swapping Regas in. Besides, I don't have that kind of money! That being said, $120 for a replacement tonearm isn't really something I can afford right now, is there some mystical place to find cheap-ish tonearms?

 

[bangsezmax]

I work on a LOT of 1200s with this issue. My guess is they got whacked at some point and the horizontal bearing plates (almost always the bottom one) get bent. Here's a pic of the piece that goes bad:

It's that small round bottom plate with the ball bearings in the center that's usually the culprit. Every once in a while, the cone-shaped piece that goes into the bearing plate also gets damaged.

Unfortunately, there's no way that I've found to fix those plates, so you need to find another bracket, usually they come with both pieces like with this auction. Once you have that (and you're sure it's a good one), then you have the fun of unsoldering the tonearm wires, disassembling the tonearm, threading the wires back through the new bracket, reassembling the tonearm, re-soldering, etc etc. I won't lie to you, it's a pain. But that's what you gotta do to get them to track right again. Or buy a whole new tonearm. You still have to solder it in though.

I recently bought a stash of arm parts and managed to get five working brackets out of them, but I've already used two of them in the last week for customer repairs. It's the achilles heel of the 1200s, but given how much they get carted around and treated roughly, it's not surprising.

 

[SSaxdude]

Thanks guys! Yeah, it looks like the bearings are screwed; it's acting just as how shot bearings would. Crap. I don't think I'll replace the Technics with a Rega, I like Technics arms, and I've heard bad things about swapping Regas in. Besides, I don't have that kind of money! That being said, $120 for a replacement tonearm isn't really something I can afford right now, is there some mystical place to find cheap-ish tonearms?

I suppose you could use another model Technics arm. Though it might require modification on to your SL-1200. On the bay there are some Technics arms for under $50. At that point, it would be easier (and possibly not more expensive) just to go find another vintage turntable to use in the mean time. But then that would take away from money you could have saved for a real SL-1200 arm...

 

[asdfxy98e]

I work on a LOT of 1200s with this issue. My guess is they got whacked at some point and the horizontal bearing plates (almost always the bottom one) get bent. Here's a pic of the piece that goes bad:
It's that small round bottom plate with the ball bearings in the center that's usually the culprit. Every once in a while, the cone-shaped piece that goes into the bearing plate also gets damaged.

Unfortunately, there's no way that I've found to fix those plates, so you need to find another bracket, usually they come with both pieces like with this auction. Once you have that (and you're sure it's a good one), then you have the fun of unsoldering the tonearm wires, disassembling the tonearm, threading the wires back through the new bracket, reassembling the tonearm, re-soldering, etc etc. I won't lie to you, it's a pain. But that's what you gotta do to get them to track right again. Or buy a whole new tonearm. You still have to solder it in though.

I recently bought a stash of arm parts and managed to get five working brackets out of them, but I've already used two of them in the last week for customer repairs. It's the achilles heel of the 1200s, but given how much they get carted around and treated roughly, it's not surprising.

Holy hell, thanks for the lesson! I always thought it was something in the mount that was screwed; shows you what I know. That idea sounds good; if only I wasn't a mechanical troglodyte, I might try it... Thanks anyway!

 

[asdfxy98e]

I suppose you could use another model Technics arm. Though it might require modification on to your SL-1200. On the bay there are some Technics arms for under $50. At that point, it would be easier (and possibly not more expensive) just to go find another vintage turntable to use in the mean time. But then that would take away from money you could have saved for a real SL-1200 arm...

That reminds me; there's a Technics SL-23 in the basement w/o a belt and a cut power cord (I have no idea why it was cut, it wasn't my house nor my turntable), is there some interchangeability there? It doesn't look like it. Should I get a belt and splice a new power cord for the 23 in the meantime, before I can afford the 1200 repair?

 

[bangsezmax]

That reminds me; there's a Technics SL-23 in the basement w/o a belt and a cut power cord (I have no idea why it was cut, it wasn't my house nor my turntable), is there some interchangeability there? It doesn't look like it. Should I get a belt and splice a new power cord for the 23 in the meantime, before I can afford the 1200 repair?

Nooooooo. Completely different arm design.

Just be patient and save your money for either a good bracket or a whole arm.

 

[SSaxdude]

That reminds me; there's a Technics SL-23 in the basement w/o a belt and a cut power cord (I have no idea why it was cut, it wasn't my house nor my turntable), is there some interchangeability there? It doesn't look like it. Should I get a belt and splice a new power cord for the 23 in the meantime, before I can afford the 1200 repair?

Using the SL-23 in the mean time is a good idea. A new belt and usable cord (which you likely have one laying around) will be dirt cheap.

 

[asdfxy98e]

Cool. *sigh* I guess the ol 1200'll go back into the broom from whence it came for now...