The official Fairchild 412 registry thread!

[Sam Cogley]

Same top platter, but made to fit into that subplatter rather than having the bearing shaft directly attached. Is the top platter damped with a bunch of plaster-like stuff? The bearing appears to be the same as the early 412s I've handled (my two 412-1s and Sheltie Dave's 412-4).

That belt cover is the wider version, 412-1s in the small factory base had a much narrower, "butterfly" style cover. It's the same one used on all 412s that weren't installed in the small base.

 

[Coastsider]

This 412:

412-1B S/N 11065, large flat chassis, "Fairchild Synchronous Motor" suspended by Lord isolators, purchased 1963 http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=140278

was after my post in 2007 (linked above) cleaned up and thoroughly checked out by yours truly and was put back in service where it remains to this day. It is the oldest piece of vintage gear that is still in my possession that I purchased new. The Audio Technica cartridge that was installed in the Shure/SME 3009 at the time of it's re-discovery was replaced by a Shure V15/Type V.

Current photo attached.

 

[Selmerdave]

Same top platter, but made to fit into that subplatter rather than having the bearing shaft directly attached. Is the top platter damped with a bunch of plaster-like stuff? The bearing appears to be the same as the early 412s I've handled (my two 412-1s and Sheltie Dave's 412-4).

That belt cover is the wider version, 412-1s in the small factory base had a much narrower, "butterfly" style cover. It's the same one used on all 412s that weren't installed in the small base.

The top platter just has a ring under it about 3/4" deep and 1 1/2" wide that sits on the cast iron platter, no other damping. It's not very heavy, but together with the cast iron they are substantial.

The "butterfly" cover you're talking about, it doesn't have the green plexiglass, does it? I don't think I've seen a different cover that had the plexiglass.

 

[cannissolis]

Here is a tracing of the motor cover along with some photos of it. It's tricky because it's cut on an angle, it's not a vertical cut around the outside, so the trace just gives you the bottom of it.View media item 6463View media item 6464View media item 6466View media item 6465

Thank you for doing that, will give me a fighting chance of making one

 

[Sam Cogley]

The top platter just has a ring under it about 3/4" deep and 1 1/2" wide that sits on the cast iron platter, no other damping. It's not very heavy, but together with the cast iron they are substantial.

The "butterfly" cover you're talking about, it doesn't have the green plexiglass, does it? I don't think I've seen a different cover that had the plexiglass.

No, it's a solid piece and is about half as deep as the cover with the green insert.

 

[Sam Cogley]

Some new entrants from eBay:
412-1 S/N 655, deep chassis, bottom plate, Papst motor stamped 1957. Has what appears to be a custom aluminum belt cover/tonearm mount.
412-1 S/N 476, deep chassis, bottom plate, Papst motor stamped 30 August 1957, no belt cover.
412-1A S/N 8137, shallow chassis, "Borg Death Cube" motor.

 

[bichitus]

I have a Fairchild Turntable model 412-1A, serial 8327 and I love it.

 

[bob smog]

I no longer own this 412, but here are the pics. 412-2, papst motor, popup spindle, serial #725:

No worries, I have two more project tables waiting in the wings:

 

[Sam Cogley]

That kind of pins the switch to the glued-on data plate to somewhere in the higher 600s or lower 700s. Any idea what the date on the motor was?

 

[bob smog]

Here's one of the 412 projects tables. After sitting on it for 10 years, I finally have time to work on it.

The tonearm in the first pic is a weird Stanton? uni-pivot which I sold for a price which covered the cost of the table and shipping, so this is basically a "free" Fairchild.

Classic washing machine photo from the seller (note toggle switch and pilot light):

Underside - motor has a date of 1960:

Badge SN 6477:

]

 

[Sam Cogley]

Thanks! That tracks with what I've seen both of overall production and the switchover from the Papst to the Borg Death Cube.

 

[bakes]

Here's mine - s/n 8240 in the house. New belts in place, the Pritchard needs to be rewired or otherwise addressed as all it does is hum, regardless of cartridge. Cosmetically it's a stunning table. Going to eventually be a part of my early 1960s system.

 

[Sam Cogley]

View attachment 790184 Here's mine - s/n 8240 in the house. New belts in place, the Pritchard needs to be rewired or otherwise addressed as all it does is hum, regardless of cartridge. Cosmetically it's a stunning table. Going to eventually be a part of my early 1960s system.
View attachment 790181 View attachment 790182

Is that a plywood top under the white laminate? I recently bought the plinth, chassis, and belt cover from 412-1A #8137 to supply some parts for my two 412-1s, and I was disappointed to find that the top was particle board. The particle board was damaged at its thinnest points in shipping, so I'm probably going to take it apart and make a new top plate.

 

[bakes]

Yep, plywood.

 

[Sam Cogley]

Interesting...

 

[bob smog]

My other project....

Deep chassis with cover plate

Motor dated 1957

Serial Number: 2375

Platter has the "pop-up" tapered spindle, but is glued in place, since this is an single speed table.

No power switch either, has a weird home brew 2 outlet screwed to the inside of the plinth. Also has the small "butterfly" cover. No tonearm when I got it, but there are 3 holes from where one was mounted.

 

[Sam Cogley]

It's not intentionally glued in. The old grease has turned into an adhesive. If you're careful, you can pry it out and clean up the gunky grease. All 412-1s are capable of being two-speed tables, the belt just has to be manually moved to the other pulley slot on the platter. The 412-2 added a mechanism to accomplish the belt move.

The December 1957 date on your motor is *very* interesting - it would appear that in the first six months, they built a proportionately larger number of 412s than in later years, since the average production seems to be about 1200-1500 per year.

The power switch would have been the toggle at the time your table was produced. Servolite still makes one that's identical to the original, other than having screw terminals instead of integrated wires. I bought a couple at ACE Hardware.

 

[Sam Cogley]

Recently seen on eBay:
S/N 8695, shallow chassis, Papst motor. Only table I've seen with the original inspection tag intact. Notable for being over 3000 units later than the first S/N I know of with the Borg Death Cube - though it's possible that tables before this one had the death cube as a retrofit for a dead Papst. Or that they were in production side-by-side for some reason. Quite confusing.
S/N 17xx, deep chassis, ED unit attached. Papst motor. ED unit appears to have S/N 255.

 

[bob smog]

I'm pretty sure that S/N 8695 also had a particle board top. Seems like the switch to particle board happened somewhere in the 8000s. You can see a gradual cost-cutting over the production cycle.

 

[Sam Cogley]

I have the plinth from 8137, and it has the particle board top. Bakes posted photos of 8240, and it has a plywood top plinth. I think we can surmise that the switch occurred sometime around the time that #8000 was made, and the inventory was mixed up a bit for a while.