Yamaha YP-D10 cueing problems

[gwoodall]

Hello All:

I have a vintage Yamaha YP-D10 that has developed play in the cuing lever. The cuing lever doesn't engage the arm until about halfway up This play only allows me to move the headshell about 50% of what it should, which does not allow it to clear the record. Even the local shop guys are stumped. It is not the fluid.

I have the service manual and duh, it does not include the arm mechanics. Can anyone shed light on this.

Any help is much appreciated. Thanks

Gene

 

[Sage]

gwoodall.
There are two set screws where the cueing lever attaches to the tonearm base. One of them holds that cueing "cartridge" in place. You can loosen that set screw and move the whole unit up a little bit and it should be able to lift the tonearm off the record. The other setscrew on the body of the cueing "cartridge" in the slotted area is very tricky to adjust but I believe it connects the lift arm to the internal mechanism. I think this one is where you need to experiment to get it working right. When the mechanism finally responds to the cueing lever like it should then you adjust the up/down position with that set screw that lets the whole cartridge move. Last thing you do is rotate the lift arm to track the tonearm movement through it's arc.

I had similar problems with my YP-D10 and spending a good bit of time making careful adjustments on these two set screws got it back to normal operation. Go slow with small movements and keep close track if you moved something up or down and by how much so you can go back again if it doesn't work. I sat on the floor with the TT at eye level while I was making these adjustments so it was easy to see the effect each time I tweaked something. It was a long time ago that I did this and it's a little fuzzy exactly how the adjustments were done but it has worked great since then.

When it's done you will be rewarded with some fine music. Now if you can figure out how to tame the end of record pick up and soften that operation please let me know!

Good luck with it!

 

[gwoodall]

Thanks Sage. I will take another look at it. I believe the same arm is on the YP-D8, and the owners manual for it shows how to adjust the set screws on the lift itself, but I am not sure that is the problem as there is much play in the lever itself that operates the lift.

I see you are in Austin. I am looking forward to moving back in a couple of years.

Gene