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-   -   Garrard 50, help needed please. (https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/showthread.php?t=49062)

12345678 31st Dec 2009 3:41 am

Garrard 50, help needed please.
 
I have an old RGD radio gram with a Garrard 50 turntable. The head shell is a garrard M7 and the cartrige is one of those 33/45 flip over switch 78... Ok heres the problem.

Despite hours of tinkering with the tracking weight (situated under the arm a spring mechanism that makes the arm heavier or lighter) and giving the machine a service as instructed via the manual the darn thing loves to skip. New needles have been had but still it does it. I have purchased a new M7 headshell and still the same problem.

Can anyone help? Would a different cartridge solve the mystery, the exsisting GC8M does seem a bit bouncy as it is not the most secure cartridge I have ever had. Anyone know of a good alternative cartrige, I dont need the 78 just a straight forward 33 /45 will do.

Cheers,

Kit

Aerodyne 31st Dec 2009 10:38 am

Re: Garrard 50, help needed please.
 
Some unwanted friction may exist, preventing easy sideways movement of the arm. This is possibly at the pivot point. Otherwise if the arm is truly 'free' to move, you may be right about the cartridge. I feel sure others will advise on that point.
-Tony

Darren-UK 31st Dec 2009 10:46 am

Re: Garrard 50, help needed please.
 
It may help if you were to elaborate on "skip". Is the stylus just jumping the groove? for example, if you were playing "White Christmas" is it going "I'm dreaming of a white white white white" or is the tonearm simply skidding across the entire record?

If the former it could be as Tony suggests, or a defective record. If the latter it could be the tracking weight is far too light or something beneath the cartridge is fouling the surface of the record; maybe the cartridge body itself if it's not correctly mounted as your post vaguely implies.

I don't know off the top of my head for certain, but isn't tracking weight of the AT50 adjusted by a screw accessed through a hole in the rear of the tonearm?

vinrads 31st Dec 2009 11:00 am

Re: Garrard 50, help needed please.
 
Hi it could be slight vibrations do to a dry bearing on the turntable, i have had this in the past, regds Mick.

Audio1950 31st Dec 2009 12:10 pm

Re: Garrard 50, help needed please.
 
Kit, how do you mean "Not the most secure cartridge I've ever had"? If it's not fixed securely it will certainly skip. Isn't it fixed by the two half-inch centre screws to the headshell? Or is the M7 headshell a single centre fix screw? Either way, it shouldn't be "bouncy" My GC8M is rock solid in it's fixings.

ben 31st Dec 2009 6:35 pm

Re: Garrard 50, help needed please.
 
what records are you playing on it ? These old mono low compliance cartridges like the GC8 are pretty much unusable on anything pressed after the early 60s and will jump. It would be advisable to fit a ceramic stereo type like a BSR SC12H, or if you want the knob, a ronette stereo 105.

12345678 1st Jan 2010 12:59 am

Re: Garrard 50, help needed please.
 
Thanks for you all getting back to me so quickly and for all you advice.

Firstly let me say that by skipping I do not mean repeating but skidding or jumping. Very often this occurs on the first track of an album. I have greased the friction link and oiled all parts but still the same thing. By adjusting the tracking screw it will stop a little of it but not cure all of it. Other records seem to do the same.

Ben, your comment seems to make a great deal of sense. Old 50s Jazz records are fine, the thick vinyl seems to avoid the jumping but anything ELO etc forget it.

Audio 1950 The cartridge is fixed by a single screw through the centre of the head however I have three types of fixings that will allow other cartridges to be held more firmly.

I will take Bens advice and try a new catridge before I get all steamed up.

Again, thanks for all you help. I will let you know how its going.

KIT

12345678 8th Jan 2010 1:11 am

Re: Garrard 50, help needed please.
 
Ok,

I have now fitted a SC12H and no more skipping. Also now the player has had time to get all that oil into it's parts the tracking is 99 percent better, only skipped once today and for a Garrard changer I think thats good ;)

Speak soon folks


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