Garrard 201 78rpm player ... worth restoring?

[phildil]

Hello all

Long time lurker, first time poster here.

During a recent local tidy up I've acquired (for a small fee) a vintage Garrard 78rpm player. A couple of quick snaps should be attached. It appears to be a model 201, early 1930s. It is in a heavy metal box and would have been used in a cinema. It's in reasonable cosmetic condition. I don't know if it works and as yet have not opened it up to take a look inside the box. I do however have a lot of 78s mostly jazz and R&B and if I can get the machine cleaned up and working it would be useful to me.

what I'm wondering is...

i) is this unit worth spending time on restoring, and has anyone reading this had any experience of fixing up these machines?

also: ii) since the pickup has a tracking weight of (at a guess) about 50g and seems to use the one-shot steel needles of the time, can this be altered or replaced with something less hard on the records themselves?

all info welcome.....

thanks all
Phil

[Radio_Dave]

The turntable seems to sell in excess of £100, on ebay, so it's definitely worth restoring. The tone arm can always be changed.

David

[wd40addict]

That's if it really is a 201. I'm not convinced, because all the 201 pictures I've seen had the speed control mounted on a mechanism plate. I last saw a 201 in the flesh too long ago to remember what it was like. Once the OP opens the box we'll know for sure.

Don't be afraid to try the current pickup, the results may surprise you. I have a similar Columbia unit and its limited frequency range suits some discs better than putting them under the microscope of a HiFi pickup.

Regards,

Paul

[Al (astral highway)]

Originally Posted by phildil

is this unit worth spending time on restoring

Hi Phil...ah, only you can answer that! When you step back and look at why we restore vintage equipment, the range of possible answers is immense and reflects a different emphasis for each person.

For me there's sometimes considerable satisfaction in overcoming problems, regardless of whether a piece of kit is intrinsically more or less valuable. And the last piece of audio equipment I fixed wasn't even something I was going to use and keep - I passed it back to someone else, but was pleased it was saved from being skipped. I think the answer to this is something only each of us can know, and it probably varies over time for some of us. Welcome to the forum and keep us posted.

[dseymo1]

The 201 us a very interesting early direct-drive design.
Well worth restoring, IMHO.

[gramofiend]

I often wondered where all of the 201's went from the BBC which was riddled with them from 1932 when Broadcasting house London opened. I have one waiting to be refurbished with a blunderbus of a BTH arm and another which used to be used on BBC Outside broadcasts in the 1940's. There were even versions built to play 33 's(16" programme dics) which played out at 15-16 minutes at the time. I believe that the design for the motor came from Thorens who had the licence/copyright and Garrard obtained this for production. I always wondered why the BBC having once used direct drive did not continue or indeed why garrard used idler drive even for the 301 and 401.
I suppose by this time post war 1950's, cost constraints must have had a bearing.

Yes it is worth working on and is the first quality turntable that Garrard ever made and the one from which the nation heard gramophone reproduction between 1932 and into the 1950's. Certainly until LP reproduction was required. As I understand, from someone who was in garrard at that time the oil reservoir requires topping up at a prodgious rate and therefore may need a drip tray!

[Beobloke]

I have to say I am also unconvinced that it's a 201 - the control plate doesn't look quite right and I'd say there's a reasonable chance it's something like an AC6 derivative.

Happy to be proved wrong, though!

[wd40addict]

I think it was getting too difficult/expensive to achieve the necessary wow, flutter & rumble figures at 33RPM with a mechanical governor system. Once 45 came along as yet another requirement Garrard had a re-think. When the 301 was launched it instantly made the Thorens E53 PA and its relatives obsolete. Thorens then went back to the drawing board and launched the TD124 with both idler and belt drive.

If it is true that Garrard were paying a licence fee on direct drive then this would be another reason to design something in-house.

Regards,

Paul

[peter_sol]

I think the 201 was 33 and 78rpm that deck is 78 only.

[dseymo1]

It was originally 78 only, but the 201B added 33 rpm.

[lesmw0sec]

Years ago, I spotted a nice Garrard 301 in a furniture sale, roughly mounted on a bit of un-varnished plywood. I asked my wife to bid for it as I was pretty sure that the other bidders would have no idea of it's worth. I got it for six quid. Still doing sterling service!

[gramofiend]

This is a picture of my plain and simple domestic, chromium plated 201. I says so on the black plate at the back but they were putting blck letters on black backgrounds even back in the 1930's.