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Old 5th Nov 2012, 5:24 pm   #34
GP49000
Hexode
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Sonoma County, California, USA.
Posts: 405
Default Re: Garrard record player deck identification.

There were both single and dual disco versions derived from the Autoslim-chassis SP25. Very few of them made it to America, where I am.

The one that I have seen did have the cam. It looked outwardly similar to the SP25 Mk III. A change in the SP25 line which I failed to mention previously: the SP25 Mk III added the lever-operated cueing device of the 40B, SL55B and SL65B. At the same time the LIFT position on the operator's control panel was changed to AUTO, thus permitting the SP25 to automatically play a single record, to repeat a single record, and to REJECT a single record, the arm lifting and returning to its rest and the unit shutting off. My memory of the disco version I saw was that the AUTO position DID reject the record by use of the AUTO function. I do not know whether the modification to disable the auto trip at end of record side was done by Garrard, or performed very neatly by an end user.

It is a shame that I did not take photos of it.

The BSR single-players used in disco setups that I saw, retained all their normal functions including end-of-side auto lift and shutoff.

Among most of the Autoslim series, parts were freely interchangeable. In my own collection I have a 50 Mk II that I upgraded to SL65 standard by substituting its tonearm, Synchro-Lab motor and weighted, cast platter. I once upgraded a 40B with the Synchro-Lab motor, tonearm and antiskate assembly from a damaged SL65B. A more extreme example, shown in the accompanying photo, is an SL65 with the rubber mat and small, steel platter of an Autoslim/P Mk II and the Autoslim's large rectangular operator's control panel (which will not clear the larger platters) and red/white control handles. It apparently began life as an SL65 because its characteristic nameplate, which mounts in punched holes in the chassis, is in the left front, whereas that of the Autoslim/P Mk II was in the left rear corner. It retains the SL65 tonearm and cueing lever.

SL65 with Autoslim platter, control panel and levers
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Last edited by GP49000; 5th Nov 2012 at 5:41 pm.
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