[sawleyram]

Hi all, new member here with a record player I'm keen to restore and some questions to go along with that... As you'll guess from the title it's nothing rare but a model I'm very keen on having owned one in the past. I've only recently purchased it from a family who claim it was "very well looked after".

A bit more on the player itself...

When I took it home and powered it up there were a few apparent issues. While it powers up fine, plays records of all four speeds, demonstrates both valves illuminating and both the speaker and tweeter working fine there are issues playing records. It didn't play at a consistent speed and I notice a mild background hum when powered up (not noticeable when records are played) as well as the stylus picking up the sound of the platter rotating which I don't think is normal. It also occasionally skips on clean records too so at this point I'm thinking the stylus needs replacement which is straightforward enough. The wiring going to the stylus itself though is in poor condition (see photo) -- does anybody have suggestions on how to improve it? Each of the four wires have been stripped and re-joined and I think without solder. It's such a fine gauge of wire I don't know where to start.

Inside the player, it's generally nice and tidy: wires are sound, the tape still holds harnesses in place, etc. I found the platter mechanism/cogs contained the residue of rope/string which resulted in irregular movement. I removed the debris and this fixed the playing speed issue mentioned above. I believe this should now be greased?

Everything else seems fine. It packs a punch volume-wise but does seem a little quiet on one channel (left I THINK), but I'm hoping this is fixed by a replacement stylus.

Appreciate this is a bit of a ramble but I hope to find some advice!