[Darren-UK]

This, obviously, is where the actual playing of records take place. Decks can be from a number of manufacturers, BSR, Garrard, Collaro and Philips (unfortunately in the case of Philips) being the commonest.

The deck consists of the turntable, tonearm, overarm, record size detector (the latter not in the case of certain Collaro decks) and relevant controls. Below the turntable and below the deck itself are the mechanics through which the deck functions operate, these mechanics being the usual cause of a deck failing to function properly in the mechanical sense. More on this later.

The tonearm (aka pickup) contains the cartridge, upon which the stylus (or styli, in plural form) is mounted. Please note that the plural of "stylus" is "styli" and not "stylii". Nor is the stylus a "needle", needles being what acoustic gramophones use. The term "needle" is, however, commonly used by DJ's and in the USA.

Cartridges, especially crystal types, will often have failed due to age and years of disuse. More on this in the following post.

Idler drives and deck lubrication are covered in detail in following posts, so in this post we'll list common deck faults and their possible causes (with causes in italics) as nine times out of ten these are the concerns surrounding newly acquired vintage record players:

1. Turntable speed erratic and/or insufficient torque.
Idler wheel problem, gummy motor bearings, gummy turntable bearing.

2. Turntable not rotating at a speed which corresponds with speed-change control setting.
Motor mounting points perished, or loose, causing motor and thus the stepped pulley to drop.

3. Mechanism slows significantly, or stops, during auto cycle.
Dried up grease and gummy oil on deck mechanics. Slipping idler wheel. Motor retarded due to gummy bearings.

4. Tonearm lifts but fails to clear its rest, or strikes side of record or turntable, or strikes records on stacker during auto cycle.
Tonearm height adjustment, located at rear of tonearm, incorrectly set.

5. Tonearm does not settle fully onto its rest or does not lower properly onto record.
Same cause as 4. above.

6. Tonearm returns to its rest but stops short of it, also will not lift off record at end of play.
Tonearm horizontal adjustment incorrectly set.

7. You wish to play a 7" record but tonearm drops for a larger record.
Record size detector jammed at a non 7" record setting.

8. Tonearm lifts off record too early, even though the adjustments in 6. above are correct.
Trip Pawl seized or sticking due to gummy oil or dried up grease (which should not be there anyway).

9. Tonearm skids across record.
Tonearm tracking weight set too low, stylus tip missing, stylus tip broken, stylus tip seriously worn, dirt and dust build-up around stylus tip, seriously worn and/or dirty record track, cartridge wires hanging down and fouling record, record player or deck not sitting approximately level.

10. Tonearm encounters horizontal resistance with auto mechanism disengaged, causing it to jump the record track. Partially seized, or damaged, tonearm pivot and/or damaged below-deck mechanism. Note that with the auto mechanism disengaged, the tonearm should encounter no resistance whatsoever in the horizontal plane and only the miniscule tracking weight resistance in the vertical plane.

11. With overarm placed over spindle, play repeats even with only a single record.
Overarm not dropping fully after record has dropped from stacker.

12. Tonearm returns to its rest after play but deck does not shut down.
Below-deck mechanism fouling, jammed or restricted by hardened grease.

13. I have a non auto, single play, machine but the motor won't start.
A common means of starting the motor on these machines is to lift the tonearm from its rest and move it to the right. This operates a switch to start the motor.

14. Speed change control jammed or excessively stiff.
Gummy oil and/or grease on the cam mechanism and it's linkage which raises and lowers the idler wheel to effect the speed change. See fourth image in post #9; this cam and its linkage can be seen below and to the left of the motor.

15. Tonearm bounce. This can be a nuisance on some, especially BSR, decks. As records drop from the stacker the deck suspension springs react, causing the whole deck to tremble. This in turn causes the tonearm to bounce, especially when tracking weight is light, and jump or skid as it lands on the record. The BSR UA15 deck fitted to the Pye 1005 can be very prone to this. The cure is to remove the deck to gain access to the suspension springs, then stuff a lump of foam rubber/plastic inside the springs to give a damping effect. Garrard tended to do this anyway, BSR apparently sometimes did and sometimes didn't. Either way, the type of foam originally used tended to perish away over the years. The ideal foam to use is the type found on those yellow things you use for washing up, with the green scouring pad on one side. See also the later post on Collaro decks.

Many of the above problems are caused by lubrication issues, namely gummy oil and dried-up grease. As the oil/grease problems are covered in following posts and other forum threads (linked to where appropriate) we'll now focus upon a few specific issues in the following posts.