Garrard Type A II Rebuild

[erich944]

Starting a rebuild on a Garrard Type A II. This old girl is in good condition but crusty. She has a fine grit all over the metal under body, like a very lite corrosion. I greased her up pretty good but it looks like I am gonna have to totally dismantle her. She plays at speeds 45 and up but 33 is just too slow to get her through the gear cycle.

I will keep you guys updated on the rebuild. This is my first Type A to work on. All tips and Tricks are welcome.

[Tractorfan]

Hi,
It's interesting in that it's got a bent spindle and platform record rest. My Garrard RC80M uses that mechanism but is from the mid-fifties. Yours looks quite a bit later. I thought they had change to the straight spindle with an overarm by then .
Cheers, Pete

[D_S_J_R]

The A70mk2 (two generations on from the Amk2) was the last deck based on this basic chassis, which I remember from the RC88U (with brushed motor and a huge external wirewound resistor in a cage which got rather hot in use. As I remember, the mech wasn't too bad and this one should be fine with an Ortofon GT or OM Pro at 4 grammes, Pickering/Stanton 3 gramme trackers and Shures etc...

Good luck with the restoration and shame you have to totally strip the mech out. It should be quite slick once fettled

P.S. I think I'm right in saying that the mk2, with its larger diameter top platter, can't accept stacks of 7" records as the "stay-pusher" assemby can't be moved close enough to hold them. In the US, the centre holes were large and stacking singles was achieved with an adaptor I think.

[Beobloke]

Originally Posted by D_S_J_R

P.S. I think I'm right in saying that the mk2, with its larger diameter top platter, can't accept stacks of 7" records as the "stay-pusher" assemby can't be moved close enough to hold them. In the US, the centre holes were large and stacking singles was achieved with an adaptor I think.

Yes, you're quite right.

The only way I ever saw around this was an autochange variant Zero 100 for sale at the NVCF a year or two back that had a special extended platform that would indeed autochange small hole 7" records.

Unfortunately the seller knew little about it but it did look like a genuine accessory rather than a clever home-bodge. Sadly the seller was also asking a silly price for the deck, so I didn't buy. Someone did, though as it was gone by the end of the day - I'm still intrigued by it!

[Audio1950]

Back in the sixties, I used to know a guy who worked for Garrard in Swindon, and he told me that at some stage in the early part of the decade, (possibly when Garrard were taken over by Plessey?) the designers were given the job of developing a deck that would use up the vast stock of parts that had accumulated. The result was the "Lab A", which was the first version of the one above. It used up excess stocks of the TPA 12 arm, which had previously been used on the 4HF, or sold seperately, the controls and turntables from the 210 changer, and the mechanisms and centre spindles from the RC88/98 changers. All they had to do was put a removable cast turntable on the top of the original, modify the pusher platform, and make 11" turntable mats. I always remember the conversation whenever I see a "Lab A".

Barry

[erich944]

Complete!

It took me a few hours a good bit of alcohol, grease and sewing machine oil, but she is up and running again. Goes completely through the cycle at 33rpm. I am having a slight issue with the tone arm rising high enough to get off of its post from time to time. This is a problem I am hoping will go away with time and added oil. I'm thinking of taking a bit of fine grit sand paper to the tonearm post and taking of a mm or 2.

Luckily, the head shell, stylus and cartridge are all in good shape. I really like how easy it is to remove the entire head shell.

I will try to upload a video of her going through her paces in the next few days.

Cheers,

-Erich944

[Audio1950]

There is a little white lever on the right side of the arm, directly behind the headshell. Lift it up to the vertical position, and the headshell just pulls off, may need a bit of gentle wiggling, as they get stuck if not removed for a long time. The arm height is adjusted by a screw under the base of the arm. Can't remember exactly where offhand, but it you look at where the pin that lifts the arm comes up, you should see an adjustable screw/nut there.

Barry

[GP49000]

Originally Posted by Audio1950

Back in the sixties, I used to know a guy who worked for Garrard in Swindon, and he told me that at some stage in the early part of the decade, (possibly when Garrard were taken over by Plessey?) the designers were given the job of developing a deck that would use up the vast stock of parts that had accumulated. The result was the "Lab A", which was the first version of the one above. It used up excess stocks of the TPA 12 arm, which had previously been used on the 4HF, or sold seperately, the controls and turntables from the 210 changer, and the mechanisms and centre spindles from the RC88/98 changers. All they had to do was put a removable cast turntable on the top of the original, modify the pusher platform, and make 11" turntable mats. I always remember the conversation whenever I see a "Lab A".

The redesign was a bit more involved than that...but not by much! I am too young to have been interested when it was introduced, but have seen the American advertising of the time:

The step beyond the turntable...the step beyond the changer...
An AUTOMATIC TURNTABLE!
Garrard's Laboratory Series Type A

Maybe it is strange now, but this derivative of Garrard's older models seemed revolutionary for its time. It was the first to combine a heavy, weighted platter and a weight-counterbalanced tonearm, with an automatic record changer chassis. Moreover its styling (was this an early Eric Marshall effort, or did he come later?) was worlds apart from the almost-baroque looking RC88 that was its predecessor. Garrard's USA distributors, British Industries Corp., even made an advertising asset out of what was already old-fashioned, the pusher platform record changing mechanism ("the gentlest, most reliable record changing mechanism ever"...and they were actually correct).

In the USA, where automatic record changers were by far the preferred way to play records, even in high quality audio systems, the Garrard Type A was a runaway favorite. One could almost say it sold in boatloads, coming across from the UK!

A few years later, as a kid with a Garrard Autoslim, I wanted a Type A, as it was the top of the line when my Autoslim was built. I was a bit disappointed when I got a secondhand one, to find that it was actually an ancient machine underneath, compared to the Autoslim. I took that Type A through several mechanical upgrades, some homebrew, some using parts from the newer Type A70, to get it to track at one gram.

Garrard wasn't done, yet. Four years after the Type A, came "the first Automatic Transcription Turntable," the LAB 80. This one was definitely designed by Eric Marshall, and it's a real beauty. The chaste, simple styling is elegant; to me the best-styled Garrard, ever (I own a 301, and prefer the more modern styling of the LAB 80 and 401). But underneath is much of the same mechanism from the RC88 and Type A...including the parts that prevent the tonearm from safely being picked up in the middle of a side in automatic play, and put back on its rest. Try it on any of these models and the result is the same: the arm, under spring tension, flies back onto the record and the stylus gouges the record (there's a way to overcome this by fiddling with the record size feeler)! The LAB 80 had some reliability issues and as an audio technician, I had to figure out some clever ways of fixing ones that customers had broken by rotating the platter backwards with its cycling mechanism engaged. Competition was heating up, too, with Dual and Miracord finally catching up with record changers that looked contemporary, not "out of the fifties." The Type A had given Garrard several years of unsurpassed success in the marketplace, something Garrard never enjoyed again.

[GP49000]

Originally Posted by erich944

This is my first Type A to work on. All tips and Tricks are welcome.

On something this old, it's could be best to do a major stripdown and clean the old oxidized grease from every part. But a Type A, A70, 70 Mk II or 88 Mk II that has received at least some care over its lifetime may be OK on most of its linkages and pivots, but with a main operating gear/cam that is tight or even frozen due to dried out grease around the "axle" it turns on. In such a case there is a trick which may mean you don't have to strip down all the linkages to remove the main gear/cam.

With platter removed, the chassis in normal orientation and raised above the worktable so you can get to and work on both the top and bottom: from the top, loosen and remove the nut on the top of the shaft ("axle") of the main gear/cam. You may find at this point that that the shaft rotates along with the gear/cam! Now, with a small propane torch (I have a mini-torch that works just fine), from the bottom of the chassis, heat the center of the gear/cam, with the shaft inside. Check the condition of the shaft; when you get it hot enough, you will be able to push it out from the top, perhaps needing to grip it from below with pliers and pull it out. It might even drop out of its own accord, and that of gravity. The linkages and associated parts will keep the main gear/cam in position. With the shaft removed, it is easy to clean it of dried grease, and using cotton swabs, you can clean out the center bore of the gear/cam. Relubricate with a modern lubricant such as lithium or molybdenum-filled grease, and reassemble (you might have to wiggle the gear/cam a bit to get it to line up as you push the shaft through), put back the washer and tighten the nut on top, and you're done. With a modern lubricant, and properly serviced otherwise, the unit will be in better shape to last another 50 years, than it was when it first came out of Swindon!

Originally Posted by D_S_J_R

I think I'm right in saying that the mk2, with its larger diameter top platter, can't accept stacks of 7" records as the "stay-pusher" assembly can't be moved close enough to hold them. In the US, the centre holes were large and stacking singles was achieved with an adaptor I think.

Correct, and also for the original Type A, the Type A70 and 70 Mk II. There was an "RA7 Adapter" that clipped onto the pusher platform of these models to play 7" small-hole records. In the USA it was catalogued for purchase at the princely sum of $1.50; but I have never seen one, nor do know what it looks like. A similar adapter was marketed some years later for the side platform on the SL95 and similar models. The RA7 adapter was also required to play such records on the 88 Mk II; even though it had the small platter of the RC88, it had the pusher platform of the Type A (in the RC88's dark brown colour), so its platform could not be moved into the 7" record position.

The 88 Mk II, its pusher platform and tonearm (this sample has a non-Garrard mat):

[retrovinylman]

I have had a couple of these and they are really nice units, both were in mint condition, one unused in it's original box and packaging, so I really didn't have to do anything to them. But I currently have an number of other Garrards RC 80, RC 120 etc and they all have the same problem. The motor mounting grommets are the same as on the type A and they have disintegrated. Does anyone know where to source them?