BSR GU4 platter mat

[hayerjoe]

hello

I have an early 50s GU4. The platter matt is rock hard, some research suggests a number of thing's to try to soften it up a bit (dot 3 brake fluid etc) but before I attempt these things can anybody confirm the the GU4 platter mat was actually soft back in 1952, as I read that some mats on other players were actually hard and inflexible direct from the factory

thanks
Joe

[Edward Huggins]

Well the c.10" black platter mat from the BSR "Regent" deck, of which the GU4 turtnable unit forms part, was certainly soft and supple.

[hayerjoe]

thanks Edward. My mat is dark brown but I think it's a fair chance that a company would have all their mats materially/functionally the same in the same era, so I think my platter needs either replacing or softening up

cheers

[Edward Huggins]

If it does not pull away from the steel platter (and it may not) place the whole platter with mat in warm soapy water. let it soak. Clean it and then rub with non-greasy emmolient. Thoroughly dry off especially the platter mounting boss.

[Hartley118]

I’ve had similar problems and replaced the perished rubber with a felt mat, readily available from eBay suppliers. They just need trimming to size.

Martin

[Ekcoman]

Had a few made to measure from here and been fine
..........https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/number1ga...p2047675.l2559

[hayerjoe]

thanks for all your replies. I may actually need a replacement, the "soaking in brake fluid" seems to be just dissolving my mat! I'll report back in a few days time if I have a) flexible mat b) pool of brown sludge

[SeasideSteve]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/number1ga...p2047675.l2559

Thanks to Eckoman for this link to an Ebay supplier of a range of relatively reasonably priced turntable mats. This may be of general interest to many people given the price of repro BSR mats, for example. Not spotted them before although I see they now come up on an Ebay search for 'BSR turntable mat'.

Mods - is there a way of putting this where members may find it easily?

[Bruce]

Might be worth looking around in charity shops/skips/roadside cleanups to see if you can find any junked plastic turntables from the 90s. Even given the current "boom" in vinyl records these have little value as they are absolute tat. They have featherweight plastic or alloy platters, but some have surprisingly good platter mats - perhaps an attempt to dampen the feather-weight platter (the tone arm wiring and any micro-switches are also worth salvaging).

Bruce

[hayerjoe]

I did promise to report back on my attempts to soften my 1947 rock-hard platter mat. Well here are the results.

Using dot 4 brake fluid actually worked!

Before the soaking the mat was so hard and fragile I could easily have snapped it (it was like thin brittle toffee). Afterwards it's now pretty subtle, I wouldn't like to bend it in half but its definitely back to being a useful platter mat. The one downside is that it became quite discoloured and I think the surface is more marked as if the brake fluid ate away at some elements of the 1947 rubber, see photos. Unfortunately I didn't really take any close-up photos before soaking so maybe those random lines were already there? To mitigate the patchy colour I used a dark spirit based wood tint, it tints my rubber gloves so I assumed it would work and it did, so it now looks OK (see photo)

So to recap what was done:
1. soak mat in dot 3 or 4 brake fluid. I left it for 5 days, but next time I'd do it for less to see if discolouring was lessened
2. remove as much brake fluid as you can from the mat with cloths and paper towels
3. wash 2 or 3 times in warm water and washing up liquid. if you can still smell brake fluid keep washing it
4. totally dry the mat
5. if its discoloured find a suitable spirit based tint that matches the colour of the mat and rub it in using a small rag. leave on for 3-5 mins then rub off excess tint with a clean cloth
6. leave the mat for 24 hours then clean it using something like armourall (a rubber cleaner/protectant)

Hope the above is helpful

Cheers
Joe