[firewall]

What's the silliest mistake you've made with your turntable ?

I was wondering why I was picking resonance/feedback - solid base with cushioning -

Then someone pointed out that I played records with the dustcover on...

took it off and *poof!*

All my troubles seemed so far away

[orthobiz]

My heavily modified HW-19 has a 10.5 inch arm on it. Finally got a tall dustcover hinged properly to clear the super thick platter BUT if I put the dustcover down, the counterweight kicks out and hits the inside of the cover and causes the record to skip. All is good if I leave the cover up.

Oh, and that's just a silly DUSTCOVER mistake.

Paul

[Digi-G]

I don't listen to records anymore, but way back when I did...

Taking the record out of the sleeve and nearly dropped it.  In an effort to save it from hitting the floor I used my Ninja-like reflexes, moved quite swiftly and ended up knocking it all the way across the room (it was a small room), where it bounced off furniture and THEN ended up on the floor.    

I don't remember the title although I'm pretty sure I remember what I said to myself out loud.   

[toocool4]

Was being lazy and never use to stop the spinning platter to flip the record over. One day doing what I always did, the record slipped out of my hands. It hit the spindle on the last track on that side, big deep gash on the record. The record now plays with a loud click when the stylus crosses that area, record ruined.

I hunted around and bought a use copy as the record was out of print, the new used copy does not sound as good as my original. So I bought yet another used copy, sounded bad as well. I gave the worse sounding one away, kept my original and one of the other ones. I still only ever play my original with the gash on it, as it’s the best sounding one.

So now, I always stop the spinning platter before I flip a record over. Not going to make that mistake again.

[S Clark]

If you've got to do something with you tone arm and pod, may I suggest that you remove the head shell with the rather nice MC cartridge before hand.  Some where in my carpet is a tiny bit of ruby cantilever with a contact line stylus. 
No doubt I'll find it one day, barefoot, with some portion of my foot that I no longer have the flexibility to see. 

[timind]

How far back can I go? My brother and I were playing John Lennon's Live Peace In Toronto at concert levels with the windows open when my mom came home from the grocery store. She stormed into our room, grabbed the turntable arm, and ripped the album off the turntable. That was the end of that album.

[Scroof Neachy]

All my troubles seemed so far away

And without the lid, it’s time to play? 

[davidc1]

8 years old. My dad, an electronics engineer, had a great stereo system. Used to show it off at parties they had. Back then, hardly anybody had a quality system. He used the LP "Man of La Mancha" to show it off. I liked it to and played it on occassion.

One time when playing it, I dropped it behind the breakfront (a big shelf thing). I could see it back there, standing on it's edge, leaning against the wall. I thought...how am I going to get it out from behind there? Aha! I had the great idea of using the handle of a broom since it was skinny and long enough, to sort of hook it and roll it back out. Yeah... a good idea. Until a put a massive deep scratch all along the record.

Then, I was scared to tell my dad. So,  the next party they had, he put it on the turntable without really looking at it, and thump, thump, thump!!! Super loud. I had run into my room when I saw him pulling the record out of its sleeve.

[Digi-G]

How far back can I go? My brother and I were playing John Lennon's Live Peace In Toronto at concert levels with the windows open when my mom came home from the grocery store. She stormed into our room, grabbed the turntable arm, and ripped the album off the turntable. That was the end of that album.

Can we assume you were playing Side 2?  Or was it just the volume that she didn't appreciate?

[SteveFord]

If it was Side 2 I hope you gave her a big hug and said thank you.