[daves]

A friend and I have been working on this deal for a couple years, as the turntable is locked up and we couldn't afford the initial asking price.

Now that it is home, there are a few questions that may be a big help. First, what rebuild kit(or kits) should be considered? Is there a best source for parts, or are they all about the same?




Secondly, it looks like the tonearm board is not original, and there currently is not a plinth. Does anyone have  dimensions on both, or is there(again) a good supplier? Does anyone know about when Pritchard was around, as I have never heard of this tonearm.


If there is some interest, and parts are readily obtained, would anyone be interested in a Thorens rebuild gathering/party in a couple weeks?

[electricbear]

You do realise that you have just invited Scott F to come over to your home with a soldering bolt?
It might start off with a turntable but before the evening is over you will have tubes in your ceiling fan, fridge, garage door opener and cat flap if you have one.

[daves]

Tim, every time Scott comes over, he flees to the kitchen when he sees this... before he has a heart attack. 

[electricbear]

Very nice. So what you are telling me is that getting Scott to come over is not a problem. It's getting him to go back home that is.

[Scott F.]

Awesome

As much as I'd like to come over, I'm sort of out of commission for a bit. A couple of days ago I had a minor malady. Coming out of work I missed the last step and did a header. Over all, no big deal except in the process I snapped a bone in my foot, the metatarsal, I like to call it the Metamucil. So, for a while (6-8 weeks) I'm stuck getting around on one of these things




gotta say, this thing beats the crap out of crutches.

On the Thorens front, I do have a full set of old stock rubber grommets that go under the plinth. They are still soft and pliable.




I may have the springs too. I'll try to hobble downstairs over the weekend and see what I can scrape up (if you are interested). If so, maybe we could trade some tubes or something for them.

Oh, mine came from a TD 135 which is the 124 with a fixed armboard.

[electricbear]

Sure Scott, make me feel guilty now for kicking a man while he's down. Sorry to hear about the foot.  Can you have Laura shoot some video of you using your 21st century zimmer?

[Scott F.]

Funny, I had half the guys in the office playing with it all day 

[wedweb]

"They are still soft and pliable. "  -Scott F.

Did you have those in your pocket all day?



Bo

[daves]

Aren't the soft fuzzy things in your pocket called "fuzzy warbles?" 

Sorry to hear about that bad step, Scott. The grommets are totally shot on this one, so we'll be talking. Which way would you go with this - buying new parts all the way, or trying to reuse as much as possible? I do have two Grado tonearms, so using the Pritchard is not set in stone when this table is put in service. I definitely do need some expert guidance, so we could wait, bring it out at your convenience, or work slowly to do things right. 

[Scott F.]

Dave,

It should be a simple methodical, disassemble, clean, lube, then reassemble job. The one thing you will want to locate is a new idler pulley just in case yours ends up being dried up. I've seen a few on the market.

Hey, I can also do a custom armboard for it that will fir just about any arm you want. Myself, I sorta like Bloodwood. Super dense and really cool looking.

[KenSeger]

Scott,
Would the alternative of rebuilding the idler via, either http://www.terrysrubberrollers.com who can rebuild idler wheels, but his main emphasis is pinch rollers for reel to reel tape recorders, or http://www.vintagelectronics.com/Rebuild.htm who can rebuild idler wheels, whereas his emphasis is on turntable idlers, or just go with what you can find in the market?
Ken

[daves]

Ken, the Swiss rebuilders have everything to rebuild, but they also will have all your wallet on some of the parts. http://www.schopper.ch/index.php?page=main-bearing
I'm digging right now, as the serial # seems to indicate this is early in the very first year of production - it is #12XX.

[KenSeger]

Eek!  What with the Swiss Franc currently being worth $1.09 those prices take your breath away.  I can see why the Swiss government is trying to manipulate their currency back to the $0.60 range to improve their export markets.  I note the he doesn't have the idler in stock but the intermediate belt is about $40 + shipping and that main bearing assembly is stratospheric!
Ken

[Scott F.]

WOW

That bearing assembly is just stupid expensive.

There is no doubt that when you pull the bearing apart, you are going to see some wear but I would hope that it would be either minimal or normal, not excessive. It will be interesting to see the condition of the thrust plate. No doubt there will be a 'dent' where the bearing rested but the question is how deep. If it's really shallow, I'd personally just flip it over and use the reverse side. If you are worried about that turning into a void on the back side and prematurely collapsing, you could fill it with some substance like epoxy (as you know you have to watch dissimilar material interactions).

As they mention, unless the table was abused and completely neglected, the ball bearing should be salvageable. If not, I'd go with a ceramic bearing which can be sourced from McMaster Carr (as can the thrust plate and gasket material).

Obviously, this is all speculative until you disassemble the table.

[daves]

Being an initially cheap and impatient fellow, I went at the sludged up motor with my wife's hair dryer, and got the motor working well enough. Thre on an album, and the table comes up and holds speed well, and sounds pretty good.



Here is one of the underside..


It definitely is from 1957, the inaugural year for the 124. 

[MerRev]

Nice trike Scott!  Handbrakes to boot.
Sorry to hear about your foot and hope your recovery goes well.  Being the speaker guy that I am couldn't help but notice the Tannoy's.   

[KenSeger]

Dave,
Somebody on the Bozak Yahoo forum mentioned that the TD-124 couldn't be used with some moving coil cartridges since the platter is steel.  If you like, I have the more sensitive model of the R.B. Annis magnetometer and I can bring over sometime to check it for any residual magnetism.  Of course you might not want to bother measuring it and just de-magnetize it for good form.
Ken