New Toy, I made it myself :)

Yayyy, it's finished ....

I've been working on this for several weeks, possibly a total of 50 hours work throughout its various stages. The oak chopping board is now a real nice turntable. Just got to apply a final wax coat and that's it.

To summarise :

* Motor, switching, feet, lid and spindle/bearing from a broken Pro-Ject Essential I, reworked with mount tags inverted for correct positioning.
* Platter is a 25mm thick MDF precision machined disc, with a nice accurately drilled centre hole.
* Arm is a broken (and mended) Rega RB300, rewired with silver Litz wire and new gold end tags. Terminated in a small ABS box with twin phono sockets and earth tag.
* Cart is a new AT91
* Baseboard is a 45x35x4 cm solid oak chopping board.

Phew, I need a holiday.

Listening to my standard LP - Jacques Loussier, Best of Play Bach, everything is now really solid, quite a marked difference to the old MDF baseboard.

Total cost, excluding time, but including all new tools, drills wire, components etc : £115, but not important, I'm keeping this beauty :) I'm rather proud of my efforts !

https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net...29&oe=5A248AF5

Brilliant!!

you are one clever git aren't you?

looks lovely.. i assume it sounds ok too :-)

It sounds rather like the old Manticore Mantra I refurbed last year, I was thinking about redoing the baseboard with marble or granite but it aint broke so I aint fixin it :)

DSOTM, new 180g vinyl sounds amazing, esp the vocal solo by Clare Torrey :) The double bass on Jacques Loussier's Play bach is so solid and "in the room", no more wooly bass :)

Very nice, but that chopping board ain't "Solid Oak".

Pedant, its bits of solid oak glued together, its as solid as it needs to be :)

:P

No, I don't think it's Oak at all. The grain is far too wide.

I'm very jealous right now. I don't wanna spend on vinyl, but I've heard my speakers with vinyl, and there was no denying it was better. No idea what setup that was, though.

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Originally Posted by Hoonigan

No, I don't think it's Oak at all. The grain is far too wide.

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ahhhh OK, Im with you now, what do you think it is then ?? I was told it was oak.

I'd suspect a type of Cherry wood, but not 100%. Sorry I can't help further, though I'm sure there's someone here who can identify it :)

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Originally Posted by Hoonigan

I'd suspect a type of Cherry wood, but not 100%. Sorry I can't help further, though I'm sure there's someone here who can identify it :)

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haha... should probably highlight you used to work in a wood yard so people dont think you're just a douchebag! :p

Great project G8ina, love it.

Just wait 'til Mrs g8ina discovers her favourite chopping board is mysteriously missing. :D

looks like rubber wood....

its a lovely wood for chopping boards.. and prolly for turntables ;)
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ru...w=1680&bih=886

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Originally Posted by Saracen

Just wait 'til Mrs g8ina discovers her favourite chopping board is mysteriously missing. :D

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It was bought specifically for purpose, ie, my purpose :)

Riiiight! ;) ;)

Yes, really :)

Was at car boot sale, two blokes who make kitchen units sell off their offcuts all nice and tidied up as chopping boards. This one was EXACTLY the right size for my TT transplant :) Cost a fiver :)

Made the TT sound like a 300 quid job.

That's a very good buy, even for a decent chopping board let alone a nice TT platter.

Well done, and to many hours of joyful listening.

I saw something in Sainsbury's today for the first time in years - a rack of records. LPs. Actual, honest-to-God vinyl.

I suspect what I thought wascthe store's main door was actually a time portal to 40 years ago.

Except the prices. They were definitely more 2017 than 1977.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Saracen

I saw something in Sainsbury's today for the first time in years - a rack of records. LPs. Actual, honest-to-God vinyl.

I suspect what I thought wascthe store's main door was actually a time portal to 40 years ago.

Except the prices. They were definitely more 2017 than 1977.

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Its made a huge come back, and you have the hipsters to thank.

I think the modern culture of possetion and objectivity have given people the desire to want feeling and emotion from more than just the music itself, but the act of playing and owning the music.

I personally don't get it, If i want visual and physical artistic stimuation then ill go to a museum, sculpture park or drive down the road to the moors/dales. When it comes to the act of playing music, I want convenience and efficiency. Records fullfill neither of these parameters, and im yet to hear an argument that offers any scientific reason why they are better.

Biscuit, come and listen, you will then understand :)

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Originally Posted by g8ina

Biscuit, come and listen, you will then understand :)

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Generous offer, but I've heard plenty of high quality record players over the years so it would be wasted on me. Its like the film vs digital cinema argument, it always boils down to a "feeling".

Wow it looks so much better than the old one my parents owned. It still works quite ok, but it's not the same

Cool!

I currently own one record, NWA - Straight Outta Compton, but I've never owned a record player to play it :o

Quote:

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Originally Posted by g8ina

Biscuit, come and listen, you will then understand :)

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Sadly the record decks I see on sale around town look like be cheap plastic USB affairs designed to try and make converting records to mp3 so that you can get the worst of both worlds: all the clicks and crackles of vinyl into a compressed digital file that won't even have the nice cover artwork etc you expect in a native digital copy.

The HiFi shops have pretty much gone, there are still some Richer Sounds shops within a half hour drive, but not sure where I would buy a turntable these days. My Dual unit is in the loft, it hasn't spun for over a decade so might no longer work.

All the brushes next to the turntable remind me why I switched to CD despite thinking they don't sound as nice, the constant cleaning and brushing just got to me.

But mostly these days I only get to listen to music in the car, and that doesn't even have a CD player any more as even they are considered obsolete, so I listen to DAB radio.

I guess there are still enough old record decks out there to support all these records I see for sale. Not that I have seen anyone actually buying one yet.

amazing where did you buy it?

Awesome :clapping:

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Originally Posted by bertaluk

amazing where did you buy it?

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Twit.

Title says "New Toy **I made it myself**

as in, you know, making it myself, as opposed to not buying from a shop.

Oh and btw, it IS Oak, I went back to the Kitchen guys and asked em :)