Garrard RC88/4

[Cybadelic]

Hi All

I've just been given one of these with a SelectOMatic Amp/Tuner in a really awesome cabinet. It's Stereo, one of the first Late 50's stereo units. I'll try and post photos later.

The turntable is fitted with one of those "flip over" stylii.

Is there anything I can do to mod this TT? e.g fit a new arm/stylus etc?

I have the manual and mounting template if anyone's interested.

I have access to a large format scanner for the template.

This looks like a good solid machine and it's in great condition. May need oil topped up etc.

Any advise would be great.

Regards


CybaDelic
_________________
"Digital preserves music the way that formaldehyde preserves frogs. You kill it, and it lasts forever." (unknown - New York Times?)

[Steerpike_jhb]

I have two of those SelectOmatic units - with Garrard 209 changers, so possibly later than yours - mine are 1966 vintage.
The Selectomatic brand was a particular line made by the Tesla radio corp in South Africa, and is nothing to do with the "selectomatic" jukebox made in the USA. My parents were personal friends of Mr Silberman who ran the company - so we had several Selectomatics around he house!

Most of the electronics is/was Philips based, with Torotor RF sections.

I'm first in line if you want to chuck out any of it!

The pickup is possibly a Ronette 105 (or the special 'garrard neck' version ronette made). New styli (and 105 carts still!) can be got from Jean's in Jeppe street. Although it's not a good cartridge, you cannot change it to a magnetic type without modding the amplifiers.

[Cybadelic]

Hi Steerpike

Thanks for the info, I was hoping to find someone out there who could give a bit of the history.

Yours are definately later than mine. I think mine's from 1957/8 I saw a date somewhere on one of the manuals. My client said he bought 3 of these originally and paid SAGBP 1000 each for them!! I can definately see why as the cabinet is beautifully crafted.

I saw from the manual that the Selectomatic was made by the Tesla corp and was wondering what happened to the company. This may be a dumb question but were there any links to the famous Nicola Tesla? Do you know where I could get schematics etc? The "magic eye" seems not to be functioning. Still trying to figure out which of the stations gets FM I remember my grandparents having a similar unit with a Garrard record player... not sure which model tho and that got FM. will I need another mod?

Anyway back to the TT... I'm town quite often. Whereabouts is Jeans in Jeppe street, in relation to the main post office and the former Johannesburg Sun/Holiday Inn/Smal Street Mall? Where is the nearest cross street?

BTW, There's another shop down in Newtown near the Magistrate's Court that sells replacement stilii and new Entry Level AT and Stanton carts. There's also a DJ shop in Carlton Centre, but they only sell DJ carts and stuff.

I think it's the Garrard spec Ronette cart as it looks integrated into the headshell. I'm going to test the TT on an old 7" single, Ironically "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen.

Also what mods will the amplifier need to take a more modern cart? Can a DIYer attempt or should I leave that to a more qualified person? In other words can I make it my December project .

No plans to chuck/sell yet but you'll be the first to know if and when!

I've taken some photos and will post them when I get to the office on a faster connection.

Thanks again.

Cybadelic
_________________
"Digital preserves music the way that formaldehyde preserves frogs. You kill it, and it lasts forever." (unknown - New York Times?)

[rexation]

There isn't much you can do to the RC88/4. You can't put a new arm on it, but if you lubricate it, adjust it [they are finicky] and get a remanufactured idler wheel it will play 78's pretty nicely. I would not trust vinyl to it because the arm tracks at rather heavy weights in order to trip the changer mechanism. The arm doesn't track that well and is not tolerant of ripped grooves, warps etc etc, the common dangers of shellack records. I also don't trust my better 78's to it either, but its fun. I have a GE VRII cartridge installed (which I swap out for an old Pickering fluxvalve occasionally), hence the nice sound, but that might not be an option on your console setup. Have fun and don't toss it out without giving it a chance. It is no where near the quality of the 301/401's you read about here but it was never intended to be either.

[Steerpike_jhb]

Those sets were made as much to be a piece of grand furniture as to listen to - the antithesis of the ipod!

There was an East European manufacturer Tesla, but I don't think our local one of the same name had any links with them, or the Tesla himself.
I think the local company ceased to exist in the 1970s.
I know Mr Silberman took the name 'selectomatic' from the jukebox of that name, but there was no business agreement over it - I suppose that constitutes trademark infringement nowdays!
I just discovered mine's guarantee papers - purchase date July 1961.

Schematics I do not know about - I traced out parts of mine manually - fortunately the build quality is good, and its very easy to follow the wiring.
If it's FM-equipped, the dial ought to show an FM 88-108MHz band quite prominently.
SA introduced FM in 1962, (= the reason for building the Albert Hertzog tower in Brixton) so older units might not be so equipped.
Certainly it will NOT be stereo-FM, which was only started in 1982.

Tuning eye tubes always fail sooner than any other tube; you can get from "Mr Valve" in Sandton, although if it's one of the 'octal' types such as EM34, EM1 etc, be prepared to pay BIG money for a new one. The EM80/UM80 series are still cheap though.

"Jeans" is in Jeppe street, between about Troy & Von Weillig streets - on the right-hand side just past the garage & what was Tiger Wheel & Tyre. Definately worth a visit if you need spares and components for equipment made from the 1950s through 1970s - including certain idlers.

If your cartridge IS one of the "made for Garrard by Ronette" types, be very careful with it - the castings are fragile and replacement mountings are impossible to get now - careful removal of the cartridge & knob, then cleaning of the 'neck' and it's matching tube-and-groove in the headshell, followed by good lubrication of the neck with grease will make the stresses on the 'flip-over' knob much less dangerous. That special "garrard neck" for which the arm is die-cast, makes it difficult to put in any other type of cartridge without making some kind of custom bracket.

Even though the cartridge is not great, my preference is to retain such things as orginal. I don't think a modern cartridge will give wonderful results in that arm anyway.
Being a ceramic cartridge (happily ceramic, as opposed to crystal, which wouldn't have survived until today probably), it puts out about 1000mV into load of 1MegOhm - which is great for a valve amp, but means that substituting a magnetic cart will get you total silence.
You'd need to put a RIAA-equalised pre-amplifier between the amp and cartridge if you were to change to a modern magnetic cartridge. My preference here would be a valve design (to match the rest of the system) - and there are several circuits around that will do it using a single pentode or dual triode valve per channel. The B+ and heater power can be lifted straight from the existing amp circuitry.

As far as the two units I have goes, the electronics and speakers certainly outclass the turnatable - when fed with a good signal (dare I say it! - from a CD player, GASP!) the sound is very good - way better than typical modern "Hi Fi".

[Cybadelic]

Hi Steerpike and rexation

Thanks for the advice. I'll have a go at keeping things original for now and then later start to mod things.

These sets are definately the opposite of an ipod!

I'll give Mr Valve a ring once I know what type I'm looking for, fingers crossed that it's one of the reasonably priced ones.

I must have driven past Jeans quite a few times without noticing! I'll take a look tomorrow when I'm in Town.

I'll be sure to be careful with the cart!

Once I get stuff up and running will post a follow up.

Regards


Cybadelic
_________________
"Digital preserves music the way that formaldehyde preserves frogs. You kill it, and it lasts forever." (unknown - New York Times?)

[Steerpike_jhb]

I referred people to Jean's TV and radio spares in Jeppe street a few times. Well, she's now closing up shop & retiring, so anyone who wants parts and spares for all kinds of audio equipment from the 1960's through 90's needs to get there fast.
Pity she's giving up - it was a great treasure trove, but hardly surprising if you've seen how badly central Johannesburg has degenerated in the last 10 years.

[Cybadelic]

Hi Steerpike

Thanks for the heads up.

I went there a few weeks ago and there was a sign that said "closing down sale". Looks like everything must go. Not sure what I need but unfortunately not much room for browsing due to the security in place. Wasn't sure if I should post it here.

She said to me that if someone bought all her stock at once she'd close immediately. A business opportunity perhaps???

I must go back there as I'm looking for an FM stereo adaptor for my dad's old Beomaster 1000. Maybe she has one?

Central Joburg has got a bit better in some places, just look at Newtown and the Government Precinct, hopefully the Fashion District Revamps in the Jeppe Street area will bear fruit and renovation. (The Apprentice showed the area nicely).

Definately a pity that she's closing down, the place will probably be replaced by someone selling knock off WWE T-Shirts or some such.

I did contact Mr Valve and they have the tube I need (EM81) for about R85.00 or so. Waiting for the Xmas bonus to go and get one... The tube revival means that some of these things are more available than others.

Anyway, thanks again for the assistance.

Cybadelic
_________________
"Digital preserves music the way that formaldehyde preserves frogs. You kill it, and it lasts forever." (unknown - New York Times?)

[Steerpike_jhb]

I went to have a look around Jeans today: picked up a few interesting things including a Philips GP410 cartridge (no idea how it performs, but I liked the look of it!), and a Matsushita DD motor/bearing - which means some designing and building will be in order one day!

GP410
http://www.vinylengine.com/php.....ic_id=2920

DD Motor
http://www.vinylengine.com/php.....ic_id=2921
http://www.vinylengine.com/php.....ic_id=2922

re: the stereo adapter: she says she thinks she has, but no idea where they might be in all the boxes; she'll keep a lookout for it though & let me know in Jan.

[Cybadelic]

Hi Steerpike

The cart looks good, hope it sounds awesome!

Matsushita, hmmm, Panasonic or Technics! that was some find!!

I hope that she has the adapter and that it's not too pricey! Thanks for asking! I was hoping I'd get there today, but had other stuff to do .

I tried to post some pics of the 'gram on this site, I think I'll have to re-take them in a smaller resoultion... Ah well next year (It's at the office and I'm on holiday)

Anyway, all the best for the festive season and a great new year!!!


Regards

CybaDelic
_________________
"Digital preserves music the way that formaldehyde preserves frogs. You kill it, and it lasts forever." (unknown - New York Times?)

[Steerpike_jhb]

Don't go to Jeans until around Jan 9th - she's closed up shop forthe holidays.
For quick resampling & resizing of pictures before uploading, download "Irfanview" - it's free & does all kinds of format/resolution conversions

[Cybadelic]

Thanks Steerpike

I won't go there until Jan. I have another program I can use for that called My View Pad, I downloaded it as it can view Winfax files on the fly unlike the winfax viewer. The Gimp is also useful it's like Photoshop only free.

I'll fiddle later and hopefully post after.


Regards


Cybadelic
_________________
"Digital preserves music the way that formaldehyde preserves frogs. You kill it, and it lasts forever." (unknown - New York Times?)

[Steerpike_jhb]

Hey Cybadelic
Any success with those selectomatic photos yet?
I'm keen to see it....
pictures of the amp insides too please!

[Cybadelic]

Hi Steerpike

Not yet, haven't had time to re-size the pics or take new ones. I'll try today, have to download GIMP tho.

As an aside, trying to scrape some cash together to buy Jean out she's got some good stuff, including the valve I need.

l8r

Cybadelic
_________________
"Digital preserves music the way that formaldehyde preserves frogs. You kill it, and it lasts forever." (unknown - New York Times?)

[Cybadelic]

Hi Steerpike

Here are 3 pics that I have posted (re-sized with GIMP):

http://www.vinylengine.com/php.....ic_id=3008

http://www.vinylengine.com/php.....ic_id=3009

http://www.vinylengine.com/php.....ic_id=3010

would have been up sooner but had to unplug due to lightning.

The Cabinet is presently covered by bits of a new desk we just got in the office. Once the desk is put together, I'll unscrew the back cover of the amp and take some more pics of the inside. This may take some time as some of the chipboard on the desk is stripped and I have to re-drill holes for the brackets.

Anyway, let me know what you think of the pics.


Regards

Cybadelic
_________________
"Digital preserves music the way that formaldehyde preserves frogs. You kill it, and it lasts forever." (unknown - New York Times?)