Hadcock GH228

[vincitsemper]

Hello everyone,

Does anyone here use a Hadcock GH228 unipivot tonearm? I have just acquired one in dire need of help.

The lateral weight is missing as is the rod on which the anti-skating weight rides on.

I could really do with some information regarding size and weight of the lateral weight and details about any bits which may be missing on mine.

The wiring is also completely snapped but I shall get this done so it's no problem.

Thank you for any assistance you can give on this.

Regards,

Victor.

[abril]

Put up a pic of it as it is and maybe could help.

No GH228 now but have had one in the past,so no knowledge of weights.

[vincitsemper]

Hello Abril,

Shall do that tomorrow mate, lost the damn camera charger again!

I have had a good look at the photos online and realised there is no lateral weight on my model, the anti-skate doubles up as a lateral balance .

Satan friendly may have the same Hadcock model, I seem to remember something written by him in an earlier thread.

It may be that may arm is complete, only issue is the wiring which is completely snapped at the pivot.

Later Hadcocks used a connector, from armtube wiring to phono, but this one has no plug.

May try using a continuous run of wire, but will have to work out how to strengthen it at the phono end.

Regards,

Victor.

[nat]

Isn't Hadcock still in business? If so, they might be able to help.

[abril]

the anti-skate doubles up as a lateral balance .

If anything like my old one the eccentrically mounted counterweight does the job of lateral balance too

[vincitsemper]

Hello,

Thanks for the photo, Abril. You are right, the counterweight also acts as a lateral balance.

My tonearm looks very similar to yours, but mine is in black.

There is nothing missing on my tonearm, relieved, but the wiring slightly confuses me.

On the headsell side,the wires which are meant to be blue and green are connected together.

Hopefully the photos will show what I mean.
Regards,

Victor.

[vincitsemper]

[satanfriendly]

Hi there Vincitsemper

Unfortunately I have an Hadcock GH220 (not a unipivot) and the bias in this case is a weight on a cantilever. Is the bias not adjusted on the 228 by slightly rotating and offsetting the counterweight, in much the same way as the Blue Note arms? Always sounded a bit clumsy to me.

I'm sure it will all come together. These things always do

Any luck with the cones?

[abril]

If it's the same the bias is set with a weight on a rope that hangs from a stub on the side of the top and the loop round it is held in position with a couple of bits of heatshrink,the 'rope' then goes through a wire loop and the weight hangs down.
Get the idea

Best of luck with the wiring what a mess

Not difficult actually ,totally rewired one 2 or 3 years ago that I bought in a sorry state.

This shows the stub and the wire

[vincitsemper]

Hello,

Satan, the cones have been holding up my grease bearing 301! I occasionally take them off to polish and admire them, initially they were meant for a G99 but still haven't got a plinth sorted out for that deck. Gone off lencos lately.

They really are works of art, thanks for the present. I shall be looking after them for a long time to come.

Maybe my hands have become clumsy from years of hammering metal, but the Hadcock seems ever so delicate and the setting up way too fiddly! I have lost count of the amount of times the bloody anti-skate weight falls off the assembly.

I have a Mission 774 Original fitted to a TD160 Super, great sounding arm but just as flimsy as the hadcock. I hardly use it because i am scared to even look at it in case it breaks.

Abril, seems my Hadcock is not missing anything! I have found the "stub" which holds the anti-skate inside the deck the arm came on. Agricultural would be putting it mildly!

Whoever rewired the arm must have only had four wires so he decided to use one of the wires as an earth and connect two together for the cartridge. He then attached everything to the crappiest cable he could lay his hands on.

He was, apparently, an expert on all to do with turntables.

My intention is to use the silk covered Litz wire sold by Transfi on epay but I worry that five wires coming out of the tube will impede the tonearm's movement.

Do I twist the cable in pairs, and leave the earth on its own, all the way or do I only twist the wires until they emerge from the tube then leave them as five individual wires?

Seems the Litz is softer when twisted in pairs than when single.

Thanks for the advice guys.

Regards,

Victor.

[abril]

Hi

I would suggest you twist all the wires (4) together but fairly loosely and leave a decent sized loop where it goes from the arm to the base.

If it is still there
there should be a plastic insert in the base where the internal wiring joins the external with 4 holes, one for each cartridge wire.

[vincitsemper]

Hello,

Four wires together and a separate ground? There is a small brass strip at the headshell end of the tube, on this he has soldered the greed wire which connects to the ground.

There will be five wires in total, unless the brass bit is another modification he did to the wiring!

There is no plastic insert in the pillar's base, just a brass one with a grub screw holding the phono wires in place. You can see the brass insert on the second photo, the one with the mess of wires coming out of it!

This unipivot fascination started when I bought a Transcriptor Fluid tonearm, which still lays in the spare room untested. Looked at how fiddly balancing would be and decided to postpone the stress.

Cheers,

Victor.

[abril]

Hi

There was originally 4 wires through the tube with a separate ground from the base so the brass is a DIY addition.

TBH never had a problem with RFI or hum with the original wiring but as for using one of these with the offset counterweight eventually drove me up the wall and couldn't get rid quick enough,the Transcriptor idea of separate offset counterweight and fine adjust weight was much more sensible and usable.

The one I rewired I bought and sold on simply to make a bit of cash on as it was dirt cheap with wiring much like yours,bought with a Michell Focus,would never dream of using one of those Hadcock's again

But then if you have more patience than me

[vincitsemper]

Hello,

Thanks for the advice Abril, I will find a way to fix the earth to the pillar]s base.

Hopefully there wont be any hum.

After what you said about the Transcriptors I shall have a look at it to, the plastic headshell does let it down a bit, though.

Cheers,

Victor.