Rebuilt lenco gl75

[cressy]

I picked up this lenco in abit of a sorry state with 40 years worth of grot, wear and nastiness,this is what it looks like after a complete renovation


The bearing has been stripped, cleaned, regreased and the thrust pad checked ( which was in surprisingly good condition, so has been left in there)
Motor was completely stripped and rebuilt as it was sticky and abit reluctant to turn, again cleaned and regreased.
The chassis was again stripped back, and all the linkages rebuilt. the paint polished up lovely under all the grot so I kept it rather than doing a respray. The arm was stripped and checked, new v blocks were added as they were shot.
On the back of the plinth I added a fused IEC socket and a pair of phono sockets in neutrik inserts so they sit flush to the plinth. The plinth is a cld style one with layers of 18mm ply and 12 mm MDF then veneered in white oak with a coat of wax.
I've still got a few jobs left, I have to connect the IEC socket up and the phono sockets, plus replace a broken motor spring which I'm going to pull off my other lenco. Should be able to have a listen in a few days.
The plinth is a quarter inch bigger than the main chassis as I wanted it to be as compact as possible.
It's been a nice little side project

[IslandPink]

Crikey there's no end to all the shoddiness at the moment.
Is that a rather smart-looking 309 with a funny headshell there ?

[cressy]

wish it was, no just a boggo lenco arm albeit with new v blocks. i decided to leave the sticker thing on the headshell as a nod to the previous owner who had had it from new, keeps a little of its provenance, and the enjoyment the old boy got from it over the years. theres another headshell with a matching shure m44 that has a 78 stylus in it which surprisingly says 78 instead of lp, unfortunately the headshell pins on that one have been snapped somehow.
i'll be intrigued to see what it sounds like as a stock one compared to the modified one i have at the minute tbh

[Dave the bass]

Mega-Shod!

[Greg]

Yep, looks really good........oh, and it's a bit shoddy

[simon]

Super job Ant. I have a gl78 (I think) awaiting a full rebuild sometime, just never gets to the top of the project list. Probably much more likely to happen if I were to commission someone!

As an alternative to a CLD plinth I've heard about Peters Top Plate which seems to do away with pretty much all of the existing plinth, just using the mechanical bits, but haven't looked into what's required. Anyone tried one or know whether there are better approaches?

[pre65]

Can't remember his name (maybe Graham) who showed a very much modified Lenco at Owston a few years ago.

That had little in the way of original Lenco left in it.

[cressy]

my other lenco with the walnut veneered plinth has nothing but a little bit of metal left of the top plate, i cut everything away i didnt need. i think the ptp top plate is 2 parts, one holds the bearing and the other holds the idler wheel and motor mounts iirc.
the other lenco is under the title richard higgins lenco and there are some pics of it on the owston november 2014 thread
tbh i cant remember ever hearing a standard one which is why im curious as to the difference

[pre65]

Ant, what happened to the one Dad (Steve) built with the bricks inside ?

[cressy]

I'm not sure, I'll ask

[simon]

That had little in the way of original Lenco left in it.

Yeah, I remember Shane saying at a Withamfest some years ago now that he thought a Lenco was a good candidate for a slate plinth as literally nothing was required from the original plinth. Funny how some comments stay with you.

[simon]

my other lenco with the walnut veneered plinth has nothing but a little bit of metal left of the top plate, i cut everything away i didnt need. i think the ptp top plate is 2 parts, one holds the bearing and the other holds the idler wheel and motor mounts iirc.
the other lenco is under the title richard higgins lenco and there are some pics of it on the owston november 2014 thread
tbh i cant remember ever hearing a standard one which is why im curious as to the difference

Well, I've got one in pretty good nick with sprung plinth that you could compare. Might not be completely fair as it probably needs a good fettle, and the v blocks could be well worn. But it sounded pretty nice I seem to recall when I lashed it up once.

[cressy]

The pain of it is is that I need a single motor spring to be able to compare the walnut one and this one as to get this one fully operational I'll have to pull one off the walnut one so until I can get another that will be put on hold.
What I'll have to do is get the jbe out and lay up the modded lenco so I can get this one going
Anyone got a single motor top spring?

[cressy]

But it sounded pretty nice I seem to recall when I lashed it up once.

I'm sure I can find it a home

[cressy]

Got a rather odd problem with the lenco, anything above if say 1 kHz seems broken. Literally as if its cracking up.
I've never come across this with any other turntable I've had, so I checked and rechecked the alignment of the cart, the azimuth looks fine, checked the tracking weight, checked the vta and checked it with 2 carts .
There is an intermittent earth problem which I wondered if could be having a knock on effect when it isn't buzzing.
Any ideas? I'm at a loss as to what could be causing it