Stung By Brexit

[MyNameIsTerry]

I guess that's one notable manifestation of our 'want here, want now' society, also where we not only want 'instant grat', but also nearly everything as cheaply as possible, then complain of poor quality products and say 'They don't make 'em like they used to'!

I think many people struggle to grasp the age-old concept of 'you get what you pay for'.

Global business. Being from The Potteries we saw it all go. My brother and his GF were in the pottery industry. It was well paid if you were skilled. Then came the redundancies and people had to retrain. Years later some staff around their fifties were dispersed into various companies to retrain them as part of a council scheme when one of the few remaining small pottery firms went. Some came to where I worked.

[WiredIncorrectly]

Global business. Being from The Potteries we saw it all go. My brother and his GF were in the pottery industry. It was well paid if you were skilled. Then came the redundancies and people had to retrain. Years later some staff around their fifties were dispersed into various companies to retrain them as part of a council scheme when one of the few remaining small pottery firms went. Some came to where I worked.

My last apartment was on the old potteries grounds. Lovely area too.

[Lencoboy]

I remember a time when things like Dansettes were given to me to pull to bits and play with.

Now a restored original one of these portable record players can fetch £400+ and more to the point, I wouldn't let any of my records near them... Dansettes especially are truly horrid things but they ride the nostalgia wave.

I've never liked those record changer things with the tall centre spindle/ over-arm combo. It would be an interesting project to attempt to convert one to a normal singular-playing deck by not only replacing the tall spindle with a standard short one, but also removing the over-arm and its shaft plus modding its associated mechanism to enable the deck to function in full auto mode as a singular playing unit.

Though with most older decks from that era, it's possible to adjust the tracking force so the stylus doesn't 'eat' one's record collection.

[Pamplemousse]

I've never liked those record changer things with the tall centre spindle/ over-arm combo. It would be an interesting project to attempt to convert one to a normal singular-playing deck by not only replacing the tall spindle with a standard short one, but also removing the over-arm and its shaft plus modding its associated mechanism to enable the deck to function in full auto mode as a singular playing unit.

Though with most older decks from that era, it's possible to adjust the tracking force so the stylus doesn't 'eat' one's record collection.

If you look at detailed pictures of a Garrard AT6 and the Mk. I Garrard SP25, you can see that's exactly how the SP25 was created.

I have a penchant for these things and have examples dating back to the early 1930s which look as though they are designed to destroy your records, but I'll just leave you with two YT videos of rather special machines in action. One dates from the late 20s, the other from the mid-60s.



I nearly bought one of those a few years ago.

[Pamplemousse]

(I have one of these, pending restoration)

[Lencoboy]

If you look at detailed pictures of a Garrard AT6 and the Mk. I Garrard SP25, you can see that's exactly how the SP25 was created.

I have a penchant for these things and have examples dating back to the early 1930s which look as though they are designed to destroy your records, but I'll just leave you with two YT videos of rather special machines in action. One dates from the late 20s, the other from the mid-60s.



I nearly bought one of those a few years ago.

Garrard turntables of pretty much all varieties are generally much sought after nowadays, and I think their legendary 301 transcription unit (used extensively by the BBC and other many other prolific broadcasting organisations back in the day) has recently re-entered production as it is often considered the finest turntable in the world amongst the audiophile fraternity.

I now wish I'd have made my username 'Garrardboy' instead of 'Lencoboy'!

[Pamplemousse]

Garrard turntables of pretty much all varieties are generally much sought after nowadays, and I think their legendary 301 transcription unit (used extensively by the BBC and other many other prolific broadcasting organisations back in the day) has recently re-entered production as it is often considered the finest turntable in the world amongst the audiophile fraternity.

I now wish I'd have made my username 'Garrardboy' instead of 'Lencoboy'!

I had a 301 and they're nothing special, really. They were dumped by the BBC in favour of modified Technics SP10s.

To be honest, the best idler drive turntables (IMO) are the Goldring-Lenco GL75 and the Thorens TD124. The G-L turntable in particular is very useful to me for doing transcription work on very early discs, where 78rpm wasn't the actual speed - 60rpm more likely as the speed of the G-L is continuously variable.

Garrard record changers are horrendously and unnecessarily complicated (the Lab A and Lab 80 being a case in point); by far and away the best 1950s changers were made by Collaro. BSR machines are cheap and cheerful.

[WiredIncorrectly]

Good news is ... it's in the UK. Be here Tuesday. In all fairness that wasn't too bad.

The BBC invented some creative synths in the very early days. I can't recall the name of it. BBC Spectrasonic or something.