Horror, and horror!!! Unspeakable, using loctite for fastening the bearing well? Wow!
I can’t tell if you are serious or being cynical?
Two wrenches were bent while unsuccessfully trying to remove it and the Keel ultimately had to be brought back to the UK to see if it could be removed. I did not have the courage to ask if it was salvaged or if it was ultimately relegated to the trash. An expensive lesson to be learned.
That’s interesting. I wonder how many were shipped like that out of the first batch. I was committed to purchase the ARO Keel when it first came out before the audition ( IIRC< Linn was forcing the dealer due to limited production ) . But I was the only listener who had a huge reservation at the demo.
Luckily my friend purchased my ARO Keel so I was not stuck with something I did not believe in. He loves it and live happily ever after.
Maybe your demo was on a deck fitted with my bad Keel 
I have also lived happily ever after with my Keel (and other bits as well) once my deck started to be properly set up and maintained.
Best
Gregg
Perhaps not.
Everyone seemed to favour the demo at that time.
Just to get back to the original topic, the OP might be better off getting a Rega instead which requires less learning curve for a set up.
Recently I convinced someone from wanting to pick up a used LP12 off ebay to purchasing a new Rega. He only wanted to try a Linn because it’s a classic and heard a lot about it tho has never actually heard one on top of it, there is no dealer support in the area he lives.
He’s got the Rega last week and happy as a lark. No fuss no muss. Now his only problem seems to be he’s clocking too many hours on a cartridge.
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Agreed
I have a standing agreement with Peter. The day he retires and stops traveling is the day I retire the LP12 and move to a Rega. Mr Koster is rather impressed with the P10. Perhaps when my time comes the P12 will already have been released 
He is fine as long as there is a good dealer taking care of his LP12, right?
Btw, contrary to popular belief, it is not that hard to set up the LP12 by yourself, I think it is just common sense, I end up doing it myself because I could not find anyone locally to whom I believe I could trust my LP12.
Hi Kuma, make sense to me.
I’m kinda a lad that enjoys the learning process and getting the results. Lp12 I’m sure isn’t the best but it has the old school DNA that I’m sure will fall right into place with my 52/135/sl2 setup. I haven’t owned a record player for 30 years or so but have had some exposure to some very nice players and feel the lp12 is something I need to find out. The Rega would be fine I’m sure, I’ve herd a rp7 with a delos cart, stageline hicap dr, into a 52 and it was bloody good for the most part. Plus some other newer very $$$ models. Personally I’m not a plug and play type of guy. I want to here what JV wanted me to hear, or as close as possible anyway.
Im actually surrounded by Analog snobs (well that’s what I call them) So I have plenty of support. Plus this forum has some very knowledgeable people such as yourself and of cause The Real music company for back up.
The biggest issue at the moment is finding some nice Vinyl.
Cheers
If you have an access to a good local set up person, by all means, go get the Sondek if that’s what you want. But in the US, it is getting harder to find a qualified tech for an LP12.
Mechanically setting up an LP12 isn’t hard. Tutorials are online including Linn’s set up video. But knowing the tricks or tiny adjustments so that you can tune the deck the way you want is what’s hard. Not sure if you can blue print this. ( like how tight the toque value for a certain screws, how tight you want to dress the arm cables etc… ) What I have learnt from actually building one myself is that you really have to build many times to learn those tricks. ( I am still learning! )
Sounds like a lot of fun to me. 
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Thanks @kuma, I just use my common sense when I tight a certain screw, or to how to dress the arm cables, balancing the arm, etc. so far I find it it sound good, certainly not worse than before. At least, I sleep well at night knowing that I take care and double check everything until I am satisfied I would not miss anything.
Ha.
JV ditched his LP12 and was using one of these, remember?
I used mine with Kleos SL ( and other bunch of carts ) but IIRC, JV used it with Fidelity Research FR1 MK.III with this Phonosophie No.3.
Well, I got to where it sounds acceptable to me. I still can’t match the bounce of the main rig Sondek which was put together by my good friend who knows a lot more. I tried and tried with my deck but I finally gave up. Maybe when I install a Karousel, I can give it another try as I have to reassemble the deck anyway for this task.
Yes I’m aware of that , we had one for sale over here a while back on the local sales site. Was tempted but resisted. I’m good with that.
Richard, thank you for the heads up with the upgrades concerning the prefix. Just one question the Rf mod. What is that? Sorry I’m an end user and have very little knowledge of board bits.
Btw Chris will be back at home base next week and will preform the upgrades, I should receive the lp12 to enjoy just in time for my annual leave from work. I’m excited and it’s nice to look forward to something. That’s for sure.
I don’t know the exact detail, but it involves one or two minor changes on the boards. @NeilS would probably be able to give details.
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Hi Soundsfaber,
The RF mod helps to reduce picking up distant radio stations, electrical switching etc. through the phono stage. It consists of a couple of cap changes, two resistors are relocated, also the earthing wire is re-routed & decoupled.
You can see at a glance if the mod has already been done, as the earthing wire emerges from the case through the same grommet as the Snaic.
Regards
Neil.
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Very interesting, thank you very much.
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