My LP12 was - until 2018 - well behind the curve (pre-Cirkus/Valhalla). So I have been playing ‘catch up’. The first move was to get the Cirkus bearing (for £490 - this was pre the release of the Karousel). I then got my Valhalla serviced, with new caps, etc - while I looked for a good pre-loved Lingo. I then found a Lingo (£350), got that serviced. Next I looked for a Kore. Once I found that (£550), I had it fitted, so my deck came apart & was re-set up.
Posted this before but this pic shows how versatile an LP12 is, a brilliant music-playing machine and a perfect perch for a kitten to look out of the window from. Since I got a cover for it, they rarely sit on the deck. Eagle-eyed folk will see a white fibre optic cable terribly dressed, done to prevent little explorers from repeatedly pulling it out of the socket. Fortunately, now they are bigger they don’t go behind the rack often now.
It also shows why SCM40s are loved by petite panthers and for my benefit the metal grills are immune kitten-type modifications to grills and drive units.
I have just finished committing the ultimate heresy of polishing the outer rim of my LP12’s platter. It now has a very satisfactory gleam. I know that this is ‘not the done thing’, as there is a protective lacquer applied to the rim, but mine is over 30 years old and was looking very ‘blotchy’, although I try never to touch it.
I may now have to repeat the process every so often, if there is any oxidisation, but that will be no great hardship.
(If anyone else wishes to follow me in sin, I used T Cut to clean off the marks and bring up the shine, left it for 24 hours, then applied Renaissance micro-crystalline wax polish, left it to dry hard, and buffed it up with kitchen paper towels.)
What a classic! l How are the bearings on your 40-year-old Ittok holding up?
Audio Origami used to provide a service to refurbish old Linn arms like yours, but I don’t know if the company still exists these days.
PS Audio Origami still exists, and is re-making the Syrinx tonearm, which was reputed to be a bugg*r to set up, and would go out of kilter if you so much as looked at it!
You know what, I really hope it is Walnut as it is my favourite wood. The grain has that shadowy rays effect but I can’t be sure. Most Afro plinths don’t seem to have this but I’m pretty sure that the majority of plinths of that era were Afro. I like it anyway.
