Precision Restoration for your TD124

After you make contact with us, and read the section under ‘service’ on this website on ‘How to  pack your turntable’, then you ship your TD124 to us.  We  un-box and inspect every deck as soon as it arrives here in our shop, to confirm that it traveled safely, to assess the general condition of the deck, and to look for any issues that may be present. Then we inventory the deck on a check-in sheet.

We  begin by dismantling the entire turntable to the bare chassis, including linkages, the motor, and the main bearing, and thoroughly cleaning everything, using powerful ultrasonic cleansing and manual cleaning where necessary.  On most rebuilds we remove the name plates, as over the years, most decks have built up residue right at and just under the name plates, and some have even developed light scratches which we can polish out by removing the name plates. We use rivets which match the original rivets so that ‘no trace is left behind’. Parts are left very clean, with even stubborn residues washed away.

The motor is completely rebuilt and run in according to the ‘E50 Motor Restoration‘ page.

The main bearing is completely rebuilt according the ‘TD124 Bearing Rebuild‘ page, and new thrust bearing assembly made from Bronze, Torlon and a Grade 5 sapphire ball, is installed.

If your TD124 is an older ‘MK1’ version,  we install the MK2 conversion kit and the Hanze Hi-Fi Motor Spring Suspension Kit. In this conversion, the 3 motor suspension mount studs of the MK1 motor, are replaced with longer motor suspension studs to give more motor suspension travel as well as allowing installation of the Hanze HiFi motor spring suspension system which reduces motor noise into the chassis by -16db over the standard double polymer bushing design which is still installed on most TD124’s. This is a huge improvement, so much so that we install the Hanze spring motor suspension on every deck that we rebuild unless the client requests otherwise. The original, or clear, or blue polymer bushings which are used by some, do not even come close to being as effective at isolating motor noise. These springs are awesome!

The Hanze HiFi motor spring suspension system is described in the video below.

The chassis is carefully cleaned.  The paint quality on original TD124’s varies greatly.  We can clean more deeply, and use fine liquid polishes with some original TD124 finishes, while, with others, careful cleaning is all that is possible.  We do offer absolute top quality refinishes for TD124 and Garrard chassis’, and this is described in the ‘Chassis Refinishing‘  page in this website.

In the case of the older style TD124 MK1 decks with the bushing type step pulley, we can install a custom bushing in case of excessive wear,  and in all later style TD124 decks, we check the 2 step-pulley bushings for wear, and replace them as necessary.  As always, we are fanatical about correct bearing tolerances and operation. Your step pulley should spin very freely with zero detectable ‘play’.

Precise linkage alignment is critical for silky smooth operation of the turntable, insuring that the drive system is aligned correctly, and that the idler wheel tracks exactly how its should. Your TD124 should come up to full speed in about 1/2 revolution of the platter from stop. The selector knob should move easily and decisively. The tempo lever should give plus and minus speed control from the median position. A well set-up TD124 should be extremely quiet.   All of this depends on precise setup.

We install a new wiring harness that is built from high quality silicone jacketed wire and a braided cover.

We install a new micro-switch, a new spark suppressor capacitor, a new neon bulb, a new strobe window, and an NOS Allen-Bradley strobe resistor. We prefer the A-B resistors for the very strong leads,  one further step of redundancy in making these decks extremely reliable.
The original style TD124 switch is not as well designed as it could be, and the contacts on the original switches are usually pitted, giving inconsistent switching results. This micro-switch is a direct fit to the TD124 chassis, and is a vastly superior switch. The X2 style suppression capacitor is very reliable and safe over a long lifetime.

A new idler wheel from AudioSilente is installed. We are open to using the original idler wheel, sometimes these are good (quiet), but the AudioSilente idler wheel is extremely quiet, every time.   We use our own proprietary drive O-Ring with the AS idler wheel, as we have found one that is demonstrably quieter than the O-Rings that are provided with the idler wheel.

The main drive pulley, and the step pulley drive surfaces are cleaned and polished, and a new Hanze HiFi low noise belt is installed.

The upper platter clutch mechanism is adjusted, or in the case of heavier upper platters, we slightly ‘lower’ the clutch assembly height stops, disabling the clutch.

We can supply top quality suspension mushrooms with fitted metal washers, ‘finger wheel’ height adjusters, custom length M5 studs, a new power cord or wiring harness with Furutech IEC AC Inlet,  mounting hardware and more,  according to specific client needs.

The drive surface of the main platter is carefully cleaned and checked for any anomalies which could cause noise.

The upper platter is checked for flatness, and, in some cases, we can straighten the upper platter. We recommend the Retrotone Upper platter. This is an amazing upgrade, and well worth the price.

We recommend the removal of the original mat, and installation of our upper platter mat adapter which enables the use of any turntable mat. We like the Spec mat, or the AudioSilente Graphite mat, or the Thorens Cork mat.

We adjust the clutch.

We can provide new studs of any length, with hardware.

Armboards are available, from 9″ -12″. We do find that some 10″ arms are not suitable for the TD124, and that, while they may be able to be fitted ot the deck and functional, they do not work aesthetically. Most 9″ and 12″ arms are fine. For the longer arms, we use Panzerholz for the armboards.

We install any power cable or wiring harness that you like. For our plinths, we prefer a wiring harness.