Goldring G88 Restoration
A customer of mine who has one of my G99 restorations came to me with a ratty G88 he had picked up and asked for a complete restoration doing on it.
This is the result after alot of graft.
This is the result after alot of graft.
The deck was in a reasonable cosmetic state, and came with some choice parts already fitted. It had an Audiosilente idler wheel, and a Jolyon long bearing which the previous owner has fitted. The wiring however was a right state and looked to have been pieced together from a load of old shite. I wasn't about to leave it in so I did a complete rewire on it, and changed the spark surpressor cap which was past it.
The motor was rebuilt as I wasn't happy with the noise it made, (it was noisy even though it was supposed to have been rebuilt), The jolyon bearing (lovely piece of kit and beautifully made) was stripped, cleaned and rebuilt as the oil in it was abit discoloured for my liking, and the idler wheel taken off, the bushing cleaned and relubricated. I also put a new tyre on the wheel, luckily I have some spare tyres for mine that could be used as the one that was on it was buggered.
The CLD type plinth was made extra deep to accommodate the Jolyon bearing and is rather heavier than my normal ones. I also built an identical plinth for a 301 at the same time. Hmmmm..... 88 vs 301 on a level playing field.........
The motor was rebuilt as I wasn't happy with the noise it made, (it was noisy even though it was supposed to have been rebuilt), The jolyon bearing (lovely piece of kit and beautifully made) was stripped, cleaned and rebuilt as the oil in it was abit discoloured for my liking, and the idler wheel taken off, the bushing cleaned and relubricated. I also put a new tyre on the wheel, luckily I have some spare tyres for mine that could be used as the one that was on it was buggered.
The CLD type plinth was made extra deep to accommodate the Jolyon bearing and is rather heavier than my normal ones. I also built an identical plinth for a 301 at the same time. Hmmmm..... 88 vs 301 on a level playing field.........
Once the deck was in a state I was happy with, I veneered the plinth in oak. This one was stained with a Jacobean dark oak to darken it and contrast with the cream coloured deck, and was then waxed with a clear finishing wax.
The arm board is a small one that fits onto a separated section in the plinth. I drilled down into the plinth with a holesaw to create a circular 'island' in the plinth to a depth of about 70mm, that the arm board sits on top of. The reason for this was to remove the direct path for vibration from the deck into the arm. Any vibration from the deck can't get straight across the top layer of the plinth and into the arm pillar, it has to pass through the rest of the plinth to get in, and will be damped and absorbed by the plinth structure before it does. It works.
The arm is an Origin Live silver MK3a. I was not sure about this arm to be honest, but then it's not mine so it didn't matter. It is the opposite in terms of its construction to what I would have done, I cant see the logic in having the vertical bearings able to move laterally in the housing, it will cock up the alignment of the stylus if it shifts left or right in use. which it can when putting the arm back in the rest........
but it sounds good so who am I to argue............
The cart was initially a Shure m97xe, and was then swapped for an audio note iq3. With the iq3 it sounded very nice indeed.
The 88 is one of my favourite decks, and this one once squared away, fettled, swore at, and cajoled, turned out to be one of the best I've used.
I, and it's owner were very pleased with how this one turned out
The arm board is a small one that fits onto a separated section in the plinth. I drilled down into the plinth with a holesaw to create a circular 'island' in the plinth to a depth of about 70mm, that the arm board sits on top of. The reason for this was to remove the direct path for vibration from the deck into the arm. Any vibration from the deck can't get straight across the top layer of the plinth and into the arm pillar, it has to pass through the rest of the plinth to get in, and will be damped and absorbed by the plinth structure before it does. It works.
The arm is an Origin Live silver MK3a. I was not sure about this arm to be honest, but then it's not mine so it didn't matter. It is the opposite in terms of its construction to what I would have done, I cant see the logic in having the vertical bearings able to move laterally in the housing, it will cock up the alignment of the stylus if it shifts left or right in use. which it can when putting the arm back in the rest........
but it sounds good so who am I to argue............
The cart was initially a Shure m97xe, and was then swapped for an audio note iq3. With the iq3 it sounded very nice indeed.
The 88 is one of my favourite decks, and this one once squared away, fettled, swore at, and cajoled, turned out to be one of the best I've used.
I, and it's owner were very pleased with how this one turned out