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Look what the cat dragged in (two Garrards)

sonddek

sonddek

Trade: SUPATRAC
A planning consultation at a local house brought these to my attention. I asked the architect if I could take it all. After a couple of weeks, the answer was yes.

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It's all in what looks like quite a ropey state. The full kit list is:
- Leak Stereo 20
- two Leak tuners
- Leak Varislope Stereo
- Leak Stereo 30
- two Garrard 301s
- two SME 3009s
- one Ortofon SPU G with bent cantilever
- one pair Leak Sandwich

What shall I do with it all? The wife's back next week and it can't sit in the hall...
 
Oh, hey - I'm only interested in the album...£30 only if you need me to dispose of those old record players too...

Richard
 
Cool. Very nice find. If you get any grief, I'm happy to take the Garrards off your hands :) ..... alternatively you could show your wife the resale value of a restored 301!
 
I am going to walk into my local junk shop tomorrow and find an Ortofon SPU, without a bent cantilever, in fact it will be practically unused. That'll do me, never mind the old Garrard's and Leeks. Then you'll all be jealous.
 
That is so cool to find it like that, almost more exciting than eventually using it! There is some very well thought of gear there.

Perhaps you need to get lucky and find a nice sideboard now! Great GAF! (Grandma-approval-factor):D
 
David.D said:
Looks pretty good, how much did you pay?
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I paid nothing. The architect said the owner of the house might want to buy it back from me once I had restored it, and was interested in the provenance/history, so we'll see what happens, but as it stands I have it all in my hallway and need to decide what to do with it all.

I suspect the arms and tuners are the least valuable and probably not worth rescuing. The SPU G must go to ESC, I suppose, if you think that's worth it. The decks are clearly worth restoring properly. How much should that cost if I get an expert to do it? Should I attempt it myself?

I'm in two minds about the amps. They seem to be of interest on ebay, but only in good shape, and it will no doubt be quite expensive to get them up to spec, what with replacing valves and so on. How good are they once restored?
 
The arms are the early series 3009 (pre-improved) and worth £150-300 each. The Bakelite headshell is worth £50-75. Still junking it?:cool:

Leak tuners vary. Troughline 3 is 50-100, a Stereofetic (unlikely given the vintage of the rest) is as you say loose change. £10-20.

You are a lucky man. There's at least £1000 there, even in a rough state and acdertised cheaply on here to move fast. More if you take your time. You can keep the bits worth having and fund the resto by selling what you don't want.
 
I'll happily take both of those arms off you and return one of them in absolutely pristine condition...
 
sonddek said:
I suspect the arms and tuners are the least valuable and probably not worth rescuing.
Click to expand...

The 3009s are certainly worth saving as they are the more sought-after early 'split weight' variants. They look like they may have the fixed back to the split-weight too, so are probably the very first of the Series IIs dating from close to 1963. Potentially quite valuable arms.
 
dave said:
Surely those 301s are worth a bag or two of body parts this month.
Click to expand...

The nasty dust bug marks mean they need serious restoration, which isn't cheap, but even so probably around £300-450 each as-is. I'm assuming both are Schedule 2 (oil bearings), more if the one with silver plates is a grease bearing.
 
Bloody hell, thanks a lot fellas, a real treasure trove by all accounts.

Tomorrow I'll clean them up a bit and have a look around underneath/inside. I'll post some more photos too, in case anyone's curious.

The tuners are Trough Line.

I quite fancy keeping a 301 for myself, although I'm not sure I want to use it with a 3009. I should out of respect for posterity, but I'm tempted to opt for a better arm. What do you think?

It's really interesting to know that the date of the installation was likely around 1963.
 
You can find a lot of info at vinylengine.

Looks like you'll need to replace the plinths - how good are you woodworking skills?

I'm inclined to think a quick clean up then a visit to ebay might be the best solution, in agreement with the current owner. Frankly, unless you can do the restoration yourself (and I'm thinking of the SL-10 episode :) ) it isn't worth it.

What's the legal situation? Has the owner agreed to give the items to you, or is this a wait and see, and was there a verbal agreement between you and the owner, or was it between you and the architect, who may or may not be representing the owner's interests? Being in a situation where the owner could turn round after you'd completed the restoration ad simply take his goods back is less than ideal.
 
Wow - that's a seriously impressive haul. Congratulations!

If you'd like one of the SMEs to go to a loving home, drop me a PM....;)
 
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