Goldring G99 build

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cressy
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#1 Goldring G99 build

Post by cressy »

Ive made a start on a build of a g99. Plinth is built and veneered in oak with a dark stain and a trim piece has been cut to go around the rear of the plinth and motor unit.
The reason being is that the arm spacer i made for the rega/ish arm looked frankly abit shit plonked on its own and didn't fit with the look i wanted.
I also wanted to tone down the slab of brown ness with something that integrated the arm spacer.
Image

So. Question is, what to go for in terms of colour?

I'm in two minds, the motor unit is going to be stripped and rebuilt and was going to get a full respray in any case. I can get hold of a very close paint match to the original paint so could respray the motor unit and the trim in lenco grey.

Or I can offend the purists and go for either gloss black or aluminium silver. Either way, the trim and motor unit will be the same colour. Im erring towards the silver as the contrast between the oak, the silver and the darkness of the fascia panel with the buttons in is quite appealing, and I think will look quite retro in the seventies jap style (denon in particular did the silver and dark oak on their 'flying saucer' dd decks)

Given what the motor unit is, it's quite a hard decision to make, like a 401, is it a good idea to mess with the original?

What does the panel think?
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Greg
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#2 Re: Goldring G99 build

Post by Greg »

Depends on whether you want to keep it or move it on at some stage. If you intend or may sell in the future, consider many buyers prefer the original condition so you are potentially loosing their custom. Some would prefer original chipped paintwork over a colour matched repainted version. The same applies to vintage cars and motorcycles. If it is a keeper,do what you like. Your suggestion of silver sounds good to me.
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cressy
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#3 Re: Goldring G99 build

Post by cressy »

Got a little more done on the 99, cut out and drilled out the arm position on the plinth and gave the trim panel a quick blow over with the silver I planned to use to see what it looks like.
Also cut out the trim panel for where the arm will mount.
Next will be to cut out 2 arm boards, one for the rega and one blank
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cressy
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#4 Re: Goldring G99 build

Post by cressy »

Got abit more done, got the arm boards cut and gave them a quick blow over again to check the look
Image
I'm in 2 minds now as to wether to do the motor unit silver as I think it might look abit too silver along with the trim.
The standard color looks right against the silver of the trim, the brushed fascia plate and dark oak
From the same angle as the other shots, hopefully folks can see what im aiming for in terms of the overall look, trying to slim it down abit rather than having the large slab of brown oak
And a shot of the frontal aspect, looks quite slim from the front, and you can see the turned cones it stands on. Clearance between the underside of the circular base cover and the bottom of the spikes is about 4mm, again to slim the way it looks down as much as poss as it is a big bugger
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Image
Getting there now I think. The panel gap between the trim and arm board needs attention before it is all painted, but then so do alot of the details
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cressy
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#5 Re: Goldring G99 build

Post by cressy »

Got it finished today, or thought I did, all working perfectly apart from one thing.
You may note from the pic that the speed control is set a 16rpm to get 33. It looks like the mechanism for the speed change has been apart at some point and not put back in the right way. It has a gear on the end of the control shaft that operates a crescent shaped gear on the end of the of the change mechanism. It looks like the shaft gear was put back in the wrong position.
I shall have to rectify this.
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I've missed lenco dynamics, it hasn't half got some guts :D
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Paul Barker
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#6 Re: Goldring G99 build

Post by Paul Barker »

I must have done that fidling about with it.

Good motor on the lencos but I think the garrard bearing better idea. I would say designing a long bearing for the lenco and that dec could contend with the 301.
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Paul Barker
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#7 Re: Goldring G99 build

Post by Paul Barker »

Talking about platter bearing, not motor or any other bearing. The motor strikes me as better than Garrard.
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cressy
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#8 Re: Goldring G99 build

Post by cressy »

It just needs the c clip taking off and the shaft dropping and turning so the arrow lines up. Also needs the motor rebuild doing anyway so its not really an issue :D
There is some rumble with this one, not much but it's there. Probably because i havent done the motor rebuild yet. I think the motor rebuild should cure most of it, i'll also be rebuilding the idler arm and main bearing too as a matter of course. So this should shut it up.
Tbh i couldnt remain patient and wait until I'd done this to have a go with it :D
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cressy
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#9 Re: Goldring G99 build

Post by cressy »

i sorted out the speed change mechanism today, pulled it apart and relubricated it so the change is more accurate. Found out what was causing the rumble, it wasn't the motor, it was the chassis earth lead I had added caught under the motor. It had looped back on itsself when I wired the IEC socket and was shorting the motor suspension out. The clearance under the motor between it and the base cover is about 2mm (it is open on the back side so air can flow) and the wire was jammed into the gap.
Rerouting the wire removed the motor noise

So, the answer to the question nobody asked, how does it compare to the 75 conversions I did for my old man and Simon?

The conversions are better in a couple of ways. firstly the bass on those 2 is more controlled, there is abit of bloom with the 99 that they don't have. I put that down to the fact that they dump energy out of the drive mechanism more efficiently due to the much better contact between the drive and the plinth, but I'm not about to hack into a 99. That would be silly. Secondly, the dynamics on the 75 conversions are better, probably for the same reason. And thirdly, they both do the more subtle parts of recordings better, they are much cleaner sounding on pretty much all respects.

I think the 99 is probably the closest that can be gotten to them as standard in the Lenco ilk, but i do prefer them
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#10 Re: Goldring G99 build

Post by Mike H »

Impressive! :thumbright:
 
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cressy
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#11 Re: Goldring G99 build

Post by cressy »

Oh dear

Broken the retaining tang off one of the on/off buttons.

Where the hell i am going to get another button from is anyone's guess.

Tried araldite to glue it back on and it just broke again.

Anyone have any idea where another could be gotten from? The usual places have turned up nothing
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Greg
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#12 Re: Goldring G99 build

Post by Greg »

Can you post a picture of the damaged parts so we can apply some thought to how it might be repaired?
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cressy
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#13 Re: Goldring G99 build

Post by cressy »

Managed to sort it, I made an insert that fit inside the hollow underside of the button
It's not as good as new, but it's as good as I can get without finding a replacement.

It moves around abit but it stays in place
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#14 Re: Goldring G99 build

Post by cressy »

The 99 is now finished.
Did the motor and bearing service today and also made a platter mat to go over the top of the gl75 one that is on it.
Image

I did the old skool mat made from one of the anti slip mats you can get made from foamed silicone. Comes in a roll that you can cut to length to put in drawers or on the car dashboard to stop your phone or glasses or whatever sliding off.

It seems to work really well on this deck.

The motor service went as usual, there was heat evidence on the brass parts, it was running pretty dry with bugger all grease left in there. So that's been sorted.

The bearing was dry as a bone and has a ceramic ball in it instead of the standard hardened steel. Oddly the thrust pad was in backwards, with the metal plate in first with the thrust pad underneath. So the bearing was running on the steel plate instead

So that's been sorted too.

Its now as good as its going to get without spending a small fortune on upgrading the bearing and I'm very happy with the way it's turned out
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#15 Re: Goldring G99 build

Post by cressy »

Just found an old thread on the old world designs forum from 2005 which mentions this very 99 :D
Explains the ceramic ball bearing and upside down thrust pad and odd black grease I found in the bearing that Paul had tweaked. Apparently it was in a cld plinth of some type and Paul was rather happy with it

It also mentions the lenco Richard Higgins built that i also ended up with and did the walnut veneered one with. And that formed the basis of the deck mi dad now has. So that deck is on its fourth life!
And the one phil did that he cut the side off and welded the rolled edge back onto. Whatever happened to that one phil?

Also mentions people buying lenco's for 15 quid on ebay :shock:
Was an interesting read
http://www.world-designs.co.uk/forum/ar ... /t-19.html
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