Planning on Picking up 1200s, Do These Look Alright?
I’m planning on picking up a pair of 1200s sometime soon. Can you guys tell me if these look fine? One of them is obviously more beat up than the other.
The only thing I’m concerned about is the wiretie around the tonearm. Anyone know why that’s there?
The wire around the tonearm is used to keep it from moving because the original clip was probably broken. The electrical tape around the power cable means that the cable was probably frayed and while it keeps it insulated, I’d look at getting it replaced. As long as the RCA cables transmit a solid sound, and it holds a steady dot at 33, it’s a good buy.
Ahh okay. Yea, definitely replacing the power cable.
Thanks!
Considering all the gunk around the tonearm base, check whether the height adjust still works freely. You may be able to salvage it with WD40… or not.
How much? They look shredded to me, but, rebuilding Techs is very rewarding. I’d definitely take em apart.
Really? Shredded? Only one of them looks bad to me.
250 for the pair so it’s still worth it.
They look like they’ve been in the garden shed for 10 years.
Make sure you see them working, or at the very least, powering up, before you buy 'em…
Just my opinion. One obviously looks better than the other. That one is manky as hell. I question the upkeep on both, I mean, if a guy will let one get that bad, it stands to reason that the other isn’t being looked after. Good price, for sure. Look up Viperfrank on you tube and get busy! Between Amazon and Ebay you’ll have em smartened up in no time!
Yea. I absolutely love doing restoration projects. Already spending a great deal of time on kabusa.com looking up parts and whatnot.
I’m planning on bringing an AC adapter to plug them into my car to see if they turn on.
Planning on buying a headshell and cartridge right now so I can test it out ASAP.
Yeah they look like shit, but for that price, I’d pick them up just to have a project and some experience rebuilding techs.
I’m with Proben, if you get them that cheap, and they work, the refurbishment will be worth it. If you have to do a lot of work to just get them working, maybe not. If they hold at 33, and there’s a signal running from the needles to your speakers, I say go for it.
Meeting him tomorrow. All I have to do is set the table on a flat surface and look at the strobe light right?
Anything else I can check without having a cartridge?
Seen this?
I’d pass on the deal… unless you know someone local to paint and work on it…
Or pick em up as cheap as possible, make em clean and aligned, get an overlay or a wrap and sell them for $600. Rinse + repeat. Soon you’ll be in Grandmaster editions. 
Yep, I saw that thread.
Just picked em up today. Everything (theoretically) should work. I just need to recalibrate the more worn one. Target light is dead in both of them, but I was planning to replace all the bulbs with LEDs anyways.
So questions for everyone.
The more worn turntable has a couple of ‘problems’
The on/off switch doesn’t have the same alignment. It’s a bit rotated. Anyone know if this is just because of generational differences between the two tables? Based on the mechanism of hte on/off switch, I can’t see it working any other way.
Second, the strobe light is a bit weak on the worn turn table compared to the newer table. I haven’t looked at the LEDs yet, but is this also another possibility of just being an old table and the LED being burn out or what? I have some new fancy blue LEDs on the way though anyways. This is more of a curiosity than anything.
you an rotate it back to standard position. When you take it apart to replace LEDs you will see the old BROWN adhesive inside the strobe. Use that for reference… It is always good to completely replace the pitch controls if you are getting an old, worn out unit…it’s not worth the time or trouble to clean and refurbish one
as for the “weak” LEDs…that should not matter once you change them. If it is still weak after the change then there is a voltage issue… locate the bad resistor and you are good
Check the anti skate and make sure the tone arm can swing all the way to the spindle with it set to 0 with the cart off and the counter weight screwed all the way back on a level surface. Damaged bearings means a new tone arm as not many people can replace the bearings.
I would say if the motor is working correctly its playing left and right audio and the anti skate is good go for them if you can get them cheap. Things like height adjust pitch fader calibration/replacement is cheap and easy to fix
i hope you got them cheap… and make sure you post the refurb pics!!
get them powder coated
