I finally had the opportunity to pull the Technics SL-1500 from daily use for a cleaning and to take pictures. I found this turntable at a thrift store for $35 years ago, and that was the most money I had paid for a broken record player at the time. Totally worth the money, this thing is a beast. I have used it as my main for years. It would not hold a constant speed, and under the platter it held a lot of what I will call… water. So I cleaned it up and started with cleaning both pitch knobs. When that did not help, I dismantled the speed/power control and cleaned all of the miniscule and tiny parts and that did the trick. It also had a distinct smell to it, that took a while to work out. I have come to find out that is a typical old Technics smell. I have a stereo amp that smells similar. I am currently using the Goldring E3 MM cartridge and it sounds fantastic. It originally came with the Pickering Quad cartridge that is now on the Dual.
I also just realized this is the TEN year anniversary of this blog! I rule.
