Restoring dad's Presto turntable

[speaker dave]

Well, I swung by my Dad's house and did some digging in the attic. I've pulled out his Presto turntable as a new project.

This will be more of a restoration than a heavy modification. There are a lot of memories tied up in this. I remember it being in the living room system for years (I remember it from about 1960 to about 1975 when he replaced it with a used Weathers turntable). This is the turntable my sister wore out her mono copy of Rubber Soul on.

Dad made the base out of some scrap pine. The main motor plate is carved out of a piece of about 3/16ths thick scrap iron (there are a few extra holes in it from a previous ussage). The Velvet Touch tonearm is the best feature, and should clean up pretty nicely.

I think I will clean, sand, prime and paint the motor plate. I'll probably sand and stain the case and possibly add some handball feet to give it a bit of suspension.

It will be built up a part of a mono only system for LP's and 78's. I also picked up a small collection of GE cartridges, which should match the tonearm nicely.

Also picked up a nice little Heathkit amp and his old Triplet meter.

Here are the before pictures!

David S.

[speaker dave]

And 2 more pictures.

[SGregory]

Looks like a fun little project.

[Helmuth]

Woow you even can make it stereo

Cool project I like that arm it is not likely to resonate in that asymmetric shape. The platter looks well made.

[speaker dave]

I think I'll stick with mono and use it to play my oldest LPs. I like that the "turnover" cartridges wil allow easy switching from "microgroove" to "standard' (78 rpm).

Tonearm is not low mass and the counterweight is not adjustable. You add chunks of lead to the front to get it to balance. I may cut out some of the back weight, as it seems overbalanced to the rear.

David S.

[phivates]

I like it. My assortment of old Garrards looks dumb now.