Vintage Fairchild 412 Turntable W/ Grado Laboratory Wood Tonearm -
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:64538629 | Model: 412 |
| Brand: Fairchild | Country/Region of Manufacture: United States |
For Sale Vintage Fairchild 412 Turntable w/ Grado Laboratory Wood Tonearm - Excellent
This is my baby....but one can only have so many.....
I bought this mostly for the Pabst motor. I had always heard amazing things about them and was on the lookout.
The 412 is a well regarded table. Great motor, cool double belt design, REALLY good looking. it has it all going for it.
I picked this one up and immediately saw that it was a strong candidate for a resto...ration.
The motor worked but needed attention. There were no belts. The plinth was a MESS. But it was all there.
I took it to my tech who did the high level work on the motor and installed the tonearm. I had a choice of 3 different tonearms but felt this was the best match and I seem to have been right.
I tested it on several setups and LOVED the results. It sounds amazing. And looks great as well
NOTEI did notice some very minor rumble, which is not shocking on something as old as this. The rumble was very modest (I could only hear it with the volume way up and at the beginning or end of a record and VERY close up to the speaker) and was not apparent during playback.
Note that I was using vintage equipment as well, a Dynaco ST-70 and a pair of AR-2's. Vintage STUFF. And yes the speakers were not close to the table
UPDATE - For yucks I am going to try some other configs tomorrow just to see how it affects the rumble. Will report back. My tech did not note it so that makes me wonder...
UPDATE #2 - I tried a COMPLETELY different setup, modern speakers, modern amp. I can STILL hear the very faint thrum-thrum but only when i have the volume pretty high and my ear next to the speaker. A very unrealistic scenario! In general the table still sounds amazing.
UPDATE #3 - At the suggestion of my tech I put my ear 6" away from the speakers and could not hear the rumble. I agree that it is unlikely to be an issue with playback
COSMETICSThe plinth was gently cleaned by a professional furniture restorer. He didn't go crazy and that was what I requested. He cleaned it, smoothed it and oiled it. The results are amazing.
All of the laminate/plastic is in excellent condition (see pictures). The tonearm is BEAUTIFUL
WORK DONEI have a very detailed tech who doesn't like to do things 1/2 way. He also refuses to use parts he does not like/he is not familiar with. The value of having a competent tech should not be underestimated. He is the 4th one I have used and by far the best.
I'll detail the work done below but the short of it is everything was evaluated and tested. The resulting unit has been returned, as much as possible, to the original factory specs.
Mechanicals:- On/off switch was service and now is functioning, Motor powers on. Motor was serviced / Cleaned and lubed. - New Upper and Lower belt was installed along with new 7mm bearing. - Four New motor mounts was installed. - All pulley's and shafts was cleaned and lubed, Including idler Assy. - Lower sub chassis was found to have bent bracket tabs on 2 out of 4 tangs. All 4 were measured from top of chassis to bottom of tab and two corrected for height issues.- platter bearing well was cleaned and new synthetic oil in well shaft and top felt pad applied- Original platter mat was removed and platter cleaned of glue, New cork / rubber mat was cut in center for 45 pop-up hub
Plinth: - 4 adjustable aluminum feet was machined and installed for leveling of the deck, Motor belt access cover was reinforced with double sided copper pc board, A new tonearm holder base was machined to match Grado tonearm base and provide a rigid arm rest, that if bumped will not cause damage to the upper belt cover.
Tonearm:Tonearm loon shield was broken at entrance of wire loom holder. Was disassembled and repaired. Tonearm wire section below plinth was finished with braided shied and finished with heat shrink terminating at new, RCA jacks and earth ground lug located at left rear lower corner at the base of the plinth. Other bad connections were found at cartridge holder connection tabs and main tonearm tabs. All were repaired. A 6mm cartridge was made and installed to provide the rear of the tonearm to be set correctly . Tonearm was installed and adjusted per Grado mounting instruction. Grado cartridge with new re-tip stylus was installed and adjusted tracking @ 2gr.
The deck was fully tested and is in 100% working order. No further adjustments are needed Simply plug and play.
NOTE ON SHIPPINGShipping turntables is hard. Standard procedure is to remove the platter, however, replacing the belts on this model is NOT THAT EASY. So I will leave it up to the buyer: Platter in or out. ALSO, this particular tonearm is fairly sensitive to set up. I suspect it will be out of alignment after being shipped across the country. ANY BUYER should have some familiarity with how to set up a tonearm properly.
IF ANY OF THE ABOVE SOUNDS CONFUSING OR SCARY YOU PROBABLY SHOULD CONSIDER WHETHER THIS IS THE TABLE FOR YOU
This is my baby....but one can only have so many.....
I bought this mostly for the Pabst motor. I had always heard amazing things about them and was on the lookout.
The 412 is a well regarded table. Great motor, cool double belt design, REALLY good looking. it has it all going for it.
I picked this one up and immediately saw that it was a strong candidate for a resto...ration.
The motor worked but needed attention. There were no belts. The plinth was a MESS. But it was all there.
I took it to my tech who did the high level work on the motor and installed the tonearm. I had a choice of 3 different tonearms but felt this was the best match and I seem to have been right.
I tested it on several setups and LOVED the results. It sounds amazing. And looks great as well
NOTEI did notice some very minor rumble, which is not shocking on something as old as this. The rumble was very modest (I could only hear it with the volume way up and at the beginning or end of a record and VERY close up to the speaker) and was not apparent during playback.
Note that I was using vintage equipment as well, a Dynaco ST-70 and a pair of AR-2's. Vintage STUFF. And yes the speakers were not close to the table
UPDATE - For yucks I am going to try some other configs tomorrow just to see how it affects the rumble. Will report back. My tech did not note it so that makes me wonder...
UPDATE #2 - I tried a COMPLETELY different setup, modern speakers, modern amp. I can STILL hear the very faint thrum-thrum but only when i have the volume pretty high and my ear next to the speaker. A very unrealistic scenario! In general the table still sounds amazing.
UPDATE #3 - At the suggestion of my tech I put my ear 6" away from the speakers and could not hear the rumble. I agree that it is unlikely to be an issue with playback
COSMETICSThe plinth was gently cleaned by a professional furniture restorer. He didn't go crazy and that was what I requested. He cleaned it, smoothed it and oiled it. The results are amazing.
All of the laminate/plastic is in excellent condition (see pictures). The tonearm is BEAUTIFUL
WORK DONEI have a very detailed tech who doesn't like to do things 1/2 way. He also refuses to use parts he does not like/he is not familiar with. The value of having a competent tech should not be underestimated. He is the 4th one I have used and by far the best.
I'll detail the work done below but the short of it is everything was evaluated and tested. The resulting unit has been returned, as much as possible, to the original factory specs.
Mechanicals:- On/off switch was service and now is functioning, Motor powers on. Motor was serviced / Cleaned and lubed. - New Upper and Lower belt was installed along with new 7mm bearing. - Four New motor mounts was installed. - All pulley's and shafts was cleaned and lubed, Including idler Assy. - Lower sub chassis was found to have bent bracket tabs on 2 out of 4 tangs. All 4 were measured from top of chassis to bottom of tab and two corrected for height issues.- platter bearing well was cleaned and new synthetic oil in well shaft and top felt pad applied- Original platter mat was removed and platter cleaned of glue, New cork / rubber mat was cut in center for 45 pop-up hub
Plinth: - 4 adjustable aluminum feet was machined and installed for leveling of the deck, Motor belt access cover was reinforced with double sided copper pc board, A new tonearm holder base was machined to match Grado tonearm base and provide a rigid arm rest, that if bumped will not cause damage to the upper belt cover.
Tonearm:Tonearm loon shield was broken at entrance of wire loom holder. Was disassembled and repaired. Tonearm wire section below plinth was finished with braided shied and finished with heat shrink terminating at new, RCA jacks and earth ground lug located at left rear lower corner at the base of the plinth. Other bad connections were found at cartridge holder connection tabs and main tonearm tabs. All were repaired. A 6mm cartridge was made and installed to provide the rear of the tonearm to be set correctly . Tonearm was installed and adjusted per Grado mounting instruction. Grado cartridge with new re-tip stylus was installed and adjusted tracking @ 2gr.
The deck was fully tested and is in 100% working order. No further adjustments are needed Simply plug and play.
NOTE ON SHIPPINGShipping turntables is hard. Standard procedure is to remove the platter, however, replacing the belts on this model is NOT THAT EASY. So I will leave it up to the buyer: Platter in or out. ALSO, this particular tonearm is fairly sensitive to set up. I suspect it will be out of alignment after being shipped across the country. ANY BUYER should have some familiarity with how to set up a tonearm properly.
IF ANY OF THE ABOVE SOUNDS CONFUSING OR SCARY YOU PROBABLY SHOULD CONSIDER WHETHER THIS IS THE TABLE FOR YOU
