Back from the dead...

hirscwi

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
Back in the summer I posted about my terrible experience purchasing a Thorens TD125 MkII on eBay. It was simply put into a box and styrofoam peanuts dumped in around it. Needless to say it was a complete mess - about everything that could be broken, was. A couple photos are included. I learned my lesson about careful packing of turntables (items of different mass - e.g. platter and dustcover - don't mix well if unsecured.

After much hassling with the seller we settled on a nominal amount because I didn't want to go through the hassle of packing it and sending it back. Luckily the motor shaft wasn't broken and I thought I could sell it and break even. Then I decided to give it a try and refurbish it.

The plinth was broken into several pieces. I was able to glue it back together and add proper bracing. The front panel needed to be re-veneered with walnut. Then I refinished the entire plinth to remove the remaining scratches and give it a uniform finish. I chose a darker color to give it a new look. The plinth bottom was broken so it got a new one.

I painted the bearing platform with hammered-finish paint and polished the edge of the platter. I also repainted the armboard. The bearing was thoroughly cleaned and lubed.

The SME 3009 arm was ruined so I replaced it with a a Thorens arm (TP16) from another TD125 that I bought to replace the damaged one. The newer TD125 will get a SME 3009 purchased from a good AK member. I replaced the phono cable but didn't rewire the arm (maybe a next project??). Is the TP16 worth re-wiring?

The motor control printed circuit board was broken in many places. I was able to repair the broken traces by carefully scraping the green coating from the trace, tinning the trace and then soldering a small gauge wire onto the trace (excess from capacitors used in recapping - pays to save junk). I also recapped the board completely while it was out (not many caps on it). I then adjusted the board according to the service manual.

New belt and voila' - back from the dead. It runs well and maintains good constant speed. Fortunately the motor shaft wasn't bent.

This table had an Audio Technica AT26 mounted but the stylus was trashed. I understand that this cart uses the AT12 stylus but I'm not sure if it's worth replacing the stylus or just using a different cart altogether.

I didn't replace the dustcover. Now I just need to mount and align a cart and see how it sounds, but I have high hopes. I suppose if it works properly, it will go on the block.

So perhaps a happy ending.
 

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Interesting. So the 125 that got trashed was originally an armed table from the factory? I see the cuing lever on it or did you just use that front plate?

Nice work. Looks good and now you have a pair of 125s to set up as you want.

Fortunately the table is well built and can get some serious damage and be repaired. Glad you took on the task and got excellent results.
 
That was a labor of love restoring the 125II. It wouldn't of taken much effort to put it back in the box with the foam peanuts and throw a couple pieces of tape on the box just like the seller did but you stuck it out and brought it back to life. Hopefully you settled for paying a very nomoinal amount ($5) for the turntable and left the seller scathing negative feedback so another turntable wouldn't suffer the same fate at his hands. Without seeing the box and all the peanuts my suspicion is that if it wasn't packed by the seller it was done by a professional packaging/shipping store. Once you see a turntable is being packaged by a "professional" run away as fast as you can from the deal.
 
Interesting. So the 125 that got trashed was originally an armed table from the factory? I see the cuing lever on it or did you just use that front plate?

Nice work. Looks good and now you have a pair of 125s to set up as you want.

Fortunately the table is well built and can get some serious damage and be repaired. Glad you took on the task and got excellent results.

Yes, it had the cuing lever on it so I assume it came that way from the factory (does that make it a TD125 MkII AB?)
 
That was a labor of love restoring the 125II. It wouldn't of taken much effort to put it back in the box with the foam peanuts and throw a couple pieces of tape on the box just like the seller did but you stuck it out and brought it back to life. Hopefully you settled for paying a very nomoinal amount ($5) for the turntable and left the seller scathing negative feedback so another turntable wouldn't suffer the same fate at his hands. Without seeing the box and all the peanuts my suspicion is that if it wasn't packed by the seller it was done by a professional packaging/shipping store. Once you see a turntable is being packaged by a "professional" run away as fast as you can from the deal.

Yes, it was a labor of love. I was afraid that if I just put it in a flimsy box (the original was ruined) and packed it with peanuts, that the seller would claim that I damaged it by poor packing on the return trip (yes, he seemed like that sort of guy...). I don't know if it was done by a professional or not, but whoever did it was either an idiot or very lazy.
 
Yes, it was a labor of love. I was afraid that if I just put it in a flimsy box (the original was ruined) and packed it with peanuts, that the seller would claim that I damaged it by poor packing on the return trip (yes, he seemed like that sort of guy...). I don't know if it was done by a professional or not, but whoever did it was either an idiot or very lazy.



Me thinks both Bill......................
 
That's why before bidding or BIN the safest thing to do is to ask the seller to provide detailed photos of the turntable disassembly, boxes and packing material. If the seller doesn't reach the accepted standards then don't bid/BIN and move on to someone else that's willing and capable to do it right. From the OPs description of the flimsy box, foam peanuts and destroyed Thorens the OP by sending photos to Ebay/PayPal would of closed the case and he would of received a refund in full. Photos don't lie and damaged turntables from poor packaging isn't anything new to Ebay/PayPal, they have seen thousands by now.
 
That's why before bidding or BIN the safest thing to do is to ask the seller to provide detailed photos of the turntable disassembly, boxes and packing material. If the seller doesn't reach the accepted standards then don't bid/BIN and move on to someone else that's willing and capable to do it right. From the OPs description of the flimsy box, foam peanuts and destroyed Thorens the OP by sending photos to Ebay/PayPal would of closed the case and he would of received a refund in full. Photos don't lie and damaged turntables from poor packaging isn't anything new to Ebay/PayPal, they have seen thousands by now.

Good advice.
 
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