• Please note that there are a few updates and clarifications made in the Audiokarma Rules, mostly relating to advertising and the addition of the new "Paying it Forward" & "Giving back" forums in the AudioKarma Audio Marketplace section.

Re-veneered Pioneer PL-518

F

fivealive

New Member
I found a Pioneer PL-518 turntable in my girlfriend's parents' house, and had it playing records through a Pioneer SX-780 into some cheap B&W bookshelf speakers. The turntable sounded pretty good -- even better after I replaced the cartridge with a $40 Grado Black from J&R -- but the thing was just hideous to look at. I wanted to buy another turntable just for the looks, but it would have been a waste of what I've come to think of as a very ingeniously engineered record player.

I started with this:

2287863358_f54b541244_o.jpg


Carefully disassembled everything, then used a wood chisel and a hot iron to remove the vinyl veneer. All sides were very easy to remove -- the side strips do leave a little glue residue that takes some work to remove, but the top veneer comes off with no effort at all and leaves no trace of residue, just a perfectly smooth surface.

The plinth is made of cheap particleboard, which is why Pioneer was able to put a direct drive motor with fine pitch control and a sophisticated tonearm while keeping the cost under $400. Lots of substance but no style.

Anyway, I purchased a cherry raw wood veneer kit from Artistry in Veneers:

www.artistryinveneers.com

The veneer goes on perfectly using contact cement. The whole thing took about two days, and this is the result:

2287075073_2bee2c19ae_o.jpg


Now I can enjoy the PL-518 without having to put a paper bag over it.
 
Register to hide this ad
Looks good from my house! Nice grain match there at the edge. I like my 518 too but it looks like an aircraft carrier.
 
Interconnects

As part of this refurbishing I was considering replacing the cheap-y interconnects with something thicker, but it was difficult/impossible to remove the internal connections without compromising the plastic pin connector.

I would have been happier having done something to actually improve the sound -- this type of cosmetic work can at best leave the performance the same as it was before. But in a psychological way, I don't think about that nasty grey veneer when I'm playing a record, so it does sound better in my head.
 
If you do, just shoot me a message and I can post a more detailed description of how to do this. I have no woodworking background -- I found this a very easy project to do as long as you have the right tools.
 
That really does look killer! The before and after is no comparison.

Pioneer should have done this to begin with.

Are you going to swap the Pioneer badge on the front of the tt?
 
I wanted to, but I messed it up while prying it off. If you pry the Pioneer badge off, do it carefully and from the middle, not the ends.
 
Very nice job indeed. I never knew a pl518 could look that nice. I have one and wish I was talented enough to make it look that nice.
 
Wow! When I was in that situation I bought a different table.....:worried:

I should have tried something like that! NIce work!! Perhaps I can vaneer my Techniques TT. What kind of special tools did you need?

Hey, Glen B. I would love to get my hands on that Pioneer file you have!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom