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My MKE SL-1200 MK2 Project

levlhed

levlhed

Well-Known Member
I picked up two very hammered Technics SL-1200 MK2's today for $100 each. I'm still not entirely sure if it was a good idea or not, but now that it's done that question isn't worth answering anymore.

They were bought off of a local CL. They look like they were used BEFORE the current owner got them. They are borderline basket cases. One of the tonearms is very loose and shot to heck. Busted tonearm rest.
The other one is very cosmetically worn, tonearm seem operable at least, though it too has certainly seen better days.
Both are filthy. Two questionable mis-matched DJ carts. No dust covers.

You know, pretty classic DJ abused 1200's..

the IC's are upgraded with Hosa. All the feet are intact. And they still have the 45 adapters. All the lights work and the speed seems accurate on both of them. that's about all they have going for them!

I've been thinking about just cleaning one up and making it at least usable while I take the other one and pimp it out in whatever way I see fit. Paint job, KAB mods and all that. Maybe a different tonearm. I guess whatever seems groovy. Then sell the stock one. Or keep it around for A/B testing upgrades? I don't know. I know how you guys love seeing pictures and hearing about other peoples projects and silly ideas...so I thought I'd start a thread.
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Two new center spindle bearings and tone arm wands/bearings will set you back $160 to do both tables.

A pitch slider knob and tone arm rest will add another $15 total, as you only need one of each.

Dust covers run around $40 each, hinges just a touch over $25 a pair.
 
levlhed said:
I've been thinking about just cleaning one up and making it at least usable while I take the other one and pimp it out in whatever way I see fit. Paint job, KAB mods and all that. Maybe a different tonearm.
Click to expand...

That's what I would do. Congrats on your find.:thmbsp:

Jeff
 
beatcomber, I wouldn't get too excited...I have a habit of starting things like this and then never actually finishing them :)

finnbow/thedelihaus, where's a good place to get the stock parts? Still KAB for that?
 
Ok thanks.

last night I decided that the one with the beat up tonearm is to be the "stock" 1200 because it doesn't have the serious wear on the plinth. So last night I disassembled it and started cleaning. This was my first time taking one of these apart, I have to say they are pretty darn slick! Easy to work on.

This morning I took the tonearm out of the "bad" one (I'm going to have to come up with a name for this one) and started to clean it up. I've found that the VTA adjustment is cranked all the way down past zero and I can't seem to get it loose. I'm not sure but I think at one time it had it's "rum and coke collector" filled and that dried up gunk in combination with it's being cranked all the way down is causing the problem. Right now I've got some isopropyl alcohol soaking in the rum and coke collector to see if it will get it to loosen up a little.
Meanwhile, today I'll make a run to the local radio Shack and Fleet Farm to hunt down some sewing machine oil for the spindle bearing/etc.

My goal here is to not spend any money on parts for the stock unit. I just want to get it up and running as close to spec as possible. All the money I spend I want to go towards the....hmmm...I need to make up a name for it...
 
Dollars to donuts the arms on both of these have seen better days, as well as the spindles. They look beat.

My advice is spend the $30 for a bearing from KAB and $50 for an arm wand with bearings.

This is only $80- chump change in the big picture- for $180 total, you basically have a perfect working table with a few cosmetic issues. A table that would cost you $600+ new. For a third of the price and a bit of elbow grease, you got a super deck.

Leaving the old parts in will surely be detrimental to performance- rumble/bearing noise, tone arm bearing chatter/slop, etc.

The other one- go hog wild! Perhaps the aftermarket bearing, maybe a fancy arm, external power supply, copper plate 4lb mat, isnoe footers, etc.


Names?

Call the two something fun- perhaps...


Dr. Bruce Banner & The Hulk?

Dr. jeckyl & Mr. Hyde?

Beauty & The Beast?

Clark Kent & Superman?

Bruce Wayne & The Dark Knight?
 
My goal is to at least get it up and running this weekend and spinning vinyl. I'm almost there already actually, I got the VTA unstuck and installed the thing into the stock unit. I stopped putting the deck together when I realized I didn't even know where to put spindle oil (which I haven't gone out to get yet) and thought I could end up having to take it all apart again.

I understand completely what you are saying regarding the basic parts. I agree, they should be replaced and they would make an improvement. I'll have to weigh the ROI though since the end result of all of this is to just sell the stock unit. Will I get more money for it if I replace the bearing and arm wand? I don't believe so!


As for naming, I'm not feelin' the super hero thing. I think I'm going to stick with "stock" on the stock on (duh) and I'm going to call the modded one "MKE".
MKE is the airport code for Milwaukee which is where these decks came from, actually quite near the airport. It's also a bit of a play on my real last name, Maki. And it also be short for "make".

So here forth they shall be referred to Stock and MKE.

For MKE I'm going to look into either painting or powder coating. We've got a custom powder coating company around here, my buddy used them for some rims a couple years ago. I was looking into getting something else done (top plate of my Bottlehead Crack headphone amp) when I found out about this place. My buddy had a great idea for getting it done on the cheap. Just bring it over and have them run it through with whatever they happen to be working on at the time. It'd be a minimal cost as there'd be no set up for them (I'd do all the prep work) all they'd do is hang it on a hook and run it through. Of course I don't get to pick the color, but I kind of like the idea of letting fate decide what color it would be!
 
One thing I wondered on mine that will be an issue here as well...

How do you get the strobe band on the platter looking good? It seems to me that anything that will "fix" the silver dots will destroy the black paint and visa/versa.
 
Model search for "SL-1200MK2" works. But It doesn't look like the prices are any different than KAB. Plus I don't know what part numbers are what.




The Stock unit cleaned up and spinning.
I'm just using one of the DJ carts that came with right now on some sacrificial vinyl while I sort out my 1229Q that has my "good" cart/stylus (M95ED w/ Jico SAS)
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The MKE in it's beginning state.

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Yeah, it's ok right now. I'm looking forward to putting the Jico SAS on it and getting the alignment dialed in to see what that's like. But so far so good.
 
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