1970s Zenith All-in-one Stereo with record player issues

[Olorin67]

Those issues arnt unique to BSR, Garrards are also famous for the trip mechanism seizing up and making the record skip at the last track. The first VM changer I worked on had the same issue. Some changers are just harder to work on than others to clean out the hardened lubricants. BSRs are one of the easiest to work on, along with VM. (the regular BSR changers, not the BSR 810, which is so compex I may never attempt to fix mine...) power switches are also a common issue on Dual changers, and 70s VM changers. At least the BSR switches dont totally disintegrate like some of the VM switches.

[Captainclock]

Originally Posted by Olorin67

Those issues arnt unique to BSR, Garrards are also famous for the trip mechanism seizing up and making the record skip at the last track. The first VM changer I worked on had the same issue. Some changers are just harder to work on than others to clean out the hardened lubricants. BSRs are one of the easiest to work on, along with VM. (the regular BSR changers, not the BSR 810, which is so compex I may never attempt to fix mine...) power switches are also a common issue on Dual changers, and 70s VM changers. At least the BSR switches dont totally disintegrate like some of the VM switches.

I'm aware of the last track issue where the trip mechanism doesn't want to activate at the end of the record unless you take and pull the tonearm all the way next to the spindle which then activates the trip mechanism, and that actually has nothing to do with whether or not the trip mechanism is seized up, I have 2 VM Changers from the 1960s (Modified VM 1200 series record players for Motorola and Zenith) that both refuse to trigger the trip mechanism unless you pick up the tonearm and force it into the middle next to the spindle which then triggers the trip mechanism, anyways that is actually because the trip lever on the bottom that the tonearm is supposed to hit to trigger the trip mechanism is so badly bent that the tonearm can't touch the trip lever anymore causing the trip mechanism to be ineffective unless you use the reject switch to trigger everything. The BSR Changers I've had to work on recently are NOT easy to work on the mechanism disassembly involves having to remove 4 screws, and then 4 or 5 C-Clips and 3 springs and then finally removing the top part of the mechanism which then to get to the rest of the mechanism you have to remove more C-Clips and springs and hope that you can remember where they all go when reassembling them and also hope you don't lose any of the springs or C-Clips or Screws (all of them of which are small enough to accidentally lose on the floor which if you don't find them can then get sucked up in the vacuum and then you're basically SOL. Anyways the powerswitch getting jammed IS an issue exclusive to this particular BSR Changer series because of how the power switch is operated in an up-down fashion as opposed to being rotated like VM Changers, plus it doesn't help any that when the power switch on this BSR Changer is trying to be unjammed it feels like the switch will break off if you aren't careful because of the said quality of the fact that the BSR Changer has a "switch" instead of a knob like your VM changers do which very rarely jam up or break like the BSR Changer Power switches do. I'll post a picture of the BSR Changer I'm talking about and you'll see what I mean by the fact that this particular model series of BSRs aren't easy to work with and are very trouble proned with unique issues to these particular changers and that no other type of changer has these types of issues.

How is it that you think that this particular BSR Changer Mechanism pictured below is easy to service? I don't know what planet you came from but whenever I see a record player or changer mechanism with lots of small easily lost C-clips or lots springs that need to be removed in order to properly service the changer or record player then I consider that a harder unit to service that isn't something that a beginner could easily service.
Now a VM Changer on the other hand I think is an easily serviced record player and changer because even a beginner just getting into record players and that is very minimally skilled in mechanics can easily work on it because there's only one part that needs to be removed in order to be able to clean and lube the whole mechanism and you only need to remove 4 screws to get that part off, you don't have to worry about small C-clips or springs or anything like that getting lost or having to worry about memorizing which position the springs were in or what not like you do with this BSR Changer.

[Findm-Keepm]

Originally Posted by Captainclock

How is it that you think that this particular BSR Changer Mechanism pictured below is easy to service? I don't know what planet you came from but whenever I see a record player or changer mechanism with lots of small easily lost C-clips or lots springs that need to be removed in order to properly service the changer or record player then I consider that a harder unit to service that isn't something that a beginner could easily service.

90% of the problems occur under the platter - one C clip to remove. The idler, and most of the cam gear can be serviced [cleaned with Naptha, (although we used Trichlorotrifluorethane), regreased with Phonolube from GC] from there. The other 10% are in the tonearm and lower/underside.

Those of us that serviced them invested in the GC phono/chassis stand, NLA, but very useful. A BSR cheater is required too - they too are NLA, 'cept on eBay. Idlers and Phonolube are still available. Rubber-Renu from Rawn was the stuff we used to revitalize the rubber on the idler.
We used two actual LPs for checking tracking, loading and lift. One was Johnny Cash, Live at San Quentin - both sides run-off grooves were different, so it was a good long/short test. The other was some Simon and Garfunkel LP with a larger hole in the center, used to test the drop, with it stacked with another.

The above, and a good stock of Astatic 142's, needles and Tetrad cartridges was about all we needed - we had about 50 junk changers, from an old Morse/Electrophonic service center we bought out - for the parts...mostly new changers and dust covers.