Introducing (John Holmes-sized) "Universal Spindle" for Garrard 301 and 401

I'd wish to introduce my own "Universal Spindle" good... would say SPECIAL, for both stock 301 and 401, any vintage... it's an humble - sort-of - "back-engineering homage", with some improvements, most of all in materials quality and tight, ultra-precise to .000 mm machining, suggested by among the very best of ALL classic idler-wheel turntables spindles of the last decades.

I carefully dismantled and studied in details - pros & cons - my own, old original Shindo's, Commonwealth/Westrex 12D's, Garrard 301's and EMT 930st's spindles and every design had its caveats and merits... me and my machinist painstackingly made some prototypes and reached a stethoscope-friendly, extremely quiet rotating behaviour REALLY seldom heard and experienced... the rotation, after 78 rpm sudden stopping, is of about four minutes+ to complete stop... and most important, every original Garrard's platter can be used without any problem, plug'n'play:-)... it's a stainless-steel spindle with double luxury-quality bearings and super-flat/mirror-polished Delrin bottom, oil-feeding "chimney" and light molybdenum grease at bearings... a masterpiece... I'm herewith posting the very first (iPhone) pixes taken near the lathe which produced it.. and some more, shot shortly after, and showing a direct comparison vs. original 301's spindle and mounted on White Whale 301's platter... spindle measures 130 mm vs. 90 mm Garrard's original, as measured from underside of spindle pillar: macho and the boy:-)... aehm, meant "toy":-)))

Last but not least, I also made the disc spindle slightly longer/higher than original, for a more friendly use of clamps and additional and/or heavier mats; will ship with an oil-bottle and syringe to avoid troubles in transit and time-wasting when receiving it, while (light) molybdenum-grease will already be in place.

Best of both worlds - i.e. grease AND (compatible) oil.



As I made an extremely limited batch of these lathing and mechanic beauties, I guess this part should be of interest to (some) Garrard-lovers around, at VERY friendly price-tags and superb craftmanship and materials... the spindle has a stainless-steel mirrored-surface and guarantees a smoothness to be "felt" to be believed... a rare find, anywhere at any price!

I'll be selling my (original) Shindo's spindle, soon... it's THAT good, folks.