Cue lever fix or not

I just got into vinyl and a friend sold me for $100 a 1300mk2 and a Sony STR v6. She also threw in 2 carts. First one is a Shure V15 type4 and the other a V15 RS. The TT needs the cue lever fix and I can get the part from shapeways. My first question is how much would it cost to fix the cue lever. Second question is should I forget about the fix and purchase a 1700mk2 with the money from the fix. The seller wants $300. Is the 1700mk2 a step up from the 1300mk2. Ok 3 questions.

Tks from Montreal, Canada

 

I don't know. Did you get a quote from Shapeways - that will indicate how much it will cost!
Seriously, what is the problem with the cue lever? The dampening oil can firm-up with age causing the cue not to work. There are lots of videos on the internet showing how to remove old oil and replacing it with some new silicon oil. If you are handy you may be able to do this yourself, for $10 worth of silicon oil. Again, lots of info on the interweb, ask my research team at Google for more info.

 

Hahaha, if only more people would.

 

This is accurate. I fixed a Technics SL-1900 cueing issue. It was stuck in the up position (I bought it as non-working-for parts), and it now performs as new. My repair cost less than $15 US, and about 3 hours of my time. I bought the silicone at Hobby Lobby, a US superstore chain of all things hobbies & crafts.

I found and followed some photos and youtube videos successfully, and my skill level is very basic, a C- grade. The only fix I needed was to remove the old and non-operating lubricant from inside the chamber, and then renew it with the CORRECT weight silicon lubricant. I cannot emphasize strongly enough the fact that you need to utilize the dampening lubricant of the EXACT specification, and avoid harmful chemicals to the TT's structure during your repair operation.

Audiokarma and vinyl engine are wonderfully helpful sites, and worthy of registering.

SL-1900 Cueing Problem - Vinyl Engine

If that is indeed your problem, and not a broken/missing part, with some patience, you should be able to get your unit's cue issue resolved.

Hope this helps,
GT

 

But then these forums would be ghost towns.

 

Yes and no, sometimes people don't know what it is to look up in Google, and this is where our knowledge can help.

As an example, there are many times I want to buy a small part or tool, and I know exactly what it is I want, except I don't know the precise name to put in a search engine (as I'm not an expert in those areas). So I waste hours searching the net trying to stumble on the name so I can then put the appropriate terms in the search engines to find what I want.

 

The 1300II and 1900II are different with different cuing devices. The shapeways part is around $30, the fix is fairly complicated.
The arm has to be removed and dis-assembled, many parts and springs involved. I've done a few of them with mixed results,
but getting better at it after doing about 10 of them. You can see the two shapeways parts in the pic, hard to see them in the arm,
all the stuff in front of them has to be removed.

 

I have a 1300MkII (from Goodwill)... totally clean looking (including the dust cover) and works like new.. except for the cue lever problem.

I think as the numbers go higher (1500,1700, etc), the units get simpler with less features ...(?)

There's a youtube video demonstrating a fix for 1500mkII, but, I found my 1300mkII tonearm underside has more parts involved (it has auto arm return, etc)... and you have to be wary of the frail tonearm wires. I removed some of the pieces to have a closer look, and, got to a point where I decided it was better to put everything back. Then, testing the table with a record, the tonearm would get 'stuck' midway through an old record. I was puzzled until realizing the underside has a mechanism that slides over one of the attached pcbs. When I reattached the screws of that pcb, it was slightly too tight where the mechanism rubbed against that pcb. Loosening the screws slightly took care of the problem.

To cue the tonearm, I manually lift the black plastic rail which lifts up the tonearm. Then the tonearm can be moved along the rail which I let go of to lower it. I guess I'm used to using that technique instead of the cue lever.... although, if this were my main turntable, I'd probably want the cue lever fixed.

 

all i can say is that tonearm has *way* more parts than you want in a tonearm, imo

 

I also have a SL-1300 mk2 with the broken cueing arm. It is a common failure point and I was a bitter man the evening I broke mine! However, I continued to use it as a simple manual TT and had no problems. On nights I was too uncoordinated to lift the arm on and off using the headshell lift, I'd play CDs. Sounded pretty good. I've considered buying the parts to repair but I've never gotten around to it yet.

 

Will this work for a faulty cue mechanism for SL-1500. My cue arm stay up sometimes and sometimes it doesnt I dont think its broken I just think it needs a relubing. Am I wrong