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By Star One Thu Sep 04, 2014 1:15 am
I was going to post a bunch of DIY's but then remembering someone mentioned a video how to self-ground. I looked it up, and found all of this is in videos.

So I will just post those rather then pictures and text. I checked them personally, these are the absolute correct ways. A few most likely common interests.


Calibrating the Pitch Part 1


Calibrating the Pitch Part 2


Replacing RCA cable and Self-Grounding


I might still have to post a HOW-TO in here for replacing all the lights with LED's, I could not find a video on how to do them. Only one I saw for the Target Lamp was terrible, and one of the Pitch LED, but that also was not very descriptive.
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By Star One Wed Sep 24, 2014 2:44 pm
http://www.kabusa.com/frameset.htm?/m1200.htm

Can get really nice self-ground custom PCBs here with fantastic RCA's already on. I forget the name but its the tonearm PCB with the thick blue RCA's. They list the full specs of it.

But for people with no money, or have a good PCB with good RCA already or are fine with theirs, its quick and easy =)
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By jonestown massacre Fri Oct 10, 2014 3:27 am
^^^been looking at the KAB mods forever, but shipping there is a ****. Easy to do some of the mods yourself though... My soldering/electronics game is pretty solid, but a tonearm rewire could probably go sideways pretty quick, lol
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By Star One Sun Oct 12, 2014 6:30 pm
Its actually pretty easy :) just connect them at the cart side of the tonearm, twist them carefully togeather and push through the tube, then feed them through the assembly and soldier to the PCB.

The wires arent as fragile as most might think, its a bit time consuming is all. Just have to make sure your wires arent impeding movement anywhere.

Feeding the wires I mean is what can be time consuming.
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By Matriks Thu Oct 16, 2014 10:45 am
Thanks my man! I will try it, but I thinks he won't give me the info where he orders parts when he can't sell one ... I fix the turntables by myself.

But why not giving it a try. Let's see :wink:


Other Options? I'm sure there are some good Shops in other countries :)
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By jibber Thu Oct 16, 2014 11:13 am
Maybe he will still sell you parts if he can make a small profit. It's worth comparing prices i guess.

Otherwise the link from StarOne (kabusa.com) is a good one too.

This seems less expensive:

http://www.djparts.net/technics-parts.html

Good luck!

PS: If you find a good source, i'd be interested in some mods (tonearm damping, etc), let me know what you find! :-D

PS2: Not sure i'll make it to Tomasini on the 1st of nov... i'll keep it in mind tho! :wink:
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By JUKE 179r Sun Oct 19, 2014 11:29 pm
The only mods I've done to my older 1200's (gray models) was:
swapping to all blue LED's,
polished the tarnished platter,
recalibrating the pitch and brake,
removed the grounding wire,
added Monster RCA cables,
and added a removable power cable:
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By Star One Mon Oct 20, 2014 12:11 am
^I remember seeing this some time ago! So that's you huh? Very clean. I was always wondering, did you actually setup some sort of ground? Or is it just a 3-Prong cable soldiered open wire end to the pwr board?


And for anyone wanting to convert their power cable from Euro to USA (Where you might have an adapter taped to the cable) it's very easy to do.

You can buy one of those small clip on heat lamps (maybe called shop lamp)

Image

, unscrew the entire thing apart till you have the black piece where the bulb plugs into. Take a pair of wire cutters, and clip both positive and negative wires off (Mark the - side with a piece of tape for reference)

This is your new power cord. You can then strip down the ends just a little bit.

Then on the SL1200


Image

You just unsolder those two wires, pull the old cord out, feed your new power cord in, then soldier your + and - ends back onto this board.

And your done!
By JVC Mon Oct 20, 2014 3:07 am
StarOne wrote:... I might still have to post a HOW-TO in here for replacing all the lights with LED's, I could not find a video on how to do them. Only one I saw for the Target Lamp was terrible, and one of the Pitch LED, but that also was not very descriptive.

This video is sufficient for replacing target light. I didn't realize that the lamp is connected via MOLEX connector. I just opened from the back, and cut the lamp wires and replaced the neon lamp.
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By Star One Thu Oct 23, 2014 7:22 pm
JVC wrote:

This video is sufficient for replacing target light. I didn't realize that the lamp is connected via MOLEX connector. I just opened from the back, and cut the lamp wires and replaced the neon lamp.
[/quote]

Yeah the power board/rpm, pitch and stylus illuminator are all hooked up with a molex. You just remove the panel cover, and there all top side. Then everything you just unscrew to pull out and the wires just come with.

To swap for LED's, on the stylus illuminator specifically you need a resistor inline on the + wire. Other wise standard lamps are just an easy replacement. The only annoying part is feeding your wires through the spring inside the assembly through the bottom.

I always twist the two together, make a slight bend, pull the spring system (don't know the name) down and try and grab the bent piece with tweeters and pull it through.
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By JUKE 179r Tue Jan 26, 2016 9:41 pm
Modded a friends 1200MK2 with blue LED's (though they look purple in the movie and picture :hmmm: ), soldered in 6ft Monster RCA cable, removed & repositioned ground cable, thoroughly cleaned inside and outside, polished the platter, greased pop up light, calibrated pitch & brake and retighten screws.

http://scontent-atl3-1.cdninstagram.com/hphotos-xta1/t50.2886-16/12624528_974581569280062_1368418861_n.mp4
Before adding the LED platter halo...
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Dirty after 30 years of use...
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Almost a mirror shine...
Image

:smoker:
By JVC Sun Jul 23, 2017 5:01 am
I just finished to replace the stylus light to LED, which I bought it via ebay.

The LED light works, but I really don't like the light (I kind of hate it); it is cold, less lumens (the original neon bulb is much brighter), and beam angle is too narrow (too narrow, it doesn't really beam to stylus), and it is kind of useless as a stylus light.
I might order the original neon bulb again...