Bakelite Sugden Connoisseur

[vitesse]

An early idler find, new in box.

[upfront]

Wow! Beautiful mate!

[zwarte-romantiek]

Lucky you! 

It looks like it only plays 33 RPM. Or not?
Wonder what year is was manufactured.

Good luck, show us some pictures when you have a plinth and it is spinning.

Niels

[BoringSounds]

Great find!!

It seems that it is a 78 and LP(33) player.

Really jealous 

Looking forward to see it in a plinth.

Please loads of pictures of the build...

[Stereo65]

Congratulations   It looks superb. But which part of it is Bakelite?

[Johannes LeBong]

Extremely beautiful and rare find !!!    

Is the top plate really made from Bakelite? It also could be a material called 'Pertinax' in Germany this is a kind of treated paper composite material.

[syncopeter]

Superb very early deck. Not having 45rpm should date it to around 1950/1.
I agree with Jo that the top plate most probably is pertinax. Bakelite was too brittle to be produced in thin layers this size.

[Johannes LeBong]

BTW: The old EMT turntables basic frame is made from Bakelite e.g.

When you look at it, it seems to be die cast, but this impression comes from the hammerite lacquer finish. The basic chassis frame is not so solid as one might think.

The whole thing can break and brittle especially because of ageing of the Bakelite structure.

[colin]

Great find, the Two Speed is a good turntable once fettled.   

[Paul]

A lovely looking machine, do you think the suspension rubbers are the same as the later ones and are they in good condition?

[Kokyu]

Perfect brand name for minimalist design.

[stevieg]

Delicious.  When I lived in Yorkshire I always had an itch to build an all Yorkshire system, Suden t/t, Sugden (the other one) or Richard Allan amp, and Wharfedale speakers.

Cheers Steve

[Stevie342000]

I have one of these too which I got on eBay a few months back.  It is two speed 33 1/3 & 78 RPM.  My research suggests that it was made between 1948/49 to December 1952 which is when the later 2 and 3 speed models came out.

I have not powered it up but it seems to have a burnt out motor on at least 2 of the windings.  Have yet to measure the turns to see if it is open or short circuit.

Any ideas on where I can get the motor rewound if I need to?  I am not sure it is a job I could do myself but I suspect the motor comes to pieces quiet easily and it may not be such a big job to rewind the burnt out turns if that is the case.

In the last week I have picked up a later Connoisseur BD-1 which needs new motor suspension, you can get those from Musonic (in UK): http://www.musonic.co.uk/turntable-suspension-web-p-18450.html

To top it all off I have two Connoissuer vari-groove cutting lathes one with an original Sugden designed moving coil cutter head designed in 1949 US patent granted 1951.  The 3 speed Connoisseur varigroove cutter replace the earlier 2 speed version which was available from 1948/49 was replaced by the addition of 45 rpm in 1952.  Connoisseur or more to the point Sugden was an earlier uptaker of long playing records both in recording and in reproduction.  To add salt to the wound a Connoisseur cost more than a Garrard 301 when that came out, like Garrard he was able to sell into America which is why you will find more than a few overseas.

[colin]

Hi,

Some pics of the motor here -

http://strictly_vinyl.webs.com/sugdenconnoisseur.htm

I replaced the capacitor and it worked fine.

 

[funkpig]

Extremely beautiful and rare find !!!    

Is the top plate really made from Bakelite? It also could be a material called 'Pertinax' in Germany this is a kind of treated paper composite material.

Agreed, although being made in the UK, it is probably "Tufnol"

http://ahistoryoftufnol.org/