BSR project

[bluetomgold]

Been having a bit of fun with an old BSR I rescued out of a defunct Regentone record player. It's actually quite nice, lightweight platter but a decent main bearing and motor, and being a single play model is fairly simple. Would be easy to close couple to a heavy/rigid plinth. In the pic it's just resting on my "setup jig". Apologies for the rubbish mobile phone pics...



I basically took it apart and put it back together giving it a good service with fresh oil and grease in the process. The idler was in good condition.

The arm is a crude old thing but relatively sturdy and simple and with OK bearings (at least in the horizontal plane). I modified it using a cut-down plate out of a GL75 headshell so that I could fit a regular 1/2" cartridge - in this case a mono'd M44G. I also drilled a hole in the back of the arm and fashioned an adjustable counterweight to allow tracking at lighter weights.



Believe it or not it sounds pretty darn good (actually quite special), and will track happily at a gram and a half with the Shure... Abbey Road sounds fantastic, Macca's bass lines sounding chunkier than ever.

Only trouble I've got is getting the autotrip to cut the motor at the end of the record. The stylus skips as soon as the switch starts to engage. I think the mechanism is working as well as it should - it's just designed for a 10g VTF ceramic cart. Need to try a heavier tracking cartridge - not sure if a 44-7 will track heavy enough to trip the switch. I've got a GE VR-II which I keep meaning to try on something, but mounting it poses a bit of a challenge with the turnaround stylus. Failing that I could dig out a stanton 500 from somewhere. Needs to be something which I can swap styli easily though, and the shape of the headshell makes access potentially tricky.

Plan ultimately is to use the original arm for mono/78 and mount a second arm for stereo on the plinth. If I can't get the autotrip to work I may disable it and install a manual switch of some kind - only issue is the mechanical linkage for disengaging the idler...

Welcome your ideas!

[Squiffything]

You can do some lovely things with an old BSR

[bluetomgold]

You can do some lovely things with an old BSR

Nice! Tell us more!

[bluetomgold]

A couple more shots:

[Officerpup]

Look sweet!

Get a decent ceramic cartridge with good saphire in there and whack some 78s on - blow yer socks off, so it would!

[bluetomgold]

Look sweet!

Get a decent ceramic cartridge with good saphire in there and whack some 78s on - blow yer socks off, so it would!

Thanks! It's finding a decent ceramic that's the challenge. I grabbed a few to try but the blooming things are all a sod to mount and connect, and I don't have a suitable input to test them with in my "work" room.

Might go and play a couple of 78s now though... Have got a 78 stylus for the M44. Let's see if I can get the auto trip to work at 5 grams or so...

[bluetomgold]

Well 78s sound fab as expected and I'm glad to report that at 5 grams with a stiffer needle the autotrip just about works. Here it is playing some Fats Waller.



It was rumbling like a champ to start (much worse at 78 than 33!) but a bit of foam under the edges improved things considerably as it stopped the plywood below resonating. Food for thought when it comes to doing a plinth...



The stylus is a generic (very cheap) 78 job from eBay. It's happy with plenty of weight on it (pictured below at 8 or so grams) but sounds and tracks as well at 5 grams as its going to.



Actually what I've realised is I need something with minimal lateral compliance. This stylus for example is plenty stiff enough in the vertical plane, but the effort to push the trip lever makes the cantilever deflect visibly and causes audible distortion. I'm hoping that an SC35C / M87S will be better in this respect. Hopefully I'll be able to get the mechanism to work a bit better too which might make it a bit less critical.

[decanterlime]

I tend to think some of those Idler drives from BSR and Monarch are quite well made. I am tinkering with a couple of A 10s ( circa 1958) and thinking in applying a spare L75 tonearm on to it somehow which will go on the motorboard and then use an Acos M6 MM cartridge to check it out for sound quality improvement.
If and when I do I will post some pikies.
Regds,
Mark

[Kent T]

I like the BSR mechanisms for their simplicity and ease of overhaul. I wish they built more single play, 1/2" mount capable machines with counterweights. As I can usually get a neglected example running with minimal issues once the frozen grease is heated up and not an obstacle.

[decanterlime]

Yes I agree Kent. The ones or type you mention once lubricated offer nice quiet smooth operation. What I think can be done to ultimise the so so changers is to mount a third party arm on the board and once done hey presto you have quite a good turntable.
Mark

[mustafa]

Hi,

Nice find and it looks really good. I have to admit too never having heard of this turntable.

Regards

Mustafa

[GP49]

I like the BSR mechanisms for their simplicity and ease of overhaul. I wish they built more single play, 1/2" mount capable machines with counterweights. As I can usually get a neglected example running with minimal issues once the frozen grease is heated up and not an obstacle.

There are some single-play BSRs with universal cartridge mounts in counterweighted arms to be found in the UK, but the Garrard SP25 series dominated that market and are enormously more common.

In the USA, the record changer ruled until 1980 or so.  Not even tne SP25 was officiallly imported until near the beginning of the CD era, and the end of Garrard as a British turntable manufacturer.  BSR didn't bother with a single player, except integrated with disco consoles.

[decanterlime]

These BSR Changers. Would anyone have an idea in how to place a an improvised counter weight to these strange tonearms? I ask because the one I am experimenting with has a plastic (bearing hinged) rectangular back shape and on the spring adjuster I cannot get the VTF below 5g.
I want to put a MM cartridge on and have a VTF of ~ 2g
Mark

[Beobloke]

These BSR Changers. Would anyone have an idea in how to place a an improvised counter weight to these strange tonearms? I ask because the one I am experimenting with has a plastic (bearing hinged) rectangular back shape and on the spring adjuster I cannot get the VTF below 5g.
I want to put a MM cartridge on and have a VTF of ~ 2g
Mark

May I ask why? The reason these arms will not adjust below about 5g is that they were designed to work with ceramic cartridges that had tracking forces in this range. Even if you manage to get an MM fitted and set to 2g, there is a good chance the arm will mis-track as the cartridge's compliance will be too high and the bearings too stiff.

Really - don't bother. Stick with a ceramic if you really must use a BSR, and put your MM into a decent deck!

[decanterlime]

Hello Adam,
sometimes my curiosity is like those chimps in the Brooke Bond advertisements of yesteryear and I am one of those types of people who stubbornly refuse to take prior prescribed wisdom and painfully find out for myself having explored every possibility first hand.
My experiments are well within my remit..if I do not understand (things like electronics) I do not bother.( like Deborah Meadon in the BBC programme "Dragon's Den" if she does not understand something it will be dumped or aborted!!
Yep, your reasoning about the actual properties of the BSR tonearms is top draw and I agree. Why bother?
I think my curiosity is driven by the goal in what could actually an improved BSR turntables sound like? Could they have competed in a hypothetical Elite arena?( In my own mind's eye.)
After all , The idler drive, the speed consistency, quiet operation are not bad.
Some of the platters are a bit crap but with a bespoke 12mm thick MDF disc placing on top of what already exists we have a platform for better arms to be used like a Rega one for example.
As in all the replies so far, BSR stubbornly refused to participate in the single play arena with any gusto. I am trying to find out could these changers be modified to be in the same classroom as a L75/78? I am perfectly aware some of the experiments may look unsightly but is it an affordable way to get into the idler drive experience? And alot of experimental prototypes people/members have tried in the passed in turning the L75 into a belt drive etc have proved the same. A pointless exercise..but something to do or explore.
Mark