For the Hi-Fi enthusiasts among us...

I am actually not that much in need of records, owning 1000+.
It is a lot of fun introducing her to the different record stores and their music focus.

Wow @JwRosenthal, bless you for keeping all that elderly gear alive! I must confess, that
My millennial is on his second turntable, Pro-Ject Carbon…Records are back.

Wool composition and intricate/tight knot structure

It was a hobby that turned into a stop-gap during unemployment and I kept the shingle up for a while as I enjoyed the work- until the customers becuase a problem (unrealistic expectations of cost of service).
Just becuase you bought that 80’s Technics at a yard sale for $10, doesn’t mean that the cost of a replacement cartridge, headshell, counterweight and belt (for which I would only charge the actual cost of parts), let alone my labor, should be $25.
I still do it for friends and family, but won’t do walk-in work anymore- just too much of a pain….I love the gear, people suck.

Most of those plastic 80’s Technics were not bad table, and they are fairly easy to service (the auto mechanisms tend to get out of whack from people trying to manipulate the arm while it’s in cycle), and capable of making pretty good sound for a entry level table (far better than any Crosley you could buy at Urban Outfitters) But the yard sale hunters didn’t make sure they had all their parts and didn’t understand that it costs MONEY to replace said parts.
i know you know this Tom, but for the uneducated (and this can apply to watches as well in the theoretical)
Breakdown on 80’s Technics plastic turntable costs:
Counterweight- $25-35 from eBay (gotta make sure you get the right one).
Generic headshell (needs to be correct mass) $15
AT cheapest MM cartridge with correct compliance for most medium mass arms - $35 (actually pretty decent for a cheap cart).
Belt if needed (not DD), $15 (needs to be not only correct length, but thickness and width and tension- not all belts are created equal).
1 hour of shop time to dismantle, degrease the now tar in the mechanism, regrease, reset auto mechanism that was forced out of whack, resolder broken lead for dead channel (40% of the time they came with a dead channel becuase someone crimped the cable) which may or may not be a whole cable replacement (and they are usually soldered in to the internal board…and 33g wire which requires fast and hot with steady hand) reassembly, oil main bearing, oil motor bearing (if accessible and bottom bearings unless sealed bearing), mount and align cartridge (there is geometry involved that requires protractors, scales and test records for azimuth and angle (fancy people use software now- I am old school with my protractors).
Then bench test for an additional 44 minutes (the length of two sides of a record to make sure it’s tracking properly and there are no dead or resistive spots in the sweep of the arm).
Then button it up, clean up the table and polish dust cover (2 step car wax and an orbital buffer- make sure to put it on a rubber mat of some kind or it will fly across the room), then take it back to the shop which was 15-20 minutes away depending on traffic.
All that- and they didn’t want to pay for parts and labor. Enjoy your Crosley from Urban Outfitters- no, I won’t service those, they are glued together.

Those were insane! But incredibly demanding to set-up and the system has to be perfectly dialed in for them

Nothing wrong with a 2m red, they are actually great on old tube preamps as they have wonderfully high gain (the bronze and black are lower output than the blue or red) so get over any tube hash. I assume the rubber rings around the platter are to deaden the horrific ringing the Thorens upper platters were known for (and may attribute to their particular sound). I used Dynamat on the underside of my 160 platter which helped a bit.
I currently am using a sandwich of a lead sheet and George Merril cork/rubber mat (basically re-created his old Merril-Scilla mat) but on a 124 so I don’t have to account for a spring suspension. The lead/rubber/cork sandwich really solidified the sound well and cuts the motor noise substantially.

My Thorens is the lowly TD-145. I bought this back in high school at a yard sale for $20. Come to think of it all three of the major components of my stereo were 90s yard or estate sale finds.

I wouldn’t say lowly- these things were the VW golf of their day, reliable and good transportation with a little fun factor….and you can mod the shit out of them.