Empire 598 II

[Deleted User] · February 2015

Hello,
Been helping a friend get a classic Empire 598 II turntable working correctly. So far I've replaced the thin rubber support pad that goes on the tonearm lift plate and cleaned the cueing lift mechanism and added silicon to the damping friction clutch. Today I replaced the motor support grommets and sent him a photo and I thought I'd share it.
Beautiful machining on the motor pulley.
Enjoy, Ken

westmassguy · February 2015

Awesome Ken

drumminman · February 2015

The base looks to be machined brass. What was the retail on that?

[Deleted User] · February 2015

Here is a photo of the complete table, minus dustcover.

For those who would like to know more about the Empire turntable history here is an Audiokarma thread:
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=278075

[Deleted User] · April 2015

Hello,
All done and time to give it to my friend. The restoration involved repairing the cueing mechanism by adding a missing piece of thin rubber to the underside of the tonearm lift plate. The damping action, for the cueing, required cleaning the friction clutch and using the correct silicone between the plates. I replaced the drive belt and the main thrust plate bearing and added the correct lubrication after cleaning and polishing everything on the bearing. The motor suspension grommets were replaced also. Finally the cartridge was aligned using a Dennesen Soundtractor alignment protractor.
The dust cover plexiglass panels were replaced (a tip of the hat to Total Plastics for providing the plastic and cutting it at no charge). All-in-all a satisfying project.
Enjoy, Ken

vcwatkins · April 2015

Gorgeous! Well done.

[Deleted User] · April 2015

Thanks, I appreciate the kind comments. One of the more satisfying things about this effort was the guy who worked in the plastics shop on Pulaski Highway. This place had been formally known as Garons Plastics and is now part of the Total Plastics company. I hadn't been in there for twenty years at least. I used to have plexiglass cut into sections that my dad would put together into dust covers for the Thorens/Rabco turntable my friends and I were marketing.
This time the guy asked what the pieces were for and I explained how I was working on a friend's turntable. This prompted a nice conversation about his long gone record collection and how a few of his friends had dabbled on the edges of becoming professional rock musicians. One guy had even been a practice drummer for the visiting Rolling Stones on one of their Baltimore visits. In time the guy takes my original two sections of scratched plastic and goes into the stockroom looking for some scrap pieces he can give me.
To mark time I start looking around the shop and see exhibits of 2" thick plexiglass used in security windows. Some are fitted with the round bullet proof "lazy Susan" used to exchange liquor for money in some of Baltimore's more unkind neighborhoods. After twenty or so minutes my new friend comes out of the stockroom with two perfectly cut pieces of smoked plexiglass and won't take a penny for his effort. I make some offers of paying and he brusquely refuses. I buy a bottle of plastic cleaner to put something in the till and off I go thinking about how getting to sit in with the Stones could be a hard act to follow in B-more.