Complete Noob Here

[Lucid_SD]

How’s it going guys, hopefully this post doesn’t come off idiotic.
In any case I’m trying to get into record cutting as a passion and to play with cutting my own artist works.

I’ve been scrolling this site for some time, reading on varying topics associated and I’d really like to dive more into it.

Few questions I have:
Thoughts on the T560 and flying out to Germany to deal with Souri… is it worth it or just easier to go second hand and not deal with the incredibly high travel cost?

Outside of the T560 what are some people’s preferred cutters (not interested in Neumann that’s waaaaay outside of size and price for what I’m interested in).

I’ve been eyeballing the Presto K-8 and hear it’s not terribly hard to tinker with to put a stereo cutter head on it. In any case what are some of y’all cutting with? What would you recommend for a noob?

Also curious on any recommended places to look for a record cutter that isn’t eBay or Reverb. Thanks so much in advance, feel free to roast in the comments

[piaptk]

Start here https://www.lathetrolls.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=8328

There is a huge chasm between a t560 (which very few people can ACTUALLY buy if they WANTED to. The trip to Germany is not the least of the issues with purchasing one. Search "souri" on here for peoples experiences) and a k8. Putting a stereo head on a k8 would be like putting Formula One tires on a moped.

I sell fully mechanically restored lathes with starter packs and unlimited tech support. You may also look into coming to www.LatheCutCamp.com. You will get an enormous data dump of info in 3 days and you will have a much stronger knowledge base to decide what exactly you want.

[spinnertownblanks]

We second what Mike says above, and from experience, either you are going to Souri and going that route, or just deal with Record Lathe Parts. I've seen plenty of Presto 6Ns from Mike with stereo cutter heads doing the job. We definitely do not recommend going for random lathes on eBay or the likes.

The lathe cut world can be tricky to navigate with lots of terrible information floating around, and if you want the easiest and best support, then Mike is your man.

[Phoenix]

I can only speak from experience, and I have non with Souri. Someone in my hometown successfully got their lathe from Souri, so it is possible. As far as I can tell they are happy.

Personally, I attended the Lathe Cut Camp and learned a LOT from Mike, with absolutely no pressure to buy a lathe (in fact, he’ll try to talk you out of one if he’s confident it isn’t a good fit).

We bought a rebuilt Presto 6N from him and are waiting for it to arrive (hopefully today!).

With such a large range of options, it would be super helpful to know what you’re trying to achieve.

[farmersplow]

... Putting a stereo head on a k8 would be like putting Formula One tires on a moped...

I love it when complex systems are presented simply - Great!

[displacedsnail]

I can...fourth? fifth?...the idea to work with @piaptk. I attended lathe cut camp and it was awesome, and I've now bought two lathes from Mike, a 6D and a Rek-O-Kut Challenger. Love 'em both and use them at the same time pretty often. FWIW, both are mono heads, and I haven't noticed much difference between the discs I'm cutting and stereo pressed records unless I'm really trying to find the difference.