Hello all,
I collected this equipment during my DJ career 10 to 20 years ago, but got my rekokut with a Presto 1D working so well that I never had the motivation to build my stereo dubplate cutter. I have used both sides of the amp to make mono dubs, so I know that they work, but they should be serviced for any sort of professional use. The cutterhead is a 3D, serial number 79, excellent condition, in its original carry case and with an unused new Adamant stylus. I guarantee that the coils are good. The Fairchild lathe is missing some drive components and I have never set it up. It looks very much like Richie Hawtin's Fairchild 523 but there's no serial number or ID plate on it. I paid $6k US for the head and amps and would be happy to get my money back, but offers are welcome. The lathe was $400 as I recall. I have a few other bits such as a Capp stylus heater, a chip vacuum, and a couple boxes of Apollo lacquers. I'm in San Francisco and would be happy to send pictures and answer any questions.
Regards,
Andy T
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Angus McCarthy
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TotalSonic
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Based on the pics I'd say that's definitely a Fairchild 523 like mine - 2nd generation circa 1952 as it has the 3 speeds on it (the original 1948 version had 2 speeds).
I have a copy of the original owners manual - I could scan and post it for whoever wins that auction if this is not included already. Just email me at steve at totalsonic dot net. I'll try and get this scanned and posted up here any way.
Important for any potential purchaser of the lathe to know - is getting a Westrex 3D head to mount on the existing overhead would require some serious modifications (you would need to move the overhead bars to push them back and up from their current position). As such I would recommend anyone trying to get a stereo head to work with this to go for something smaller like Haeco SC-1 (hard to find - and the SC-2 would have the same difficulties in mounting I noted above for the Westrex 3D) or Caruso.
Best regards,
Steve Berson
I have a copy of the original owners manual - I could scan and post it for whoever wins that auction if this is not included already. Just email me at steve at totalsonic dot net. I'll try and get this scanned and posted up here any way.
Important for any potential purchaser of the lathe to know - is getting a Westrex 3D head to mount on the existing overhead would require some serious modifications (you would need to move the overhead bars to push them back and up from their current position). As such I would recommend anyone trying to get a stereo head to work with this to go for something smaller like Haeco SC-1 (hard to find - and the SC-2 would have the same difficulties in mounting I noted above for the Westrex 3D) or Caruso.
Best regards,
Steve Berson
Fairchild lathe
The info is much appreciated, Steve. I did find the pdf on the lathe on your website which is very helpful. Mounting the Westrex head would be an engineering challenge, but I believe Kim at customrecords has been using a Westrex on a Fairchild 740 for years, so it's not unheard of. I am going to clean things up and reassemble the lathe into a crude table I built for it years ago, somebody might like to have that as a starting point. More pictures coming in the next couple days. Thanks everyone for your interest in this stuff.
UPDATE Westrex gear is sold
The cutterhead and blue amps are on their way to a new home. I am going to clean up the Fairchild lathe and test the motor so that interested parties have a better idea of how much work is necessary to bring it back to life. I also have parts from an RCA lathe (supposedly built as a test cutter at their Princeton Labs facility) that I have decided to sell. These include a mono cutterhead, a platter driven overhead lathe, a microscope mount, a handmade aluminum transcription tonearm, and a really crazy linear tracking tonearm. More info and pics coming soon.
-Andy
-Andy