Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Learned what I could

I've learned quite a bit from tinkering about inside that Fisher turntable, and I'm feeling much more confident in pursuing a serious case mod. Unfortunately, I'm not exactly confident enough to tear apart the Fisher, but eBay is a wonderful thing!
I have purchased a lovely little Tele-Tone turntable last week, and have just received it in the mail. Playback is sub-par, as expected for something this old, but that will be remedied later in the process. Pictures have been taken, although my camera is in Arizona at the moment, so pardon the webcam quality.


Tele-Tone turntable, in good shape too.


Audio jacks in the rear, along with a non-polarized plug.


Needle seems to be in decent shape, plays well.


Plays 33's, 45's, and 78's. That "N" you see is Neutral.


The center raises for different sized records, and in our case, access to the platter nut.


This is what the platter nut looks like on the Fisher model. If anyone knows what this bit is actually called, do tell!


More to come, so stay tuned!
The Brown-Eyed Albino

Monday, January 19, 2009

The Latest

Ah, what wonders that lie within those mysterious thrift stores? Could you find a lovely pair of girly pants to claim your place among the latest trendsetters? A Super Nintendo in near mint condition for a paltry five dollars (Check eBay kids, it ain't that cheap)? Or what about beautiful old Fisher Phono/Stereo combo?

That's right, this blanched biped has unearthed a behemoth. This monstrosity is packing heat.
A 33/45 turntable, AM/FM/FM stereo receiver, six-band Equalizer, not one, not three, but TWO cassette tape decks, and Dolby Noise Reduction, all crammed into a faux-wood finish enclosure. Did I mention this thing's awesome?

It's in fine working order as it is, but what could we possibly do to make it better? Case modifications aside, my first thought was to turn the thing into a guitar amp, or at the very least a preamp. Maybe I could add a few gears to make it run around the room instead of playing a record? Wouldn't be too difficult, but I'd love to have the turntable still work, and play audio in it's appropriate crackly goodness. I suppose it'd have to be able to fit in a small space too, with my living quarters being a tad limited.

But I digress.

First thing's first, we need to know how it works. I'll post pictures and notes of the techno-carnage along the way. Also, feel free to follow me, or chat via Twitter*!

*Note: I'm just getting my twitter account set up, so I'll post links to that in a bit.

BEAP

Lookit, a shiny new blog! How could we possibly defile it's brand new luster? Bring in the dust and age old people-crust, it's time to take stuff apart. Welcome to Brown-Eyed Albino's Projects (BEAP)! I'm The Brown-Eyed Albino, and I'll be taking you step by step into the deconstruction and modification of pretty much anything I can get my hands on. So stay tuned, many a project are underway!