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1965 Garrard 401 turntable. Garrard had been in business since 1721. They produced their first turntable in 1932 and their first record changer turntable in 1938. In 1954 the Garrard 301 was introduced (see above) which was a serious Hi Fi product. The popular SP25 Mk 1 (see a Mk 2 above) was introduced in 1959. The Garrard 401 was introduced. Vintage Electronics Manuals. S p o n s o r e d. Garrard Model 5-3000 Main Spindle Bearing, From KLH Model 34. +C $17.93 shipping. From United States. S p o n s o r e d. Vintage Turntable Garrard 3000 Phono RCA Output Conector Jack Terminal. Buy It Now +C $16.50 shipping. S p o n s o r e d. Vintage Turntable Garrard 3000.

'The best pick up arm in the world'
On the 4th Dec. 1973 I purchased a Gerard 401 turntable (for £25.95) and was disappointed to find
that SME pick up arms had sold out at all dealers before Xmas. On 3rd Jan 1973 I finally
received my SME Mk2 Improved tonearm.
Later that month an SME plinth was added and the turntable and arm fitted into it.
(as usual I kept the receipts so the dates are accurate). In Nov 1978 SME charged £14.54
including VAT to converted the arm to take a detachable headshell. In October 1978 the
F200 damper was also added (£16.95). I remember, just before buying the arm, reading
a review in one of the hi fi magazines and the reviewer agreed it was 'the best pick up
arm in the world' To be fair, in those days nothing came even close!
In May 1976 (I still have the letter sent in for the advert), I sold my SME 2000 plinth
and Garrard 401 turntable.
I had purchased a Lynn Sondek and was using the SME arm with the Linn Sondek LP12.
Early in 1980 I sold the SME arm (after 8 years of use) and in March 1980 I purchased a
Linn Ittok arm and a Linn Asac cartridge (see above).
(I must apologise for not keeping these items. This sort of thing did not happen very often!)
I did, however, keep all the SME leaflets, invoices and letters safe and in storage
(so not entirely a total unlikely clearance brainstorm!)
The 12-inch SME model was designed to reduce tracking error and in it's day it was not very
popular as most people considered the less inertia and tracking weight of the 9-inch model
outweighed any tracking error issues. Today, however, it is the 12-inch model that is by
far the most sought after by collectors.
The series 2 Improved model had the narrower counter weight (see pictures above.) In the late
1970s and early 1980s a number of companies made head shells with the same screw fixing
and were interchangeable. Here are the brochures about the SME plinth system
The SME Model 2000 Plinth System.
In the 1970s after visiting a Hi Fi show and seeing a display stand (see above) I rang SME
rather cheekily and asked if there was any chance they had a spare they could send me?
They sent one to me straight away free of charge!
It was on display in our living room next to the hi fi for over 20 years much to my wife's
annoyance. She could not understand why the room had items in that made it look
like a shop! I just thought it looked fantastic ..... anyway it made me happy
and still does as I now see it every day in my office.
I always regretted (big time!) selling the SME arm and in Jan 2010 (30 years later) I obtained
another with a Thorens 150 turntable. You can see this one had an ADC VLM Mk II' cartridge
fitted. After all this time it is great to be the proud owner of another SME arm.
SME are still in business today and they make magnificent tonearms. They also make an
ultimate turntable to accompany 'the best pick up arm in the world'
To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever challenged that statement ??


GARRARD HISTORY
Garrard & Co. Limited, designs and manufactures luxury jewellery and silver. George Wickes founded Garrard in London in 1735. Garrard was the first official Crown Jeweller of the UK, charged with the upkeep of the British Crown Jewels, from 1843 to 2007. Garrard also created some of the world's most illustrious sporting trophies, including the Americas Cup, the ICC Cricket World Cup Trophy and a number of trophies for Royal Ascot.
In 1915, Garrard & Co formed, The Garrard Engineering and Manufacturing Company, to manufacture precision parts for the military. They initially made precision range finders and later hand-grenades marked 'G/Swindon' and the bomb releases for Wellington and Lancaster bombers.
After WW1, in 1919, they started producing consumer products, concentrating mainly on high-quality spring wound gramophone motors for the likes of Columbia and Decca. Before this all gramophone motors were imported in from Switzerland and Germany. During this time they designed and produced some of the very best spring & electric motors followed by a huge lineage of turntables which culminated with the now world famous Garrard 301 and 401 turntables.
In 1960, the company was sold to Plessey, an electronics conglomerate. From 1976-1978, Garrard worked on video disc and data storage but foolishly chose not to invest in the technology. In 1979, Plessey sold Garrard to Gradiente Electronics of Brazil and their turntable series production was moved to Brazil (Manaus). The remaining Garrard research and development operation in Swindon was reduced to a skeleton operation until completely shut down in 1992.
“Between 1992 and 1997, the Garrard brand name was licensed to other companies in the USA, which imported many electronic items built by many different and unrelated Far Eastern manufacturers. These included 'Garrard'-branded cassette decks, CD players, stereo receivers, boom-box radio/cassette machines, portable 'Walkman' type cassette players, serial-port printer cables, universal TV/audio remote controls, and other miscellany, including turntables that had nothing to do with any original Garrard design.”
In 1997, Gradiente licensed the Garrard name to Terence O'Sullivan, who operated as Loricraft Audio. A labour of love ensued. Terry O'Sullivan kept the Garrard legend alive. Laricraft Audio serviced and re-built the classic Garrard 301's and 401's and also manufactured support products. They became the leading authority on 301's and 401's
Garrard 1212 Turntable User Manual
In 2006 Loricraft continued the Garrard legacy by introducing the next generation of classic Garrard Turntables. The Garrard 501 and soon followed by the Garrard 601. They were designed with guidance from a number of former Garrard employees. “Among them was Brian Mortimer, head of quality control at the Swindon factory. And Brian's father, the late Edmund (Monty) Mortimer, was the head of research at Garrard so this creates an unbroken link with pre-Gradiente, pukka Garrard.” The Mortimer’ have written a wonderful book on the subject, “The Garrard Story”
Garrard 630s Turntable Manual
In 2018, Cadence Audio SA, who also own the British turntable and tonearm manufacturer SME Limited, took ownership of the Garrard brand and registered trademarks when they purchased Loricraft Audio Ltd. The business was restructured to run under the name of Garrard Turntables UK Ltd. What will they produce next?