GE Wellington coffee table, model RC 4842-A

[stbasil]

Brought it home yesterday--I actually made it fit in the back of my VW Golf. Great Marketplace seller, wish they were all like that!

Front

Back

So here are a few pre-restoration pictures to show how this thing is put together (it's lying on its back). The down-firing 8" "woofers" are attached to the Masonite bottom panels, seems like that would cause some rattles on low bass, but then, maybe it doesn't produce low bass very well? Notice one of those speakers is a pancake style (never seen one of those before!), because it has to fit behind the amp, which is enclosed in a non-ventilated area, the filter cap shows the result of all that trapped heat. Haven't pulled the chassis yet, but hopefully its PCB is not fried. As expected, its a single-ended 6AQ5 amp, with four "tweeters", two front, two back, which are coupled to the output with 10 mf caps. That suggests to me that they are handling midrange and highs, since you wouldn't want your midrange firing down onto the carpet. The schematic that I have is for the portable version which uses this amp, and it has 1.0 mf caps to the tweeters, since all speakers face the listener.

Left bottom

Right bottom

The cartridge is intact, with stylus, but very dirty with a lot of brown dust--wonder what that stuff is? There is some mild nicotine smell in the unit, but not too bad for a mid-60's console, I suppose. Haven't pulled the changer yet, but based on another thread in this forum, I think its a GE version of the Garrard AT-6, based on Mr Mogul's comment in another thread in this forum. Too bad the rubber on the platter is in such bad shape, can anybody suggest an inexpensive way to repair/replace that stuff?

Changer

Cartridge

The cabinet is very well made, sturdy with lots of wood and bracing. I plan to make new legs for it, since the originals are too "colonial" for my taste--a different year model of this unit had grille cloth instead of louvers, and straight legs, which looks nicer to me.

[stbasil]

Here's another model year I found on the web which is not colonial style, I like those legs better! Should be easy to make copies to replace mine.

Another year, another style

[William]

Looking at your chassis before removal it looks just like the one in the GE Trimline 300 that Greg has and I have the same version in my GE RP-2060 which maybe a Trimline 300 without saying it on the cabinet. All GE units that I have dealt with had filter caps that looked just like yours. I believe that brown stuff is dust/dirt mixed with cigarette smoke.

Bill

[TC Chris]

If you're going to be modifying, you could add some ventilation in the location where the tuner dial would have been. It would need some sort of grille for looks and to keep things from falling in, but you'd get some convection going.

I agree with your ideas on the leg replacement.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I STRONGLY recommend you replace the filter cap before you plug it in. If it's not already shorted, it soon will be, which is hard on the power transformer. Nice score! Good luck....

[stbasil]

I would never plug these things in before recapping, at least any electrolytics. The seller said he plugged it in and the pilot lit up, "but it just hummed", I told him to please don't plug it in again! Maybe it's a good sign that it at least "hummed" and wasn't dead...

The enclosure for the amp is also the right side speaker chamber, so gotta make sure I don't mess up any bass response if I add ventilation. I'll probably finish up the amp and see how hot it actually gets inside. If it had the optional tuner, it would really be cookin'!

[William]

It is interesting how light makes a huge difference on color. Looking at your photos again, the photo of the front of your GE looks maple but the photo of the top looks like walnut, even the grain of the wood looks like walnut.

As far as heat goes, my GE RP-2060 does not get very hot. After a couple hours of playing I can put my hand on the PT and it is just warm.

Bill

[electra225]

I don't know who made those filter caps, whether it was GE or somebody else, but they are horrible. I realize they weren't designed to run for 60+ years. I've never had a set of those caps that were not shorted when I got them or shorted soon after they were powered up. If the previous owner said it hummed, then that would still stand for yours. I use 100uf at 450 WVDC for both filter caps and a 100uf at 100 WVDC for the cathode bypass cap. A friend gave me the 100 uf at 100 volt caps and they aren't good for anything except cathode bypass. The GE printed circuit boards get a lot of sand by the radio snoots, but my biggest issue with them has been the filter caps. If the circuit boards are fried and give trouble, I use bell wire to hard wire them. I did that to Don's whole amp in 2014 and it's still running just fine. It was baked black around the output tubes. If you want more ventilation without worrying about bass response, you might get some of those plastic extensions at Home Depot in their junk drawers in the hardware department. 1/2 in off the floor of the cabinet will give more ventilation without really modifying anything.

[stbasil]

Thanks for the advice and observations, y'all.

It's a maple finish, in keeping with the colonial motif, I suppose. It'll be darker by the time I'm through with it! The little louvers are also "colonially" looking, and directed down, which surely doesn't help with sound dispersion. I may replace those with grille cloth, like in that other model.

Chassis pulled out

I planned on replacing all 3 caps with 100mf's also, so it's good to know that's been done before. I pulled the chassis last night, hoping to take it to my workbench; fat chance! Everything is hard wired, not a connector in sight, so now I've gotta get it off the floor so I won't kill my back working on it. I suppose eliminating connectors is good for reliability and manufacturing cost, but it sure doesn't help serviceability. Tubes are original, some melted wax on that lower tube (12AX7), I hope those molded component dealies aren't fried!

[stbasil]

While waiting for my electrolytics to arrive, I pulled the changer (yay for connectors!) and began cleaning it up cosmetically. The tone arm has a twist in it as if someone tried to remove the cartridge head with a lot of violence (I removed it just fine). Hopefully just a bent mounting plate above the pivot. All the grime is coming off with just Windex, what looks like rust pitting actually just wipes off, thankfully. The drive tire is nice and pliable, but the motor mounts probably need replacement.

Cleaning in process

Date code of 1963. Will be cleaning and lubing soon.

[electra225]

I forgot to mention that the entire electronics in a GE are in one piece......

Typically, there is sufficient length on the wiring to pull it out all together and have room to wallow everything around. I hope you have better luck with your Garrard changer than I did. Mine is/was possessed.

[stbasil]

Cleaned up the surfaces (grey/black film on everything), straightened the twist in the tonearm, cleaned the cartridge and straightened the bend in the stylus shank. I even found the little round insert that fits in the control panel when I flipped the cabinet upside down to work on the chassis! And it has a 45 adapter, I think it's aftermarket since there's no logo on it.

One channel was not working, so I deoxed the cartridge terminals and inside their connectors, (had already done that to the head connection), now it works! Tracking pressure was set around 5 grams, I'll see if it will track lower than that later. I suspect this is the original stylus, so I'm going to replace it along with motor mounts from Gary.

The turntable is quiet running, about 4-5% fast, but the motor spins nicely, it seems fine, so I don't think I'll take it apart--I'll have my hands full cleaning and lubing the mechanism since right now it's not "changering".

My caps have arrived, so it's time to take a break from the changer and switch to the electronics...

[electra225]

If the needle is original, there will be a little "GE" symbol on the end of the needle arm, where you flip the needle, on the end of the LP side, on the little round ball on the end of the arm.

[William]

Nice job, it looks like new.

Bill

[stbasil]

So to work on the electronics, I flipped this guy upside down on top of my trusty old B&D Workmate.

I replaced the 3 filter caps and the bias bypass cap, there's really no mounting location, a little too thick to go under the shallow chassis, so I put them inside a piece of PVC purple pipe and reused the original clamp.

I didn't expect the speaker crossover caps to be bad, but they were open. GE must have gotten a deal on some 25uf @ 50 volt caps--ridiculously overrated working voltage, but still failed! I replaced with homemade NPs ( reverse series 47uf @25v). Interesting that it's a pretty high value (not a 10uf as shown on the schematic that I have, which is for a portable), so it's pushing more of the midrange to the 4" speakers.

Powered it up on my dim bulb tester, happy to report that all went well in that respect! But, the right channel was dead. I had not yet deoxed things, so I hit the tube sockets and pots (impossible to reach with a straight spray tube, had to rig a tiny right angle spray attachment). The controls were quiet now, but still no right channel. Checked all the tubes on my tester, they were in great form; speaker connections good, voltages good, etc. When checking voltages around the 12AX7, the right channel started working; rocking the tube made crackling noises in the speakers, so I resoldered its socket pins and a few other locations on the PCB that looked iffy. That appears to have fixed the problem, must have been there all along!

Now that the electronics and speakers are working, time to get down and dirty on the Garrard changer mechanism. Several YouTube videos are available to help...

[TC Chris]

For the turntable mat, check with the VM guy. I needed a mat for a Collaro in a portable--bought a V-M mat that is the right size & color. Doesn't snap in to mounting holes but I ca work around that. You may be able to find one that works even if it does not look original.

By the way, I need a headshell for one of those Garrard changers in a curbside GE find. The Garrard model was AT-6, I think. Anybody got one in a junk box?

Chris Campbell

[stbasil]

Finished up the changer, everything works now! One of the trip parts on the cam was completely seized, a common problem with this model, apparently. Had to use a heat gun to get it loose, everything else was just cleaning, lubrication and adjustments. The guy in the video I consulted did not do a complete disassembly, mentioning that it's very difficult to get everything synced back up if you do.

Turns out the aftermarket 45 adapter is not compatible with this changer (it's really a piece of junk, anyway) but that's OK because I don't have enough 45s to stack!

The black trim on the platter is glued-on, thin rubber, now shrunken and cracked. I suppose covering the whole thing with a mat is the only solution that would look good, but the original center trim with the Garrard name would be covered up in that case. I've thought about filling the cracks with something matching the black, just to conceal the lighter color from showing through, it would probably look a little better. Maybe I'll send a picture to Gary at VM to see if he has a solution....

[TC Chris]

For crack filler, the most-available product is probably black silicone sealer from the hardware store. But silicone permanently contaminates anything it touches, making future painting or gluing impossible. 3M makes a marine product called 4000UV that's a moderate adhesive and is not silicone. It's hard to find in squeeze tubes (I've had to buy it in caulking tubes for my boats). 3M makes a urethane adhesive sealer, 5200, that's commonly available in squeeze tubes. It is viciously tenacious, which is why it is not allowed near my boats. You don't want it between two surfaces that may ever need to come apart. I use it for gluing boot soles back on. Its tenacity is a plus in that application.

Chris Campbell

[William]

Would either of these work:

https://www.thevoiceofmusic.com/catalog ... 0No%20Hole

https://www.thevoiceofmusic.com/catalog ... 0No%20Hole

Bill

[stbasil]

Thanks for those suggestions, Chris and Bill. To use a mat, I think I should completely remove the old glued-on stuff so I wouldn't have a double thickness. Maybe even salvage the silver ring to apply to the replacement mat! I'll first see if I can locate some of the black goop that might match the rubber.

After completing the refurb of the changer mechanism, I temporarily reassembled the cabinet and electronics and reinstalled the changer. Sounds pretty good, except the acoustics in my garage are terrible! One thing was obvious, though--those louvers direct midrange and treble downward, exactly opposite of what needs to happen, since the speakers are only about 16" off the floor, so that really harms the sound quality. I'll either flip the louver panels over, or replace them with grille cloth. But that'll be when I start refinishing the cabinet....