So many great golden era DD tables out there, what do you recommend for $1000?

Cliff, The subject of the thread is vintage Japanese DD turntables, in case it is not obvious.  So the Well Tempered Classic doesn't qualify.  You ought to try out one of the turntables we are talking about.  You'll like it.

I was going to suggest a Goldmund Studietto (with the JVC motor only!) however I think it might be almost double your budget.
Also they are hard to find in pristine shape.
I own two of them and I'm going to list one soon (a showroom demo I never used.
Nothing beats them, once you remove the 3-spring suspension and replace them with sorbothane pucks ;~)  They have a slightly concave platter, so a Goldmund Reflex Clamp is a 'must have'; and Goldmund Cones take the whole thing up another notch.  Those two accessories will cost $350 - to $450 if purchased separately

Hi

I love DD turntables and have owned most of the great/legendary Japanese DD tables of the 70's and 80's. At $1000.00, you've got a healthy budget IF you know what to look for. Unfortunately, most of the tables that have been recommended to you are selling for far more than your budget. But, there are some excellent tables that you can acquire at your budget that people don't really know about or dismiss. Here's a small list you should keep your eyes open for:

Kenwood KD-990: This is a fantastic table that can compete with most of the best Denon's, Pioneer's and JVC/Victors that others have mentioned. This is a totally integrated deck that features a unique and effective plinth design that you don't see until you start spending serious bucks. Google it, and you'll see what I mean. Dudes in Japan know all about this table and have installed additional arms of great value and collectibility to the other posts of the table. These guys are on to something with this table, because no one puts a $3000.00 Audiocraft or Fidelity Research arm on a table that isn't up to snuff.

Kenwood KD-750: This table is a bit more well-known here in the states. It looks a lot like the KD-990 I mentioned above, and ships with a good tonearm that was designed by Kenwood and built for them by Jelco. Unlike the KD-990, the 750's arm can be easily removed and replaced with a better arm, which I did when I installed the Audio Technica AT-1010. That arm took an already excellent table to a whole other level and it will easily best the new Technics SL-1200G, which is a $4000.00 table. While the Technics spins with measurably (if not audibly) greater accuracy, an the Technics arm is pretty good in spite of what the haters say, the AT-1010 is simply superior and competes with arms like the FR-64 and the Audiocraft AC-3000.

Sony PS-8750: This table is the 3rd best table Sony ever made, and that's saying something. Fantastic motor, dead silent, smooth and ships with the Sony PUA-1600 tonearm, which uses a combination of aluminum and carbon fiber. Even the head shell is a fully realized design, also being "carbon-clad". The arm also uses a sapphire bearing, and with the right medium compliance cartridge can sound amazingly good. 9" and 12' versions of the PUA-1600 are often found selling by themselves for $600.00 or more dollars, and our friends in Asia often times place this arm on other tables from other manufacturers, which is high praise.

Luxman PD-441: The little brother of the renown PD-444 (which I own and won't sell), this table is a bit of a reach at $1000.00, but you could get lucky and find one at or around that price, and probably with a damned good arm on it. These tables usually shipped without arms, so the end user had to source one themselves, and that typically meant that a damned good tonearm would be used. 

Yamaha GT-750: The little brother of the GT-2000 (which I also owned), there still is a lot of the same DNA between the tables, including an excellent and ridiculously underrated 12" transcription tonearm. You have to look on Japanese sites like HiFiDo, but they've usually got them and in good shape. 

Some of the things that all of these decks I described have in common are the following: relaxed yet dynamic presentation, excellent pitch, low noise floor and REMOVABLE HEAD SHELLS! Others like to have hysterical arguments about head shells. I prefer to leave the dogmatic to their dogma and listen for myself. Believe me, there are awesome head shells out there that can seriously maximize the performance of any of these tables/arms, and you can quickly and easily swap multiple carts as compared to a uni-body tonearm.

Anyway, good luck in your search.                      

The GT1000 is or was the "little brother" of the GT2000.  The GT750 is the new baby in the family, with no teeth. Every opinion I have ever read is to the effect that the GT2000 stood alone in the Yamaha line-up.  Even the GT1000 and certainly the GT750 were made to a much lower price point; they may look similar, but there are big differences from the GT2000.  I have also seen all these variants, side by side in one case, during my several visits to Tokyo.  In the flesh, the differences in quality of construction are obvious.  I admit, however, that I have not heard the lesser models.  Last spring I passed up a really mint, like new, GT2000L, which was for sale at ~$1800.  I was sorely tempted, but sanity eventually ruled, since I have 5 TT's as it is.  Anyway, it was a beautiful piece just to look at.  Not a scratch on it.  Probably would have cost $500 to $600 to ship to me on the East coast USA.

Removable headshell is a "feature" of a tonearm, not necessarily of a turntable.  With some ingenuity, one can usually replace the factory supplied tonearms on these units. Back in those days, every tonearm on the market had a removable headshell.  It was not until the advent of the Triplanar and probably a few others I can't think of that we had the choice of a fixed headshell, and as you know, some think that's a major improvement (in rigidity), not a negative.

Dear @clockworkcreep : Good information but the OP already bougth his TT.

R.