mglikSome truth here and a little misinformation. An artist woodworker (albeit a good one!) who restores turntables and apparently began tinkering with machining small parts a few years ago cannot be compared to Artisan Fidelity. They both have different ideologies. With Woodsong, and I really do like his work, I even borrowed one of their Classic 301's from a friend a few years ago for use in a second home for almost 6 months. Nice, hand cut veneer, furniture type finish and good quality product. This was before my Dobbins tables arrived during my exploratory period of vintage analog front ends. :) Flash forward a spell, prior to purchasing my final vintage based analog front end(s), when researching, I discovered that AF partners with iso 9001/9100 machining facilities and privately contracts Rose Hulman engineering consultants to aid in designing their parts for the Garrard 301 Statement and others. What a person then begins to understand is why these products are expensive to manufacture domestically in limited quantities. From my understanding, the rest of their team is comprised of a small group of local specialist tradesmen. Personally, I was seeking someone able to take these vintage machines into the 21st century by way of playback and no compromise engineering while retaining the heart and soul if you will of the original design without modern homogenization. In the end, the musical satisfaction is top priority and from my perspective and I am very satisfied, to put it mildly. In reality, two different companies with similar goals, contrasting methods and different philosophies at "play", no pun intended... All really depends upon your personal system goals and expectations. In the end, all are solid choices.
Chris at Woodsong does a complete rebuild including new platter.
In addition to highly developed plinths. Mine was $11K. Artisan Fidelity seems to go to a higher, but not necessarily better, level.
They are a few thousand more but Chris says that they farm out much accounting for the extra cost. Chris does everything himself and does an excellent job. I am thrilled with mine.
Woodsong Garrard 301, Artisan Fidelity 301, Shindo 301, SME 301, or etc.?
I feel fortunate to own a beautiful Woodsong 301. Chris Harban is great to work with and has an incredible amount of knowledge. I believe he is among a handful of the best restorers. Artisan Fidelity seems to also do a great job and may even surpass Woodsong. And there are others in the cottage industry doing restorations.
Then there is the venerable Shindo version and, now, SME bought the original Garrard name and design and has come out with version using mostly original parts but saying that they aim to manufacture new. But the general view says that the SME one doesn’t compare to the great restorers. Has anyone bought any of these or others?
Then there is the venerable Shindo version and, now, SME bought the original Garrard name and design and has come out with version using mostly original parts but saying that they aim to manufacture new. But the general view says that the SME one doesn’t compare to the great restorers. Has anyone bought any of these or others?
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- 23 posts total
- 23 posts total