Yamaha GT-2000 from Japan or local TD-125?

Any vendor is obligated to reveal details of shipping to various parts of the world and cost. eBay requires that information to be displayed. So there should be no issue except to look at the seller feedback to see whether they have a history of careful packing, or not.

Suffice to say that sideways movement, manifesting as platter wobble or run-out would be unusual in a high quality vintage DD turntable. No one doubts that the bearing of such a TT should be evaluated for excessive wear and serviced after purchase. I have had six higher end DD TTs, four of which are up and running in my systems (two Technics SP10 Mk2, one Mk3, one Denon DP80, one Victor TT101, and one Kenwood L07D). I’ve not seen a problem with bearings that required machining or replacing the entire structure. In nearly all cases, I have had to clean the bearing well and replace the lubricant, but no bearing assembly was bone dry upon receipt. Guess I am lucky. For me, the most common problem with a vintage DD TT is electronic in nature. Both my DP80 and my TT101 were acting funky when I bought them, but the late great Bill Thalmann fixed the DP80, once I found the necessary integrated circuit on line, and JP Jones fixed my TT101. I think my DP80 was run on 120V by its previous owner, when it wants 100V. That was not good for it.

Can you be more specific?

Pindac, You've mentioned on other occasions an issue with sideways movement of the spindle particularly with DD TTs, and I responded then (and now) that while I would never say "never", such a problem must be very very rare with DD turntables, since there is no side force on the spindle during use, in contrast to the case for BD and idler-drive turntables.  I don't doubt the one case you cite, but that table must certainly have been abused in some way over the course of time. As to the idea to check the bearing housing of any used TT in general for wear and proper lubrication, I completely agree.

Buying from japan on eBay, your best protection is a 99% or better approval rating with thousands of respondents. Any of the well known vendors is safe and honorable, in my experience. But yes, do use a credit card. PayPal has buyer protection too.

Unless the YOP1 is itself a 120 to 100 step down transformer or contains one, don’t run your GT2000 at 120 even with a YOP1.

"pretty great to have".  Can you define pretty great? So far as I know it's just a bunch of extra capacitors to filter the DC that drives the motor.  You could build such an add on with modern capacitors for under $50, and the greatest expense would be for the box and the connectors to the main PS. What have you heard is improved or made better by the YOP1? I certainly could be mistaken as to the function. Incidentally, if memory serves, they are way less than $1000 on Japan Yahoo.  Search on hifi Shark, which will direct you to ones for sale on Japan Yahoo.

The YOP1 is an option, not a necessity.  They are usually easy to find on Japan Yahoo, if you really want one.

Like Elliot suggests, a 120V to 100V step down transformer is no problem. You just need one that can handle the wattage of the GT2000 motor, which is likely to be less than 25W. eBay for $50-ish. I owned a TD125 for several years. The GT2000 is simply better.

GT2000 all day long.