I once had a Garrard changer with a similar problem. The mechanism that
the tone arm trips to activate the record changing process was sensitive
to the velocity of the tone arm, so it would only trip when the arm
reached the run-out grooves. This meant that the mechanism started to
bear against the arm well before the end of the record, and when the
lubricant eventually dried out and got sticky, it prevented the arm from
tracking to the end of the record.

If this is the cause of the problem on your changer, there are two
options. One is to clean up the changing mechanism to remove all the
gummy lubricant and apply new. The other is to remove the part of the
mechanism that bears against the arm, so that it will no longer
interfere with the arm's motion; this is what I did, though you have to
play each record manually and forget about using it as a changer.

I hope this helps.

Brent Hall



Brent McKee wrote:

I have an old four speed Garrard Changer -- mid 1970s and pretty
basic, but I don't know the model no. -- and a fondness for 78s.
Problem is that the tone arm will no longer track all the way to the
end of the recorded part of the disc no matter how much weight I add
on. Net result is that whenever I try to play 78s it skips at exactly
the same place for each record. Is there a fix for this or am I SOL
and would find it easier and cheaper to buy a replacement that
works -- if I can find one?