Beogram 4004 Type 5526: Final Test Run

This Beogram 4004 (Type 5526) project has been through a lot. The initial restoration in getting the turntable functioning again was very straight forward and progressed quickly. After that several delays popped up. There were issues with a wobbly sub-platter, restoration of the keypad, polishing the dust cover and repairing the dust cover hinge attachments.

This past week everything finally came together and the Beogram entered its final play testing phase.

I repaired the dust cover hinge mounts using Beolover's reinforcement patches. Here is a sequence of pictures that show the dust cover hing mount repair.

As with most things where old glue needs to be cleaned off I use some GooGone to clean off the Beogram dust cover trim surface before re-attachment.

Like Beolover's repair I used very thin double-sided tape to re-attach the trim.

On both the dust cover and the keypad surface I experimented with new coatings to the surfaces. Spray coating the dust cover is more expensive than the usual polishing method but the resulting dust cover surface is much more durable. It resists scratches and makes cleaning a lot easier. The finish looks good but the clarity of the cover isn't quite as good as the original, non-coated material. So there is a trade off to consider with this option.  I haven't decided which method I prefer so I will need to create some more samples to compare. If the owner of this Beogram 4004 decides he doesn't like the coated finish then no worries, I have a plain polished dust cover I will trade out. Luckily the dust cover on these Beogram 400x turntables is very easy to remove.

Here is the re-assembled Beogram ready for test play.

Since this Beogram will soon be returning to Florida and I am still bummed out about Tom Petty I am playing all the Tom Petty records I can find in my collection.