Beogram 4002 (Type 5513): A New Arrival From California - First Impressions

Today, I started my next Beogram 4002 project: A Type 5513 from California had recently arrived for a full technical restoration.

This post gives a first assessment of the unit. It came packaged in a Beolover supplied shipping container, and the customer did an excellent packaging job. Therefore, the unit arrived in pristine condition. Which made me happy since this unit is in an excellent cosmetic condition. The Beolover had quite a few 'heartbreaking' moments in the past when originally pristine looking units got mashed up due to poor packaging. This is especially an issue when procuring Beograms for restoration on ebay or from other 'un-initiated' sellers.

This shows the unit as arrived:

The aluminum surfaces are in very good condition, except of a minor scratch on the platter. The hood is also in a fairly excellent condition without only few scratches. The keypad has the usual smudges from a degradation of the lacquer coating due to interaction with the acids and fats of the skin when pressing the keys. The plinth is in a near-new condition with excellent corners and pretty much no damages all around:

I removed the platter and the aluminum plates and found an un-adulterated original set-up.

I also found this little tab inside the enclosure,

which is indicative of a broken carriage position sensor housing. Luckily, I recently developed a plug-in replacement part that fixes this issue.

At this point I plugged the Beogram in and noticed that the platter motor came on immediately, which it should not. Then I pressend START, and the carriage laboriously started to limber towards the LP setdown point. Which it found successfully and the solenoid actuated. This was a good sign, so it looks like it mainly needs a good cleaning/re-lubrication of the carriage/arm lowering mechanisms. I pressed STOP and the carriage returned to the home position and the carriage motor turned off, but the platter motor was still running. So there is an issue. 

Otherwise, this Beogram 4002 is a perfect starting point for a happy restoration to a like-new condition. Stay tuned!