My first record player was a red and white Mattel player. I remember playing my Michael Jackson “Thriller” LP on it. It was the early 80s and I was in my pre-teen to early teenage years.
At that time I was graduating from the Fisher Price suitcase record player to a more standard yet cheap all in one stereo. The one I got was a Emerson M2330 that my parents got at a Walmart.
I remember my niece having the closing play which was a Fisher-Price product also but it played 45 like you slid the 45 in it and close the door and you played it. That's about all I remember about it though, but this was interesting. Thanks for sharing it
Ah, my babysitter used to have one of these in her finished basement. I used to love listening to records on it in the mid/late 90's and even into the early 2000's. I even would pack my own records in my backpack, go through the school day and after dismissal I would bring them to her house and play my records on her player and show her and the other kids bands like Deep Purple, The Beatles, etc. Fun times. :D
I got one of these several years ago at garage sale for $5. It works well but was missing dust cover. Surprised by the sound this system produces. Thanks for posting.
Wow! I had no idea that a Fisher-Price turntable stereo system like that existed with external speakers. I have the Fisher-Price toy music box record player and plastic disks (I bought for $15 from a local antiques mall vendor and I have the one my family had originally) and the Fisher-Price portable record player (I bought for $25 and it included about a dozen Disney and Sesame Street records in great shape), but I honestly had no idea that 1983 stereo system existed. The sound is surprisingly good too. It must have been released for the tween or early teen market back in 1983. What a treat to see it, Record-ology. :)
You have to PULL the plastic volume knob off ! Then place the Deoxit red spray tube in/on the little hole on the volume potentiometer. For thee Deoxit to be effective. 😂😂😂 Yes I was yelling at the video for you to do that. 😂😂😂😂
Fisher-Price was by then a division of Mattel, who had developed several electronic toys, including their own video game console. And Fisher-Price also owned the View-Master 3D picture viewer.
Im one of those kids that can say that. I had,and actually still do have mine from when i was a kid. O actually just came across it going through some things i have stored. Found my old records also. A lot of Disney, Robin hood soundtrack was my favorite. The chipmunks Christmas album. It sounds a bit scratchy but still working like it always did.
When i was a child i had more record players than any child had toys. I was pretty destructive and wanted to know how each one worked. Anyway, i often used to amuse myself by playing my records at the wrong speeds. So, If this fisher price machine doesn't have the 78 rpm speed, its no childs toy😆
Great video as always! I think rim drive was more or less obsolete by the mid 70s so a unit made in 1983 would invariably be belt drive. The clue with this unit is the distance of the speed selector switch from the motor - the stepper linkage is usually near the motor so the switch would be on the left hand side for a rim drive. Also, the ease with which you changed speed - no clunk click as one would expect with a rim drive!
I had a cheap, plastic early 1980s Candle radio, phono, cassette system with a DC motor and rim drive. A lot of rim drive units had the speed selector on the right hand side. It made sense to some designers to have all the controls together. A link rod under the plinth connected the selector on the right to the stepper on the left. My last BSR changer, a Realistic branded C-141 was set up like that. All slide levers on the right. Off/on/auto in front, speed selector behind it, and size selector behind the tone arm rest. And the cuing lever was towards the back, beside the tone arm pivot. That machine also had linkages to put the drive in neutral and clamp the tone arm in the rest when turned off.
I remember having something similar to this when I was a kid. I don't even recall what the brand/model was. I do remember it was pretty much blue with white accents, and it was a component type system like this, with the separate speakers and turntable (not one of those "all-in-one" things). Love that name badge. You can tell they were trying to make it look like a name badge you would find on an actual high-end system. I will admit that old thing actually sounded pretty decent for what it was. That Enoch Light track was definitely sounding slow. I would imagine if somebody was willing to spend a little time and effort to restore it, it would make for a pretty decent little stereo set for somebody that just wanting to start playing with records. As another comment indicated, that thing is much better than most of those suitcase players, although it does not do 78.
I would not recommend WD-40 for oiling a motor. Yes it will work but as it dries it leaves a stick residue behind that will cause the motor bearings to get stick in time. I recommend zoom spot oil or 3 in 1 electric motor oil.
So wanted to see some electronics inside the main unit... ah well! Would be a chance also to deox things and replace those hummy caps. I was really surprised at this, pretty decent for what it is and ingenious arm lowering mechanism. Great find!
The close-and-play design with the lid was a great idea, for kids. Very interesting! The FP mono record players were everywhere, but I only saw the stereo model a few times. I never did own one, and I don't see them in used shops as an adult. I imagine anyone who ever used one, without reading the manual, would have been baffled by the raised arm. When I watched your video, my first thought was perhaps an auto-return cycle had not completed, since there was no cue lever.....What would happen, if the lid was somehow removed? I imagine it's designed to never come off. But if a violent child tore it off....You'd have to tear off that arm-lifter too, to make the thing truly manual. What an intriguing design, though. The record could never be scratched by your own hand, with the stylus. I wonder why not even one adult turntable ever used that concept? You could even make a spring-loaded lifter, and a lever/depresser that could stick onto any dustcover...I wonder if people would have bought that? That would have been a great late 1970s TV ad by Rondo, showing people in all the different situations they encounter, scratching records by hand- drunk at a party, elderly lady with shaking hand, naughty child with scolding mother, ...but no more, with Ronco's new Magic DJ Finger, you'll never destroy another favorite record again! Great post. Thanks for your hard work.
It has buttons (well a switch) and sliders also (for volume); something else that is missing these days. And, the headphone jack is one that is universal - not a proprietary one where you need to have a special adaptor; or charged headphones!
I was surprised with the way the unit performed. I don't think the speed variation is an issue, unless you possess perfect pitch and are playing music you know well. However, I suppose some voices might sound lower than they would normally. (Patsy Cline perhaps?) I would certainly look at replacing all the electrolytic capacitors as the unit must be many decades old (I think you said it was a product of the eighties) and that may well eliminate the hum. Nice one that you were able to find that it was belt-driven and that you had a suitable belt for it.
At first it sounded like an elephant, although it couldn't have been, because an elephant never forgets... Okay, I guess your joke was a lot better than mine, LOL.
Just a tip.... take a flat head screwdriver. Use a dremil or file and file a notch out of the middle and you should have enough grip to get those screws out... I've done it a lot. I repair and restore many old record players and the like
I had that Disney Toby Tyler 45 Ep as a kid, and a couple of other ones, I wish I would have kept. I investigated the Fisher Price stereo as a middle age adult. Yes you can put new filter capacitors in, IF you can get those $?!&%
PUT SOME OIL IN THAT MOTOR. The grease/oil that was originally put into that motor will be dried/hardened, and that thing needs lubrication. You want to keep that motor; odds are is better quality than current versions. New lubrication might fix or minimize the speed discrepancies. Don't use penetrating oil except to loosen dried grease;l you'll want something like 3 in 1 in the little BLUE can. specifically for small motors. Sewing machine oil works good, too. Also, some new lithium grease on the platter spindle. The large volume of the speaker cabinets is to help provide a little better sound quality. Also, really tiny speakers look ridiculous. The tone arm 'lift' is there to help protect the sensitive needle from accidental drops. I knew it wasn't an AC motor in there; to use a 120V motor you'd need a much more robust switch on the tone arm pivot to switch the motor and amplifier on and off. Also, a two- (or multi-) speed turntable would need a more complicated mechanism to change speeds. In any case, you'd need a transformer and rectifier regardless because of the amplifier, so less manufacturing costs by using a cheap and readily-available two-speed DC motor. The transformer would also serve to eliminate any potential shock hazards and isolate most of the unit from line voltages. I know, plastic isn't conductive, but wet hands might get enough moisture inside to create a problem. If there's a Harbor Freight near you, go there an buy a set of Torx screwdrivers. You *WILL* need them in the future, and despite Harbor Freight's reputation, their hand tools are completely adequate for electronics servicing/repair, and not particularly expensive, either.
Just want to point out for everyone watching that WD-40 is not a true lubricant it's a water displacement solution. It has its place in many uses. But I would strongly suggest you look into the 3- in- One oil family of lubricants. Just incredible!
In the uk we didn’t get these fisher Price record players just the plastic toy pretend record player. We did have toy record players, that played real records from a company called Mettoy. This is a video of the one I got in 1978, if you interested in what they looked like. They were a form of direct drive, not belt drive. th-cam.com/video/vkG3qbUtFgY/w-d-xo.htmlsi=MtNv7w79eXYd0Kka
If I was doing this I would not be running it with the hum more than you need to to fix the hum. The Hum is probably the main smoothing caps on the DC power supply.( Not filter caps that is something else). The motor needs attention as others have said.( Lube not WD40). The hum is on the main DC line feeding the Amplifier so therefore it is reasonable to assume the voltage on the DC line is either not consistent or the correct voltage. The Motor will not work properly with this HUM and Voltage issue. The speed may be OK if you get rid of the hum. Torq screwdrivers are around £5-10 a set in UK and the caps should be around £2-£5 . Well worth having a go at fixing. and if that is not the problem it will leave you with the parts for another day/project. Good Luck. Best wishes.
If you were to check the 'hum' it might reveal if this is making it peak (or over-peak) the sound. It could also be possible to 'filter out' the hum if digitizing a record, so this wouldn't be a major issue, perhaps? (Also you may be able to make a slight change to the speed issue - not just with the tone control, but also by adding some WD40 to the centre spindle hole. I doubt it will make a difference, but you never know! Or - if the 45 adaptor is heavy it could work better if you remove that and simply use one of your own - if that is lighter!). Just some thoughts on this one. (Interesting that it doesn't use batteries too; as a lot of Fisher-Price items do, of course!).🎶🎵🤔🤨
Crazy to think back in '83, Fisher Price was a division of the Quaker Oats company! I would've loved this as a kid.
Better than most Suitcase players ;)
My first record player was a red and white Mattel player. I remember playing my Michael Jackson “Thriller” LP on it. It was the early 80s and I was in my pre-teen to early teenage years.
Sewing machine oil is my go to lubricant.
Lowering the tone arm when you lower the dust cover...genius.
I've got 2k singles, I'm 62 and I love early 80s players like those 😊
I had one of those when I was a kid very cool had to share it with my sister
At that time I was graduating from the Fisher Price suitcase record player to a more standard yet cheap all in one stereo. The one I got was a Emerson M2330 that my parents got at a Walmart.
Cool little record player
I remember my niece having the closing play which was a Fisher-Price product also but it played 45 like you slid the 45 in it and close the door and you played it. That's about all I remember about it though, but this was interesting. Thanks for sharing it
Ah, my babysitter used to have one of these in her finished basement. I used to love listening to records on it in the mid/late 90's and even into the early 2000's. I even would pack my own records in my backpack, go through the school day and after dismissal I would bring them to her house and play my records on her player and show her and the other kids bands like Deep Purple, The Beatles, etc. Fun times. :D
I got one of these several years ago at garage sale for $5. It works well but was missing dust cover. Surprised by the sound this system produces. Thanks for posting.
Wow! I had no idea that a Fisher-Price turntable stereo system like that existed with external speakers.
I have the Fisher-Price toy music box record player and plastic disks (I bought for $15 from a local antiques mall vendor and I have the one my family had originally) and the Fisher-Price portable record player (I bought for $25 and it included about a dozen Disney and Sesame Street records in great shape), but I honestly had no idea that 1983 stereo system existed.
The sound is surprisingly good too. It must have been released for the tween or early teen market back in 1983. What a treat to see it, Record-ology. :)
Dude this is a really cool vintage find!!
You have to PULL the plastic volume knob off ! Then place the Deoxit red spray tube in/on the little hole on the volume potentiometer. For thee Deoxit to be effective. 😂😂😂 Yes I was yelling at the video for you to do that. 😂😂😂😂
I could hear you yelling all the way into Canada. Shhh! Haha! Just kidding. :)
An excellent point about how to use and where to apply Deoxit. :)
@@TorontoJon right on ! 🤣🤣🤣
Leave it to Fisher Price. This is full of clever design choices! I never knew they did a stereo version. I would have killed for this as a kid.
Fisher-Price was by then a division of Mattel, who had developed several electronic toys, including their own video game console. And Fisher-Price also owned the View-Master 3D picture viewer.
Pretty cool you find that little turntable and the speakers that were sold with it.
I really like it. I wish I could find one.
The tightness of that belt might be slowing the motor down a bit, perhaps?
It does sound good for what it is.
I found a working one in a dumpster last September 😊
Did you save it ??
Best dumpster dive ever! Impressive. :)
@@TorontoJon - have you seen my stuff?
I'm shocked this was made by a company that makes toys for very young kids. It's much more sophisticated than what I had as a teen.
That's pretty darn sweet✌️ thanks!
Really interesting show.
Some kid can say that their first stereo was a Fisher lol.
My first record player was an all plastic GE, Christmas 1972.
Im one of those kids that can say that. I had,and actually still do have mine from when i was a kid. O actually just came across it going through some things i have stored. Found my old records also. A lot of Disney, Robin hood soundtrack was my favorite. The chipmunks Christmas album. It sounds a bit scratchy but still working like it always did.
When i was a child i had more record players than any child had toys. I was pretty destructive and wanted to know how each one worked.
Anyway, i often used to amuse myself by playing my records at the wrong speeds.
So, If this fisher price machine doesn't have the 78 rpm speed, its no childs toy😆
Great video as always! I think rim drive was more or less obsolete by the mid 70s so a unit made in 1983 would invariably be belt drive. The clue with this unit is the distance of the speed selector switch from the motor - the stepper linkage is usually near the motor so the switch would be on the left hand side for a rim drive. Also, the ease with which you changed speed - no clunk click as one would expect with a rim drive!
I had a cheap, plastic early 1980s Candle radio, phono, cassette system with a DC motor and rim drive. A lot of rim drive units had the speed selector on the right hand side. It made sense to some designers to have all the controls together. A link rod under the plinth connected the selector on the right to the stepper on the left. My last BSR changer, a Realistic branded C-141 was set up like that. All slide levers on the right. Off/on/auto in front, speed selector behind it, and size selector behind the tone arm rest. And the cuing lever was towards the back, beside the tone arm pivot. That machine also had linkages to put the drive in neutral and clamp the tone arm in the rest when turned off.
I remember having something similar to this when I was a kid. I don't even recall what the brand/model was. I do remember it was pretty much blue with white accents, and it was a component type system like this, with the separate speakers and turntable (not one of those "all-in-one" things). Love that name badge. You can tell they were trying to make it look like a name badge you would find on an actual high-end system. I will admit that old thing actually sounded pretty decent for what it was. That Enoch Light track was definitely sounding slow. I would imagine if somebody was willing to spend a little time and effort to restore it, it would make for a pretty decent little stereo set for somebody that just wanting to start playing with records. As another comment indicated, that thing is much better than most of those suitcase players, although it does not do 78.
Had one as a child... I remember the stylus in the manual was an RS141.
This is like high end for kids hahahahaha
I would not recommend WD-40 for oiling a motor. Yes it will work but as it dries it leaves a stick residue behind that will cause the motor bearings to get stick in time. I recommend zoom spot oil or 3 in 1 electric motor oil.
So wanted to see some electronics inside the main unit... ah well! Would be a chance also to deox things and replace those hummy caps. I was really surprised at this, pretty decent for what it is and ingenious arm lowering mechanism. Great find!
The close-and-play design with the lid was a great idea, for kids. Very interesting!
The FP mono record players were everywhere, but I only saw the stereo model a few times. I never did own one, and I don't see them in used shops as an adult.
I imagine anyone who ever used one, without reading the manual, would have been baffled by the raised arm. When I watched your video, my first thought was perhaps an auto-return cycle had not completed, since there was no cue lever.....What would happen, if the lid was somehow removed? I imagine it's designed to never come off. But if a violent child tore it off....You'd have to tear off that arm-lifter too, to make the thing truly manual.
What an intriguing design, though. The record could never be scratched by your own hand, with the stylus. I wonder why not even one adult turntable ever used that concept? You could even make a spring-loaded lifter, and a lever/depresser that could stick onto any dustcover...I wonder if people would have bought that?
That would have been a great late 1970s TV ad by Rondo, showing people in all the different situations they encounter, scratching records by hand- drunk at a party, elderly lady with shaking hand, naughty child with scolding mother, ...but no more, with Ronco's new Magic DJ Finger, you'll never destroy another favorite record again!
Great post. Thanks for your hard work.
This is the cuing lever concept made foolproof. You must close the lid to drop the needle.
Had a tape player fisher price when I was little 😮
take note apple. this turntable has a headphone jack
It had to; Bluetooth was still 30-odd years away when this was made.
It has buttons (well a switch) and sliders also (for volume); something else that is missing these days. And, the headphone jack is one that is universal - not a proprietary one where you need to have a special adaptor; or charged headphones!
More advanced than an IPhone!
@@xaenonwhooosh.
This is like the little player i had but mine had a tuner on it
14:52 - That hum is due to a bad filter cap in the power supply.
Astatic needle cartridges? Why's those not used anymore?
I was surprised with the way the unit performed. I don't think the speed variation is an issue, unless you possess perfect pitch and are playing music you know well. However, I suppose some voices might sound lower than they would normally. (Patsy Cline perhaps?) I would certainly look at replacing all the electrolytic capacitors as the unit must be many decades old (I think you said it was a product of the eighties) and that may well eliminate the hum. Nice one that you were able to find that it was belt-driven and that you had a suitable belt for it.
Imagine if this was fully automatic and with quartz-locked direct drive! The Rolls-Royce of kiddie turntables? Peace.
The record player hums because it doesn't know the words to the songs it plays. 😁🤦♂ (Bah-dum, tish!)
At first it sounded like an elephant, although it couldn't have been, because an elephant never forgets... Okay, I guess your joke was a lot better than mine, LOL.
Just a tip.... take a flat head screwdriver. Use a dremil or file and file a notch out of the middle and you should have enough grip to get those screws out... I've done it a lot. I repair and restore many old record players and the like
I had that Disney Toby Tyler 45 Ep as a kid, and a couple of other ones, I wish I would have kept.
I investigated the Fisher Price stereo as a middle age adult. Yes you can put new filter capacitors in,
IF you can get those $?!&%
Agreed! It definitely is a quality product.
PUT SOME OIL IN THAT MOTOR. The grease/oil that was originally put into that motor will be dried/hardened, and that thing needs lubrication. You want to keep that motor; odds are is better quality than current versions. New lubrication might fix or minimize the speed discrepancies. Don't use penetrating oil except to loosen dried grease;l you'll want something like 3 in 1 in the little BLUE can. specifically for small motors. Sewing machine oil works good, too.
Also, some new lithium grease on the platter spindle.
The large volume of the speaker cabinets is to help provide a little better sound quality. Also, really tiny speakers look ridiculous.
The tone arm 'lift' is there to help protect the sensitive needle from accidental drops.
I knew it wasn't an AC motor in there; to use a 120V motor you'd need a much more robust switch on the tone arm pivot to switch the motor and amplifier on and off. Also, a two- (or multi-) speed turntable would need a more complicated mechanism to change speeds. In any case, you'd need a transformer and rectifier regardless because of the amplifier, so less manufacturing costs by using a cheap and readily-available two-speed DC motor. The transformer would also serve to eliminate any potential shock hazards and isolate most of the unit from line voltages. I know, plastic isn't conductive, but wet hands might get enough moisture inside to create a problem.
If there's a Harbor Freight near you, go there an buy a set of Torx screwdrivers. You *WILL* need them in the future, and despite Harbor Freight's reputation, their hand tools are completely adequate for electronics servicing/repair, and not particularly expensive, either.
Just want to point out for everyone watching that WD-40 is not a true lubricant it's a water displacement solution. It has its place in many uses. But I would strongly suggest you look into the 3- in- One oil family of lubricants. Just incredible!
The 3-in-1 brand is actually owned by the WD-40 Company. They make a whole range of cleaners, solvents, and lubricants under both brands.
In the uk we didn’t get these fisher Price record players just the plastic toy pretend record player. We did have toy record players, that played real records from a company called Mettoy.
This is a video of the one I got in 1978, if you interested in what they looked like. They were a form of direct drive, not belt drive.
th-cam.com/video/vkG3qbUtFgY/w-d-xo.htmlsi=MtNv7w79eXYd0Kka
If I was doing this I would not be running it with the hum more than you need to to fix the hum. The Hum is probably the main smoothing caps on the DC power supply.( Not filter caps that is something else). The motor needs attention as others have said.( Lube not WD40). The hum is on the main DC line feeding the Amplifier so therefore it is reasonable to assume the voltage on the DC line is either not consistent or the correct voltage. The Motor will not work properly with this HUM and Voltage issue. The speed may be OK if you get rid of the hum. Torq screwdrivers are around £5-10 a set in UK and the caps should be around £2-£5 . Well worth having a go at fixing. and if that is not the problem it will leave you with the parts for another day/project. Good Luck. Best wishes.
Lots of wow, lots of flutter, but I’m sure, lots of fun.
If you were to check the 'hum' it might reveal if this is making it peak (or over-peak) the sound. It could also be possible to 'filter out' the hum if digitizing a record, so this wouldn't be a major issue, perhaps? (Also you may be able to make a slight change to the speed issue - not just with the tone control, but also by adding some WD40 to the centre spindle hole. I doubt it will make a difference, but you never know! Or - if the 45 adaptor is heavy it could work better if you remove that and simply use one of your own - if that is lighter!). Just some thoughts on this one. (Interesting that it doesn't use batteries too; as a lot of Fisher-Price items do, of course!).🎶🎵🤔🤨
it may have bad capacitors
PKASTIC HAS TURNED YELLOWISH SINCE 1983
I'll keep using my Technics Sl-1200mk2
No! Don't use WD40 on a motor. It is not a proper lubricant - WD stands for water dispersal.