• 12-06-2008, 11:59 PM
    Tom Samarati
    Need Advice: Yamaha Turntable Wow problem
    Hi,

    The Yamaha YP-4 turntable that I've owned for years has developed a bad case of Wow. Note pitch seems to waver quite a bit. The wow sounds once per 33 rpm and lasts for maybe 20% of each rotation. The drive belt is fairly new. I cleaned the pully on the motor, greased the center spindle. The problem seemed fixed for all of 10 miutes then returned. I've leveled the turntable. The tonearm has not been abused. Any helpful advice is appreciated.
  • 12-10-2008, 06:02 PM
    trollgirl
    Is it possible that one pole is out on the motor?

    Did you clean the belt itself??

    Is the platter bearing tight or wobbly???

    from another site:

    In 2005, I dug my Dual out of the basement. After three attempts at a belt, I settled on a FS13.0 from Turntable Basics because that's what they recommended. It was too thick, so I had to build up the platter pulley to get it to run at 45rpm instead of 50, there was a lot of noise, and motor and platter lube jobs didn't seem to last long.

    Fast forward to three weeks ago. I found somewhere online how to measure properly for a belt with a string. Measure the string around the pulleys, subtract 3-5%, and there's your belt length. My, my... turns out that my 1257 has the same belt dimensions as a 1258... an FM14.4. So I put in my order, and waited. Besides, after relubing my motor, I didn't want to risk damaging bearings made of unobtainium.

    The three week wait was well worth it. As soon as I put the belt on, I knew I'd gotten a perfect fit.

    No more rumble. No more motor noise. No more stretching the belt so tightly that I thought I'd snap it. I played a few garden variety LPs. I was shocked when I was actually able to hear tape hiss on Sade's Promise, which cost me all of $3 used. Noise between tracks? Of course not!

    All this yakking goes to prove that the exact and proper size replacement belt is VITAL to your TT working up to snuff. Anything less and you WILL be able to hear the difference, and trying to work around it will bother you until you fix it properly.
  • 12-12-2008, 09:22 AM
    Tom Samarati
    Thanks. The belt is less than 2 years old. It is the specifc belt for the turntable model. Bought it on-line at the Record Doctor. I did clean the belt with a dry cloth.

    I did clean the motor pulley with alcohol and then lubed the axle with a silicone lubricant. The platter axle is clean and tight. No wobble, no lash, no slop.

    Here's my dilemma, After the cleaning and lube the Wow went away for 10 minutes. The musical pitch on sustanied notes was stable. Then half-way thru the LP the Wow came back. Long sustained notes became "seasick" again.

    I tried leaving the turntable spinning at 33 rpm overnight with the tone arm up. That exercise did not help.
    As I paid all of $40 for this turntable at a garage sale, maybe I'll dis-assemble it completely, clean & lube everything inside. If that doesn't cure the problem, I'll sell it on e-bay for parts. I'd like to replace the Yamaha with a clean Systemdek anyway...