any experts on old record players?

I've got Soundesign 'Classic' model 5757 player. It plays records, radio and 8 Tracks. It kicks ass. The Record player part doesn't work though, so it kicks less ass than it could. Any experts here? It feels like the start (as in Start Stop Auto) button is stuck. I looked inside but couldn't figure anything out. Thanks in advance.

regards,
-Peter

some place like www.garage-a-records.com may know something about your player.

If it's an old mechanical Garrard/BSR/Zenith type record player then it's highly likely that the original lubrication grease has hardened over the years.
The only answer is a strip-down of the offending linkage, clean and rebuild using light oil rather than grease. It should then sing happily for many years to come!

Adam.

I remember that a lot of the record changers that got installed into all-in-one compact systems used very chintzy switches, especially since they also controlled the record stacking spindle. If you look underneath, those things used a lot of mechanical parts. Anything that breaks or wears out, and you're stuck. Have you checked the belt?

Those compact systems also tended to use a lot of the same record changer units (Garrardman mentioned Garrard, BSR, and Zenith, and those are the usual suspects -- I had a BSR that would get stuck because the gear wheels would occasionally disengage), so you could identify which one got installed in your system and swap it out.

If you start talking about specific plastic doo-dads, I'll be scared.