Sugden Connoisseur Cutterhead Repair

[wooligan]

Hi just wanted to know is there anyone out here who knows anyone who can repair a Connoisseur head.
I have a full connoisseur system for over 16 years but I don't have anyone to repair it for me at the moment - nobody seems to know much about these heads

[Soulbear]

Hi There,
I'm pretty sure the best person for you to speak to/contact would be Trolls member Stevie342000, I think Stevie is well clued up on all things Sugden so send him a PM, I hope this helps Soulbear

[wooligan]

okay thank you will do

[Stevie342000]

okay thank you will do

I got your PM, have asked a few questions in there, now I found the thread I know where and who said to give me a bell.

Pretty sure we should be able to fix the head and getting it up and running again.

It should not be that difficult to fix. Your right though there is very little information on the Connoisseur (Sugden) cutting lathes. I saw some original papers on an eBay auction recently and asked for copies the guy was no help other than it is sold. From what I saw of the documents and address it was originally located not 10 miles from me in the same city, well I say same, we are but 2 cities separated by a river.

What I can tell you is that the lathe is not that difficult a design, it is simply thought out and executed. The head is a variation on the Voigt patents, from a few years previous, the Decca cutting heads were designed on the same patents.

As they say there is nothing new under the sun, Sugden was a clever man and self taught, the lathe is well engineered probably better than a MSS or a BSR by a long shot. The variable groove pitch, heated stylus and vacuum suction were not often seen. He demonstrated the cutting lathe circa 48/49, the patent for the head was filed in 49 granted in US in 1951. The lathe was two speed costing £150 in 1950, in 1952 he introduced a 3 speed cutting lathe, same price rising to £250 in 1961. I can find not news of it after that date.

The stereo head patent was granted in 1957 off the top of my head. The HQ20 power amp using EL34s to drive the cutter head was introduced in 57 as well, the pre-amp, ah I have seen two different valve lines up for that, which suggests the design pre-dates EF86 and I know there was an earlier power amp which used PX25s, never seen one though. The matching pre-amp has a switch on it which flips in the equaliser which reduces the 4.5kHz cutter head resonance. I may have one of these soon.....only for completest sake, I don't think it will be up to all that much. Never seen a ribbon microphone by Sugden either but he made them as well, he was the first person ahead of Peter Walker (QUAD) who designed a system from start to finish microphone, pre amp, power amp, speakers, turntables, pick up arms, cartridges, cutting lathes, cutter heads, the only two parts of a system he did not make were tuners and tape machines. His heart lay with discs and disc recording, I have seen copies of his stereo discs come up on eBay but they are rare.