I recently had the opportunity to merge two of my hobbies. Besides woodworking, I also restore antique radios and also restore and hotrod vintage Hi-Fi gear. A friend of mine picked up a vintage 1960s Empire 208 turntable. I restored it for him and set it up with a new cartridge. Unfortunately, the original base did not allow for the use of a dustcover nor had adjustable feet for leveling the table. So I built a new base and dustcover for it.
Keeping with the tradition of the era, I used walnut for everything. The dust cover hinges on two dowel pins and there are slots in the cover that also allows it to be lifted completely off the table. The cover is also made so that it can easily be dissembled in the event that Plexiglas ever gets scratched and needs to be changed. The feet are modified spike feet originally designed as speaker feet. The finish is two coats of Minwax natural oil and 2 coats of paste wax giving it a great look and feel. It sounds great too!
– Bill Koski
Chicago, IL
