I gave myself a personal home project deadline. I wanted to fix a 1969 Zenith Z922M turntable console by Christmas so I could listen to Willie Nelson’s Christmas LP “Pretty Paper” that I bought on vinyl earlier in the year. This turntable console is special because it was from my grandmother’s house. They bought it new in 1969. I remember listening to albums on it at her house when I was a kid. The original catalog advertisement is still inside:

The turntable wasn’t working when I got it. Not sure how long it has been since it worked. It also has an am/fm tuner which works. I assumed the main reason the turntable wasn’t working was due to the 42 year old lubrication in the mechanism. The amp in this thing is solid state and the turntable is heavy duty – meant to last forever. Today I proceeded to remove the back panel and look inside:

After fiddling with the turntable I grabbed a can of WD-40 and gave the mechanism underneath the turntable a good spray. I was hoping it would loosen any parts that were locked and maybe lubricate the motor enough to make the table spin again. I powered it up and gave the table a little push to help it get started. After a few tries it started working. I found Willie’s Christmas vinyl and soaked it up. Now I’m looking forward to enjoying the rest of my vinyl collection. The console needs some more repairs to fully restore it – only one of the woofers is working and I’m not sure the changer arm works properly.