When Plessey of England (parent company of Garrard), set up distribution for Garrard products in another area of Long Island, it left AVNET, the owner of importer "British Industies Corp." (B-I-C) in a lurch without any turntables to sell. They got together with a company in Michigan (V-M, to those familiar with that company), who designed and brought out the first series of B-I-C turntables (and arguably, their best). The performance of these could and did run circles around the typical Garrard, BSR and Miracord

Even though they were consistantly Consumer Reports "Best Buy" for years, they had a few problems, too. They didn't have the sex appeal of the other main contenders (Dual-Garrard-Miracord), they were the "new kid on the block", and mostly, had a high rate of out-of-the-box defectives. The design was terrific... and if it came out of the box working, it worked well and it worked quietly, and had a chance to survive through the 2 year warranty period without needing a service. And almost all the warranty repairs were stupid things... Some motor capacitors were bad, causing the units to spin backwards, some motor shafts would separate from the armatures, some grease dripped on a part that should have been clean, and renderered it inoperative, or a tonearm wire clip would come off.

Our company found it best to mount a cartridge and do the setup for the customer, and give the unit a cursory check-out before it was shipped, or handed to the customer. These units almost never had any major problems (even the ill-fated 1000), and much could have been solved by something called "quality control", but once the reputation was there, it kinda spelled disaster.

They tried to get fancy with their next series...but other than putting extra plastic on a machine that really needed some refinements and quality-control, we finally said goodbye to B-I-C turntables.

We've also got to keep in mind that this was the period of time that the Japanese (notably Technics) started to flood the American market with their well-built, simple and SEXY offerings. The B-I-C name still creeps up on stuff...but that's nothing but a name. Same thing with Garrard.. Only a name, now, and owned by the Service Merchandise Co.in the US (not to be confused with Loricraft in the UK, who now manufacture a model 501 and are rebuilding the famed 301 and 401 models).

My feeling here is, after servicing so many turntables for so many years, the better B-I-C's (mostly the 900 series), should be considered once again. They are typically clunky American engineering, but when they've been serviced completely, and properly, the performance will out-rival most of the other changers manufactured during that period.

I have just made a buyout of a quantity of new, old stock B-I-C parts, so, once again, I can bring back some B-I-C's that would have become parts donors, themselves. Perhaps with this buyout, I can find and save a lot more of the 900 series B-I-C's, as I've noticed a resurgance in interest in these models recently. I'm glad to see some B-I-C's getting the attention once again. I usually also have only a few B-I-C turntables in stock, but now, I hope that will change. Before I sell any B-I-C, I strip it totally, and do an entire rebuild. It's the only really proper way to be sure that the unit will offer it's new owner years of reliability.

I'm not really in the business of selling parts, (I stock them for customer repairs, mostly), but if you need something and I can help, send me an e-mail! All queries answered, from a $1 part, to a whole turntable. As my previous customers, as well as other e-mailers to me know, I answer quickly and precisely!

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