THE GARRARD STORY

The following was sent to us by one of our customers. We don't know whom to ask permission to use it, nor whom to thank. The source is mentioned at the end of the story.

The History of Garrard, from its origin as an offshoot of the Crown jewelers, up to its closure in 1992, is told by Roy Poulton, who spent twenty eight years in the company.

The Garrard story goes back a long way, to the 'Great War' of 1914-18 when Garrard the Crown Jewelers were anxious to make a contribution to the war effort, but at the same time retain their skilled craftsmen. In 1915 they rented a small building in Willesden, North West London, and formed the Garrard Engineering and Manufacturing Company, producing precision mechanisms for the Ministry of Defense.

After the war the gramophone became a popular source of home entertainment. Although manufacture of various parts, such as amplifiers and loudspeakers, had begun in Britain, most turntables were imported. Garrard saw an opportunity here and decided to make a gramophone motor. Although experiments in electrical recording and reproduction had begun in Britain and America, early turntables were driven by spring motors.

Garrard's first spring motor, called the Number 1, was a quality design having a cast iron mainframe with a thick base plate, between which were supported two strong coil springs. With a full wind it would play three ten-inch or two twelve-inch diameter records.

The ratchet winding mechanism was virtually silent and the twelve-inch turntable was driven at 78 rpm through gears. Its speed was controlled by a worm drive to a centrifugal Governor with three springs and bob weights, plus a sliding polished steel disc which was pulled on to felt pads as the governor springs rotated.

This turntable quickly became popular, so it was followed by several cheaper models and then a prestige model called the Garrard Super Spring Motor. This was totally enclosed, with an oil pump and sump contained within the casing. As the motor was wound, the pump operated and small copper tubes carried the oil to the bearings. Business boomed and production reached 25,000 per week.

Garrard didn't stay long at Willesden. The company soon found a site in Swindon, Wiltshire, with a 27,000sq.ft. factory. Behind it was an old water filled clay pit, useful for swimming, skating and suicides! The late Mr. H.V. Slade ran the company for many years as both Chairman and Managing Director. Eventually he was succeeded by his son, Hector Slade, who now lives in retirement in Australia. The clay pit was filled in, consolidated and the company continued to expand.

With the development of radio and the spread of electricity into homes, the management decided to research and produce electric gramophone motors. In 1932 they made their first record changer, designed by the late Edmund Mortimer. The R.C.I. was a fearsomely heavy beast. It would accept up to ten shellac 78 rpm records, either ten or twelve inches diameter, and play them sequentially with a pickup whose needle pressure was over half a pound (230gms!).

It was quickly followed by the R.C.I.A., which was similar, but the records could be mixed. The mechanism would sense their diameter and deposit the needle automatically on the correct spot at the beginning of a record, tripping at the end and returning the arm to its rest. It would also switch off at the end of the last record.

Around this time Garrard cashed in on their mechanical expertise and began to manufacture clocks of various kinds, still maintaining their by now well known quality. During the 1939-45 war large quantities of clock type mechanisms were produced for use in strategic mining, course plotting, mine sweeping, radar and such like. After the war there was heavy competition from cheap clocks produced in subsidized factories, so in 1954 clock making was abandoned. Even in the early Thirties there was a recognized need for a high performance, heavy duty turntable for broadcasting and recording studios, so Garrard designed and produced the Model 201. It had a direct-drive electric motor, plus a heavy cast rotor carrying a twelve inch turntable. Its speed of 78 rpm was controlled by a three-ball governor, similar to that used on the first spring motor unit and it needed frequent oiling to minimize flutter. A special version was made for the B.B.C. for 'instant' starting.

Just before the 1939/45 war a complicated unit, the R.C. 100, was designed, which would accept and play both sides of a stack of ten mixed ten and twelve-inch records. About a hundred were made and shipped to America, but the ship sank, the units were lost and they were never mentioned again.

After the war the company grew rapidly exporting 70% of its output throughout the world. The U.S.A. was a very strong market, taking about 50% of production, so an independent American company called Garrard Sales Inc. was formed. It sold their record changers directly into the retail market of the U.S.A. Later, more British products were taken on, among them Leak amplifiers, and Ersin Multicore solder, so the name was changed to Brtish Industries Corporation.

Great efforts were made by both companies to keep auto changers, the new name for record changers, at the forefront of the hi-fi market, because the difficulty of producing them to give good performance and reliability helped keep out foreign competition; it is much easier to make a single play turntable.

Over the years various high performance changers were made, the most popular being the R.C.80 and culminating in the Zero 100S, which had a precision parallel tracking pickup arm. But it was the budget SP25 that ended up in most homes, metamorphosing through numerous model changes to keep it competitive.

Despite the company's interest in mass production, it never lost sight of more serious hi-h requirements and in 1954 produced the world famous Model 301 turntable, with its high power motor, heavy cast aluminum turntable, three speeds with variable control and meticulously designed and produced bearings. The unit dominated the market for many years, until the need for an update was felt necessary; then the 401 was introduced.

The 401 was similar to the 301, but its motor was encased in a heavy iron cage to minimize hum induction into sensitive cartridges, notably Deccaís. Despite its similarity to the 301, extra features and attractive styling, the 401 was not as well accepted by the market; Garrard could never understand why.

The company didn't stick with turntables. An attempt was made in the early Sixties to break into the tape market with a cartridge tape deck, the Magazine Tape Deck. It was robustly made, featuring a plastic magazine enclosing two 4" tape spools. Most of these recorders were sold into the instrumentation field because record companies could not be persuaded to issue prerecorded tapes on the format; the Magazine was cumbersome compared to the Philips Compact Cassette which followed some time after, in 1963.

A total design change and tooling for mass production demands very high financial investment. When in 1959 the new 'Auto slim' series, including the SP25, was designed, Garrard teamed up with Plessey for assistance. Plessey had proved their worth in the defense industry but had never significantly been able to break into the domestic market. This was their chance.

Plessey also used the Garrard name as a spearhead to enter the U.S. and quickly dispensed with the services of The British Industries Corporation. This proved to be a bad move for a variety of commercial reasons - and Japanese competition had begun to heat up as well. Garrard lost valuable U.S. sales and went into rapid decline, from which it never recovered.

In 1979 it was sold to the Brazilian company Gradiente Electronica. From employing no fewer than 4500 people in the early Seventies, the company ended up with a staff of four who continued to work in Swindon until June 1992. Then the operation was finally closed.

In the U.S., the "Garrard" name was bought up by Service Merchandise, but the product had no similarities to the "real" Garrard. Service Merchandise, like Garrard, has also ceased to exist.

This feature was published in the April 1993 issue of Hi-Fi World.