veneering process of a 40 years old Pioneer PL-518 turntable

I have got this turntable a couple of years ago. This is a semi-automatic, direct drive turntable from 1978/1979, everything was working well but it was in a quite bad cosmetic shape so I have decided to give a real veneer and oil finish to it. The cracked lid has been replaced too. The process lasted about a month.
Veneer: smoked walnut
Oil: Danish Oil (4 coats)
Thanks to Hauch Tomi for his inspiring and helpful videos.
music:
Amon Tobin - Verbal
Igorrr - Probléme D'émotion
Hugo Kant - The Chord Cracker

[@quad1000]

With the sound OFF and the clip slowed considerably, this becomes a very helpful tutorial.

[@sixhundredsixtysix]

Looks great and even as a life long Metal Head I enjoyed the music

[@nicktroehler4872]

That looks fantastic! I never bothered to look into redoing the veneer, and now it's my only plan. Love it. I've had my 518 sitting for a few years. Previous owner cut the audio cords and I haven't gotten around to relacing them. This might be my January project and finally get to listen to it!

[@reconstruyendoruinas1049]

Of all the Pioneers models, this is my favorite. Great job!!!

[@goblinhungary]

Thanks a lot, I like this turntable model very much too!

[@alainduquenois3812]

Du grand art bravo très belle restoration

[@peterwikvist2433]

Well done Sir!

[@TexTom1981]

REALLY nice transformation.

[@Capalmer01]

WOW, what a labor of love on that thing, came out great but I probably wouldn't have gone through all that trouble haha. Well done sir.

[@martyjewell5683]

Really neat what you did with the PL-518. I got mine in October of 1979 and have liked it fine as-is. I still have original cartons (for moving) and original receipt. I paid $118 at Churchill Audio in Brooklyn. I first used a Shure M91 pickup then added another headshell (so easy to swap-out) with Shure M95ED, updating the stylus to HE. Still performs well and it really is a manual turntable as stated in Pioneer's advertising. Nicely done, congrats.

[@illia2492]

Now in 2024 it's gonna be 488,52$

[@martyjewell5683]

@@illia2492- and that's the on sale price.

[@g.fortin3228]

So damn good ! Nice job :- ) A little too fast but slowing down it helped to see some of the quicker steps. Super work.

[@illia2492]

Black mat would be nice too

[@trebelsworld]

What type of veneer did you use? 10 mil / 20mil? wood on wood?

[@olivierclaudepetit8239]

Magnifique.

[@snatcher420]

About to do this to my Technics SL-M3 Quartz Direct Drive Turntable next month. While getting the internal parts service. It runs but has been yrs since it's been used.

[@clebertorre715]

Wonderful

[@chevyjaime1888]

Love the color choice.

[@demons500]

BEAUTIFUL job!!!!

[@ianunes25]

Brilliant job but such a beautiful turntable deserve a sme headshell 👍

[@goblinhungary]

Thanks mate, I will check the SME headshell if I can buy somewhere

[@w1nchester32]

awesome ...great skill !!

[@apaton4316]

Inspiring. Looks amazing.

[@goblinhungary]

Thanks, glad to hear it

[@sgtlt]

turned out great, nice work

[@goblinhungary]

Thanks:)

[@EndreTomos]

Congratts, great job!

[@goblinhungary]

thanks a lot! And if You still thinking about veneering your speaker I can help and as You can see it is not a mission impossible:)

[@lessconroy]

great job!

[@luxmea]

really helpful!

[@RUfromthe40s]

my favorite one from this year is the PL-540 , cast iron . No problems with it. The work is excelent but i wouldn´t have the patience

[@1British-Columbian-ca]

nice

[@pauliuss80]

Great job ,could u advice where to get vaneer?

[@antoninoparisi1980]

Capolavoro davvero

[@davidecsedi3384]

ez nagyon jo.

[@RobertKohut]

Nice!! 🙂

[@andreslema4627]

Mis felicitaciones desde santiago de Chile ....

[@mariomadmac]

cool

[@nohabpapa]

👍

[@immovableobjectify]

Nice work... and great choice of music!

[@goblinhungary]

Thanks, I am glad You liked both:)

[@user-ce2vb2ye7z]

how do you glazed the plastic cover?

[@MikeLeePhoto]

Like new !!!

[@Stewbie63]

Holly Mackeral....is that your full time job?

[@nickstamatovich6106]

Beautiful job, wish I had the aptitude for this. I adore my 518, but someone who owned it between 78' and 2015 smoked heavily by the look of it.... The silver is rather yellow under direct light.

[@rsanchez7111]

Have you figured out a way to clean it with out damaging the labels? Thx

[@goblinhungary]

You will loose the labels but it is not needed. It is just look cooler without labels. You will habve the pioneer logo int he front, and it is more than enough. But if You do have a friend eqiuped with a laser cnc - i got mine last summer - it is capable to do any labeling if You want.

[@rsanchez7111]

@@goblinhungary nice!!!

[@essexmirage]

I have a belt drive PL-512 and want to do the same, thanks for the video but now I'm thinking of replicating the plinth with a block of solid wood and having it routered out to the same shape and dimensions, for simplicity and may be more solid too !?!

[@goblinhungary]

If You can find a proper piece of solid wood then it is absolutely the best solution You can get! But be careful with the the thickness of the wood and make sure that the wood is dry enough.

[@ColtLuger]

Did you use veneer softener? I'm thinking of doing this and have some beautiful maple veneer but I'm not sure if it needs treating, yours seemed to soften up with the glue applied. Looks amazing BTW.

[@goblinhungary]

No, the veneer should be as dry as possible, you are not supposed to use any softener. The glue soften up a bit the veneer temporarily and will bend the veneer but after 15-20 minutes the glue begins to dry and the veneer begins to unbend. But if you use softener, the veneer will dry out when it is glued to the mat and it will cause cracks in it.

[@sonhouse9636]

👍👍👍

[@Trojan0304]

Beautiful results. What kind of cartridge do you put on Pioneer head shell?

[@goblinhungary]

Thank You! The cartridge is an Ortofon 2M Red, but the headshell is a noname one from aliexpress, I received the turtable without headshell.

[@rendufil]

Beatiful. Hey you had a scratched dust cover, how could you achieved such a clear result in a couple of minutes?

[@goblinhungary]

It is a different lid, it was replaced too

[@seanpower7232]

Hi. Looking to do a PL512. How do you accurately mark the screw holes in the veneer for reassembly? Thanks in advance

[@goblinhungary]

Hi, I have used some piece of folded papers fitted to the corners and the holes was marked with pencil on to them before I removed the old vinyl coating from the plinth. After that these can be used as templates when the veneering is done. You can see these paper templates in the video at around 8:52

[@rsanchez7111]

Thanks for sharing. What time of glue did you use?? Tight bond?? Thanks

[@goblinhungary]

Hi, it is titebond blue but I don't think it does m matter, use any d3 glue you can

[@pepeyobeck]

for the ones thinking on upgrading their tables...recently and after several years and being skeptical about modern sounding tables I moved from this one to an Audiotechnica Lp7 and the difference on sound was significantly better , game changer! glad I made that decision.

[@yambo59]

I used to re-veneer cabinets and furniture, in a situation like this the edges of the table should have been veneered first so the veneer edge couldnt be seen from the top, but opinions vary on this depending on who you talk to

[@rsanchez7111]

Totally agreed with you. Question. How would you trim the edges ? Shaving it by hand with a trim tool or would you use a router with a flush trim with a bearing? Thanks. I am in the process to staff doing mine. But I don't wanna use tight bond glue. I like to use what the cabinet industry uses with the small hand roller To remove air and flatten the surface. Thanks

[@goblinhungary]

@@rsanchez7111 sorry for the late answer. The edges is done by sanding paper and smooth files, do not use cutter for doing it because the threads can lead them and make much more cut you need. The best thing is to use an edge router, but the sanding paper should do it as well. I have to use the router because I have oversanded one of the edges and I had to do a redo, this was not included in the video. Actually, this was my first veneering project, since then I have made a pair of speakers with a pair of a chinese full range drivers, and they looks much better. Also they sound marvelous too, but no video of making them, sorry. I wish because I could use some more of insane background music:)

[@rsanchez7111]

@@goblinhungary thanks for the reply. I am about to do that. Purchase some wide enough American cherry. Music was ok. Thanks for all the advice. Great video.

[@goblinhungary]

@@rsanchez7111 Thanks a lot. I have seen a lot of inspiring videos before do this, and I am really glad to see if someone was inspired by my vid too. I wish You a good luck to proecess Your stuff, and please, do not hesitate to include any results or experiences here.

[@quad1000]

@@rsanchez7111 all good advice but...ugh, that music was just awful.

[@jakeestok1233]

Well done, this a beautiful restoration. I am thinking about attempting this on a Pioneer PL550 that has a hideous vinyl woodgrain. How difficult were the electronics and mechanical disassembly/reassembly? Any suggestions for anyone attempting this?

[@goblinhungary]

Hi, it was quite easy for the PL 518, I think it should not be difficult for the PL 550 neither though I do not know that model. Try to do some research in the Internet before, but at the end of the day I had to disconnected only one connector between the arm plate and the base, it is recommended to take a photo before disconnection to save the correct order of the cables on it, the socket has 5 or 6 cables in a row. The still photo was composed into the video in the disassembly part. The disassembly took about 10 minutes, and could be done lot faster but I did not want to sorry.

[@racefunk1388]

I have done both models. Not to scare you too much, but the 550 is far more difficult to disassemble.

[@jakeestok1233]

Ok good to know. Would you have any suggestions that would make the PL550 dis/assembly easier?

[@racefunk1388]

@@jakeestok1233 You have to cut wires and re-solder them when putting it back together. There are many more moving parts to work around to disassemble. It's not impossible, but far more difficult than the 518. Take lots of pics while taking it apart so you can put it back together aagian.

[@jakeestok1233]

Thanks @race funk

[@chrischaral1145]

Very nice idea and work ! I use to do the same some times but with different glue…(for shoes ) Can you advise this one glue , in order to try this ironing method? Thanks in advance for your reply .

[@goblinhungary]

I think You can use any d3 glue You prefer, it will work

[@rev420official5]

What type of veneer did you use as mentioned in a comment below? Thanks and great job!@@goblinhungary

[@ninoschisano2273]

Amazing job! Congrats! Where did you get the new lid? I'd like to replace mine, I have a pioneer pl 512x.

[@goblinhungary]

Thanks a lot! The replacement cover was made by plexiglass by a small local company which creates pmma cabinets. Though there is a guy in America who creates exact copies of turntable covers made from acryl but doesn't ship to overseas.

[@MARTIN201199]

@@goblinhungary can I ask how much would it cost a lid, approximately?

[@goblinhungary]

@@MARTIN201199 hi, mine was 25 000 forint, it is about 87 usd now. It was made by plexi.

[@rsanchez7111]

@@goblinhungary thanks

[@alfaman4113]

The music was dreadful bro

[@chrispotts2010]

Yeah..... great job, but whatever possessed you to use that ridiculous noise as a soundtrack??

[@stephen579]

I really enjoyed the video but I had to turn the sound off to lose that crap music.

[@kreadi70]

Hi! I have a PL561X turntable and the plastic top has turned ugly yellow on me too. Can you tell me which company made it for you?

[@goblinhungary]

artham.hu

[@kreadi70]

@@goblinhungary Thanks for the help!

[@rev420official5]

Do you have the name of the guy in the US that does it?@@goblinhungary

[@ralflehnert6412]

Nice job! But the music...not my one

[@MichelLinschoten]

My god this music is driving me nuts

[@rsanchez7111]

Lol. I remember there was music in the background. I was so focus in the vid that totally forgot there was music playing. Still hood vid n

[@martinda7446]

GOOD GOD! Watch with sound off.

[@endofword2012]

Lot of patience... for miself ill use a real piece of hard wood and crafting (less effort). and natural wood and varniss,,,whon't ungloue after couple of month...?

[@delb64]

Why Oh Why the stupid Background music if you can call it that.. Totally spoils the video. In fact I turned off the sound.

[@goblinhungary]

Thank You for Your very useful comment. I am terribly sorry that I could not put a music as background that liked by EVERYONE.

[@robertfeuerstein5083]

@@goblinhungary This sh**-musik kills the whole clip; good restauration-job!

[@krwd]

yes the music has got to go

[@Kyle.Wynsma]

Should have done edges first, then you wouldnt have seams on the surface

[@goblinhungary]

Yes but if I put the edges first, it is impossible to align the top to matching the patterns of the edges. Also, it is a very thin veneer and honestly there is no big chance to see the seams so no worries. But thanks for watching the video.

[@rsanchez7111]

@@goblinhungary makes sense. Thanks for all your advice. Reading all the comments

[@juzubumi]

Looks great, most annoying music ever though....

[@mccarthyd6603]

Great job.......AWFUL AWFUL music.....thank god for the mute button🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@johnpapanicolaou9834]

The idea is good but the implementation is bad. Look at the edges, there are marks and imperfections. Also there are no letters in upper surface. And the time to be done is TOO long!

[@goblinhungary]

Yes, it is far from perfect, but I am not a woodworker just an it guy. I do not have professional tools and experience either, this was my first veneering. Since then I have created a pair if speakers that looks much greater though they are not perfect either. BUT it was worth for me, since now it looks better and it was done by me. Probably it is not a thing to others but it is a thing for me. I could put letters to it with a laser engraver I have but I prefer not to have any letters on it. Anyway, thanks for Your comment

[@rev420official5]

​Can you tell us the thickness of the veneer used, please? @goblinhungary

[@yambo59]

Is the irritating F'd up music really necessary in a video like this -??!!

[@ianharvey3696]

Interesting, but bloody awful noise!

[@goblinhungary]

Feel free to mute. Or just, you know, leave.