0:00:02 > 0:00:04Hello. I'm James May and this is The Reassembler,
0:00:04 > 0:00:07the show where we put things back together bit by bit.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09By bit.
0:00:09 > 0:00:10By bit.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12By bit. By bit.
0:00:13 > 0:00:15By bit.
0:00:15 > 0:00:16That feels very nice.
0:00:16 > 0:00:18Oh, yes. Look at that.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22'It is only when these much-loved and iconic objects are laid out in
0:00:22 > 0:00:23'hundreds of bits...'
0:00:23 > 0:00:24Oh, man in heaven.
0:00:24 > 0:00:26'..and then slowly reassembled
0:00:26 > 0:00:30'that you can truly understand and appreciate how they work...'
0:00:30 > 0:00:31Total rubbish.
0:00:31 > 0:00:33'..and just how ingenious they are.'
0:00:33 > 0:00:34It's good, isn't it?
0:00:34 > 0:00:37'And, if painstakingly putting hundreds of pieces back together again...'
0:00:37 > 0:00:39That's quite satisfying.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43'..wasn't hard enough, I then have to hope...'
0:00:43 > 0:00:44Deep joy.
0:00:44 > 0:00:45'..that they'll work.'
0:00:45 > 0:00:48There's moisture on my spectacles because I started weeping.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54There are two good reasons for reassembly,
0:00:54 > 0:00:56one is as a form of therapy,
0:00:56 > 0:01:00to exercise a part of the brain that may otherwise remain dormant,
0:01:00 > 0:01:03and to use hand tools, which were the first thing is to empower us
0:01:03 > 0:01:05as a human species.
0:01:05 > 0:01:10The other reason is to test the popular notion that the past was somehow wonderful.
0:01:10 > 0:01:11I mean, it certainly looks good
0:01:11 > 0:01:15because we look at it through rose-tinted spectacles, but what did it sound like?
0:01:15 > 0:01:17Well, when I finish reassembling
0:01:17 > 0:01:20the 195 parts of this portable record player, we will know.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26Way back in the 1940s, before the invention of colour,
0:01:26 > 0:01:29being a youth and wanting to listen to music was something you could
0:01:29 > 0:01:33only do when your parents put on some Vera Lynn over tea.
0:01:33 > 0:01:35But, thankfully, in the early '50s,
0:01:35 > 0:01:38the portable record player was popularised.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40Coinciding with the advent of the 45 single,
0:01:40 > 0:01:44it helped give birth to the teenager and the new revolution.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47You could listen to music whenever, wherever,
0:01:47 > 0:01:50as long as you were near a 240-volt power socket.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54And this is the game changing Dansette Bermuda.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57And we're going to start with the arm.
0:01:57 > 0:01:59We will require this mysterious bracket,
0:01:59 > 0:02:04that bit, which looks very familiar, some wire,
0:02:04 > 0:02:06a spring... Oh, God.
0:02:08 > 0:02:10Some things.
0:02:10 > 0:02:11Another spring.
0:02:12 > 0:02:14Alert.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18A pin, and the usual smattering of screws, roll pins,
0:02:18 > 0:02:19washers and what have you.
0:02:19 > 0:02:21Here we go.
0:02:21 > 0:02:27Now, this particular Dansette is the Bermuda and is described here on
0:02:27 > 0:02:30the leaflet as a record reproducer.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32How posh is that?
0:02:32 > 0:02:36What's really interesting is it's from 1963,
0:02:36 > 0:02:37which is the year of my birth.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40So on this bench, we have three arms from 1963.
0:02:40 > 0:02:42Mine and this one.
0:02:42 > 0:02:46And unusually, we have an exploded diagram,
0:02:46 > 0:02:48which is a rare luxury on The Reassembler.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50So, cripes.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54Part number ten - bring height adjuster plate...
0:02:54 > 0:02:56Well, that's wrong for a start
0:02:56 > 0:02:57because ten is some sort of grub screw.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59What do they think 11 is?
0:02:59 > 0:03:01Tone arm, height adjuster plate.
0:03:03 > 0:03:05Rubbish. 'Well, never mind.
0:03:05 > 0:03:06'I know what the arm looks like.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08'I've got one on my record player.'
0:03:08 > 0:03:09I still own my records.
0:03:09 > 0:03:11I still occasionally play them,
0:03:11 > 0:03:14but it's a right bore because you put a record on and you sit down on the bean bag
0:03:14 > 0:03:17and make yourself comfortable and then it's finished.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19You have to get up and put another one on.
0:03:19 > 0:03:21Apart from anything else, you spend so much time ministering to the
0:03:21 > 0:03:24mechanisms of your automatic record player that there was no chance of
0:03:24 > 0:03:28getting up to any hanky-panky or whatever it is your mum and dad were worried about.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31It's probably the most effective contraceptive of the 1960s.
0:03:31 > 0:03:35Unless you could manage it in the three-and-a-half minutes of a song...
0:03:35 > 0:03:37Mind you, as a teenager, that was an eternity, wasn't it?
0:03:37 > 0:03:39So... Anyway, I've done a bit.
0:03:39 > 0:03:44I've put that in. And that is the tone arm height adjustment plate.
0:03:45 > 0:03:47'The tone arm will hold a stylus,
0:03:47 > 0:03:49'the point of contact between the recorded music
0:03:49 > 0:03:52'and its electromagnetic reproduction.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55'All of which represented a quantum leap in the consumption
0:03:55 > 0:03:56'of popular music.'
0:03:56 > 0:03:59The great development when I was young was the cassette player
0:03:59 > 0:04:05because you could buy a blank cassette, say a C90, 90 minutes,
0:04:05 > 0:04:09and then you could record your records and all your mates' records
0:04:09 > 0:04:13and you could make a party mix, which was a godsend.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16But you couldn't do that like a download.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18You couldn't sit there and take ten seconds to download a song,
0:04:18 > 0:04:22you had to do it in real-time with your fingers on the buttons of the tape recorder and the records.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25You had to listen. You had to have the party by yourself before you
0:04:25 > 0:04:27could then have it again with your mates.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31So that clamp holds the pin.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33The pin is already through the slot.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35That pivots very smoothly.
0:04:35 > 0:04:36That's nice.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41You simply clip that in wherever on the spring you think is relevant.
0:04:41 > 0:04:42That's that.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46That's the arm. It's definitely a bit of a record player, isn't it?
0:04:52 > 0:04:53Tremendous.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57Now, I think, having studied the diagram,
0:04:57 > 0:04:59that everything else I'm going to
0:04:59 > 0:05:03do will have to take place either side of the chassis,
0:05:03 > 0:05:04which is the big plate here.
0:05:04 > 0:05:08I want to mount the arm on...
0:05:09 > 0:05:13..this bit, which I'm going to call the tower.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15That's quite a nice component.
0:05:15 > 0:05:21I do need this complicated, riveted-together, little assembly.
0:05:24 > 0:05:26You can only take the portable record player
0:05:26 > 0:05:28as far as the extension lead will allow you, I suppose,
0:05:28 > 0:05:32but the great thing about it was that the early sort of...
0:05:32 > 0:05:37my grandmother's era record players, or gramophones as they were usually called,
0:05:37 > 0:05:39were pieces of furniture.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41And if you wanted to listen to a record,
0:05:41 > 0:05:45you had to sit there while your dad smoked a pipe and your mum did a tapestry or whatever.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48And that was just not very conducive to teenage revolution.
0:05:48 > 0:05:50You had to wait for your parents to go out.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52But once they made a portable record player,
0:05:52 > 0:05:55that means you could go and hide in your bedroom with it or in the loft or the garage.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57You could carry it round to your mate's house.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59Before you knew it, you had punk rock,
0:05:59 > 0:06:01cars were on fire in Paris and all the rest of it.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03It was fantastic.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05'So, I'm going to attach the housing for the mechanism
0:06:05 > 0:06:08'that detects which size of record is about to play.'
0:06:08 > 0:06:12History generally records that the teenager was
0:06:12 > 0:06:14a bit of a '60s invention.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16Didn't really exist until then.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18People went to school and at the age of 14,
0:06:18 > 0:06:21they instantly turned into their parents
0:06:21 > 0:06:24and things like transistor radios,
0:06:24 > 0:06:27portable record players, they were the beginnings of music on the move,
0:06:27 > 0:06:28I suppose.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31They're what led ultimately to things like smartphones with
0:06:31 > 0:06:34MP3 files, iPods, and all the rest of it.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38The CD player, the portable CD player, the Walkman cassette player,
0:06:38 > 0:06:42they all made music more and more accessible in more and more places
0:06:42 > 0:06:46and available ultimately on the move.
0:06:46 > 0:06:47So, yes,
0:06:47 > 0:06:50I suppose this could be seen as something of
0:06:50 > 0:06:52a revolutionary artefact.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57What I'm beginning to find quite remarkable about this
0:06:57 > 0:07:00is that save for the electric motor
0:07:00 > 0:07:03and a few little bits in the speaker,
0:07:03 > 0:07:06which are electric, obviously, this is an entirely mechanical device.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09And yet quite a sophisticated and clever one.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14Look at that. Springs.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17Back in the day, this was an expensive piece of kit.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19I think, in today's money,
0:07:19 > 0:07:23it would cost about the same as a really good smartphone.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27Which I suppose is appropriate, except of course this only played
0:07:27 > 0:07:29up to eight records.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31It didn't do any of those other things.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34So, it was expensive, but actually things,
0:07:34 > 0:07:36despite what a lot of people tell you,
0:07:36 > 0:07:38things were expensive in the olden days.
0:07:38 > 0:07:44It's one of the reasons things had to be made repairable.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46It wasn't a moral thing, things had to last because they were
0:07:46 > 0:07:48too expensive to replace.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50Because things had to last, in some ways,
0:07:50 > 0:07:54that arrested progress because there was less incentive to improve them.
0:07:54 > 0:07:59So, although your smartphone might only last for a year-and-a-half
0:07:59 > 0:08:01before you've sat on it and snapped it in half
0:08:01 > 0:08:03or dropped it down the bog or whatever,
0:08:03 > 0:08:05that actually isn't such a bad thing
0:08:05 > 0:08:07because the next one you get will be much better.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13'I'm one hour and 50 minutes into my reassembly.
0:08:13 > 0:08:17'I've done the tone arm and attached the housing for the record size
0:08:17 > 0:08:20'selector. Time for some more bits.'
0:08:20 > 0:08:22Anyway, the speed control knob...
0:08:22 > 0:08:24We've got all sorts of interesting things to say about that.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27Here's the mechanism from underneath, the little lever.
0:08:27 > 0:08:29And then, this clever bit,
0:08:29 > 0:08:32which allows the machine to know what size record
0:08:32 > 0:08:34you've just put on it.
0:08:34 > 0:08:35Mechanically.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38And that is a little finisher bit for the top of the turret.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44Being from 1963, which was an excellent year...
0:08:46 > 0:08:48..this record player is not only...
0:08:50 > 0:08:53It's not only contemporaneous with me and my birth,
0:08:53 > 0:08:56it's also from the same year as the launch of the cassette tape.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00And the cassette tape, if I remember correctly,
0:09:00 > 0:09:05was originally devised as a means of improving dictation machines.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08Because the bigger tape would have been much clearer than those tiny
0:09:08 > 0:09:10little ones that they use.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14But da kids got hold of the technology and decided,
0:09:14 > 0:09:15"Well, that's no good,
0:09:15 > 0:09:18"it's much better for ripping off my mate's record collections."
0:09:20 > 0:09:21But that's often the way.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23You need sort of the imagination of youth to see
0:09:23 > 0:09:26the true potential of these things.
0:09:26 > 0:09:31Isn't it interesting that vinyl is actually a very long-lived format,
0:09:31 > 0:09:36because CDs have come and gone whilst we still have vinyl with us.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40In fact, vinyl sales are increasing again now because people like it for
0:09:40 > 0:09:42nostalgic reasons, because it gives warm sound,
0:09:42 > 0:09:45you can do scratching with it and so on.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49Unfortunately, the 33 and a third rpm LP also gave rise
0:09:49 > 0:09:51to the concept album.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54So you'd get things like King Crimson's Lizard, and Genesis,
0:09:54 > 0:09:56The Lamb lies Down On Broadway.
0:09:56 > 0:09:57You get stuff...
0:09:57 > 0:10:00Or Supper's Ready, and all that sort of goes on for a whole side
0:10:00 > 0:10:01and it's just complete drivel,
0:10:01 > 0:10:06a lot of old hippie nonsense about goblins and Prince Rupert and...
0:10:06 > 0:10:08God!
0:10:08 > 0:10:10Anyway, this drops in here.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13Ease that little spring past there.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15That's the little thing that the record hits.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18You imagine you've got a record that big or that big or that big,
0:10:18 > 0:10:21as it goes down, it clouts that and how much it clouts it and how far
0:10:21 > 0:10:25tells the mechanism underneath what size the record is and where to put
0:10:25 > 0:10:26the needle.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28It's brilliant, really.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30Now, speed control.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34The speed of record, 16, 33, 45, 78.
0:10:34 > 0:10:36A pleasure that we had as children
0:10:36 > 0:10:39that you young people don't have with MP3 players
0:10:39 > 0:10:41is you can't play music at the wrong speed, and we could.
0:10:41 > 0:10:45We could put anything that was supposed to be on a 45 on 78
0:10:45 > 0:10:49and any song in the charts could be performed by Pinky and Perky.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51You can play them backwards and forwards,
0:10:51 > 0:10:53which was what scratching is.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56See, another abuse of a format leading to an artform.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00It's good, isn't it? This is the Dansette Bermuda,
0:11:00 > 0:11:01quite an exotic name for the '60s.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03Prior to this, in the '50s,
0:11:03 > 0:11:06they made things like the Major and Minor and the Auto...
0:11:06 > 0:11:08the Autochange, or something like that.
0:11:11 > 0:11:13And then they decided to call one the Bermuda
0:11:13 > 0:11:15because people's horizons
0:11:15 > 0:11:19were broadening because the people of Britain just became more worldly.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22Oh, yeah, look, I didn't put that on.
0:11:24 > 0:11:25That...
0:11:26 > 0:11:28I'm told this is very easy to break, so...
0:11:32 > 0:11:36Isn't that nice? 1960s beige.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41Yeah, the '60s and the '70s, especially, brown...
0:11:41 > 0:11:47brown became very popular for kitchen units, cars, clothes.
0:11:47 > 0:11:48I don't...I think...
0:11:50 > 0:11:52..maybe as a sort of natural brake on our optimism
0:11:52 > 0:11:54because a lot of things seemed to be good in the '70s.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57We thought everything is becoming very modern and very funky but
0:11:57 > 0:11:59actually it wasn't because none of it worked
0:11:59 > 0:12:00and the lights kept going out,
0:12:00 > 0:12:03so it was probably a government initiative to stop us getting too
0:12:03 > 0:12:06carried away with the idea that everything was brilliant.
0:12:06 > 0:12:07It's not bad.
0:12:08 > 0:12:12But just so you don't, you know, build your hopes up too high,
0:12:12 > 0:12:15it's available in the following range of colours.
0:12:15 > 0:12:16Brown.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20I'm going to show you how this works in a minute.
0:12:20 > 0:12:21I want to make sure it's together,
0:12:21 > 0:12:23otherwise it'll all fall apart in my hands.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26Speed control, you move the lever...
0:12:26 > 0:12:27CLICK Oh, that's a nice noise.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32Love it. Used all the bits up as well.
0:12:32 > 0:12:34Now, we have a bit of a choice here.
0:12:34 > 0:12:36We can continue by installing the motor
0:12:36 > 0:12:38or we can break on through to the other side
0:12:38 > 0:12:43and finish off a few bits of the mechanism which live above
0:12:43 > 0:12:45the... I think the mechanism...
0:12:45 > 0:12:48Let's do that. Let's get all the mechanism right and then we'll think
0:12:48 > 0:12:50about power and then we'll think about sound.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55To finish the mechanism, I'll need the cam and these bearings,
0:12:55 > 0:12:58which allow the turntable to rotate smoothly.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03We are at a point in the assembly that requires lubrication,
0:13:03 > 0:13:06so grease is the word.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09Here it is. It's a small amount...
0:13:09 > 0:13:11A small packet of very special record player grease.
0:13:13 > 0:13:19Have a bit on there, which is the pivot for the elaborate cam plate.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22I need a bit more grease for the main bearing.
0:13:22 > 0:13:23This is an extremely important bit.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27This is where the turntable spins.
0:13:27 > 0:13:28If it doesn't spin freely,
0:13:28 > 0:13:31obviously your music will come out in a very wonky fashion.
0:13:31 > 0:13:33And this rather delightful...
0:13:35 > 0:13:36..ball bearing cage...
0:13:40 > 0:13:42Right, that's the bearing on.
0:13:42 > 0:13:44Now the cam plate... So, let's go...
0:13:46 > 0:13:47There it is in the groove.
0:13:48 > 0:13:50CLICK
0:13:50 > 0:13:53It's all beginning to sound like a clunky old record player,
0:13:53 > 0:13:54that's good.
0:13:54 > 0:13:55As I move...
0:13:55 > 0:13:57REPEATED CLICKING
0:13:59 > 0:14:02All sorts of amazing things going on.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06Let us go to the table of componentry.
0:14:06 > 0:14:08And find the motor.
0:14:09 > 0:14:14So, as well as the actual motor itself, which is this big bit here,
0:14:14 > 0:14:15we need...
0:14:17 > 0:14:20..these screws, nuts, small washers...
0:14:22 > 0:14:25All put the switch together and hold the cable in place on the chassis,
0:14:25 > 0:14:27I think.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30When I woke up this morning, in the morning light,
0:14:30 > 0:14:34I put on my blue jeans and I had a slight sense of dread about putting
0:14:34 > 0:14:37this record player together because I thought it would be an awful thing
0:14:37 > 0:14:42but actually it turns out to be strangely pleasing,
0:14:42 > 0:14:43as a mechanical artefact.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46It's made out of actually very basic, to be honest,
0:14:46 > 0:14:47quite cheap materials,
0:14:47 > 0:14:50it's just bits of pressed steel, a few...
0:14:50 > 0:14:54I think that's some sort of zinc alloy die-casting.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57That's made out of the stuff as, you know, toy cars.
0:14:57 > 0:14:58But it's actually...
0:15:02 > 0:15:03It's a hopeful sort of thing.
0:15:05 > 0:15:10It smacks of optimism and youth and joy.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17OK, that's the motor in place.
0:15:17 > 0:15:18As simple as that.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23'After five hours and 38 minutes,
0:15:23 > 0:15:25'or just about enough time to listen to
0:15:25 > 0:15:27'Yes' Tales From Topographic Oceans,
0:15:27 > 0:15:29'as well as the tone arm and ejector knob,
0:15:29 > 0:15:32'I've reassembled the speed control knob, the selector arm,
0:15:32 > 0:15:35'the cam and bearings and the motor.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39'Now, I can finally attach the arm to the chassis.'
0:15:39 > 0:15:42I have to go down into the bowels of the machine.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45Through there.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57And finally reattach the spring.
0:16:11 > 0:16:17That eventually comes to rest on there and if we put that on,
0:16:17 > 0:16:18we can actually...
0:16:20 > 0:16:23..clip it to there, which keeps it safe.
0:16:25 > 0:16:30Then, let's not worry about the wires for the motor for a moment
0:16:30 > 0:16:34and let's look at the tag strip and let's accept, shall we, between us,
0:16:34 > 0:16:36that it's time to do some soldering.
0:16:43 > 0:16:45I've got a bit of solder on the bit.
0:16:46 > 0:16:47And there you go. That's not bad.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49But it's not the purest way of doing it.
0:16:49 > 0:16:54The purest way is to hold the iron and the wire onto the tag
0:16:54 > 0:16:58and then apply a blob of solder so that it flows around.
0:16:58 > 0:17:00The problem with that obviously is you need three arms.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03And that's something you'll hear people saying about soldering
0:17:03 > 0:17:06all the time. To do it properly, you need three arms.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11Beautiful. I think that deserves a swig of tea.
0:17:16 > 0:17:17LAUGHTER
0:17:20 > 0:17:23'And on that note, I'm going back to the table.'
0:17:23 > 0:17:25Two self tappers...
0:17:26 > 0:17:30And we need the grill itself and the baffle plate, backing plate
0:17:30 > 0:17:32thingy and...
0:17:34 > 0:17:35..the cabinet of the beast.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41'All I have to do now is attach a few wood screws and it'll start to
0:17:41 > 0:17:44'look like a 1963 Dansette Bermuda.'
0:17:45 > 0:17:47Look, there is its face.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50And I've got to be honest, having not seen that for a long time,
0:17:50 > 0:17:54I was instantly transported back to a world
0:17:54 > 0:17:58of the Electric Light Orchestra, and I wish it hadn't happened.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02Maybe the ritual of picking stuff up off a table can expunge
0:18:02 > 0:18:04my Jeff Lynne flashback.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08I'll get some more screws and the mercifully preassembled
0:18:08 > 0:18:10amplifier and speaker bundle.
0:18:14 > 0:18:15What a shocking mess.
0:18:15 > 0:18:17What is all this stuff?
0:18:17 > 0:18:18So now, inside the box,
0:18:18 > 0:18:21we've got all the really untidy messy electrical stuff.
0:18:21 > 0:18:22There's the amplifier,
0:18:22 > 0:18:26there's the pots for the little control panel at the front.
0:18:26 > 0:18:27The speaker...
0:18:28 > 0:18:29I didn't solder it all together
0:18:29 > 0:18:31because the crew refused to tolerate that.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36I could do it but you wouldn't be able to see it so what would be
0:18:36 > 0:18:39the point? And anyway, that's pretty much how it would have come
0:18:39 > 0:18:40at the time.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43That would have arrived as a preassembled unit.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47It would be easy to assume that all this electrical stuff is the brains
0:18:47 > 0:18:50of the Dansette, but actually, I don't think they are.
0:18:50 > 0:18:51This is fairly simple electronics.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54I think the brain of the Dansette is a mechanical brain.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57It's all that stuff going on underneath the chassis,
0:18:57 > 0:18:59underneath the turntable.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02That's where it's impressive, I think.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05This stuff in here, this is just electrics rubbish.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08That's the speaker in.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10And I can still remember LP records...
0:19:11 > 0:19:14They were old records when I was a kid so they were probably records
0:19:14 > 0:19:16that belonged to my mum and dad,
0:19:16 > 0:19:20but people were so excited about the idea of stereophonic sound
0:19:20 > 0:19:24that you'd have a record with somebody quite well known on it,
0:19:24 > 0:19:28like the Berlin Philharmoniker, with Herbert von Karajan,
0:19:28 > 0:19:32but the biggest word on the cover was "stereo".
0:19:32 > 0:19:36Herbert von Karajan plays Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, STEREO!
0:19:41 > 0:19:44These are the transit screws and clips.
0:19:44 > 0:19:45Those hold the record deck steady
0:19:45 > 0:19:48while you are walking along with it as a handbag.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51That's the arm, that is the turntable.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53That's a really exciting bit.
0:19:56 > 0:19:57Two knobs.
0:19:59 > 0:20:00There's a little flat on the shaft,
0:20:00 > 0:20:04there's a little flat inside the knob and it should just push on...
0:20:04 > 0:20:06CLICK
0:20:06 > 0:20:07It does.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10The flat on that one is on the bottom.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12There's the flat.
0:20:12 > 0:20:14There you go.
0:20:14 > 0:20:15CLICK
0:20:15 > 0:20:16Ooh, what a nice click.
0:20:16 > 0:20:17REPEATED CLICKING
0:20:18 > 0:20:20That's the sound of old hi-fi.
0:20:20 > 0:20:25Good, OK. That's us done for the moment with the case.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28Put the turntable on, so I need the big circlip.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31The turntable, this is quite an important moment, I suppose.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34It's not a record player, really,
0:20:34 > 0:20:36until we've got this on.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48That will slide over there and engage with the teeth
0:20:48 > 0:20:50on the cam wheel.
0:20:56 > 0:20:57That's become a record player now.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59I mean, all the record player really is
0:20:59 > 0:21:01is something going round and round
0:21:01 > 0:21:03but there's a lot of extra stuff to turn it into
0:21:03 > 0:21:05an automatic record player.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09A straightforward record player that simply played a record,
0:21:09 > 0:21:12you could pretty much make yourself, if you had some means of power,
0:21:12 > 0:21:13even if it was only a treadle.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16You could make the record go round and round
0:21:16 > 0:21:18and if you had a sharp pointy bit of metal and a paper cone
0:21:18 > 0:21:20to make a crude amplifier,
0:21:20 > 0:21:24you could work out what was on a record.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26I mean, if you think about the first records,
0:21:26 > 0:21:28the very first records were...
0:21:29 > 0:21:32..really the opposite of the process by which a record is played.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35That is, when the record is played,
0:21:35 > 0:21:37the groove sets up a vibration in the needle,
0:21:37 > 0:21:39in the very tip of the needle,
0:21:39 > 0:21:42which is amplified electronically and then comes out of a speaker or
0:21:42 > 0:21:44originally came acoustically out of a speaker,
0:21:44 > 0:21:47like on an old wind-up 78 gramophone.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49But the original records were made the other way round.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52The sound went into a big trumpet and the needle vibrated and cut
0:21:52 > 0:21:56the groove. So the groove was the literal impression of the air
0:21:56 > 0:21:58on the surface of the record.
0:21:58 > 0:22:00It was the vibrations of the air,
0:22:00 > 0:22:02which is all that sound is, made visible.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04If you looked at them under a powerful magnifying glass,
0:22:04 > 0:22:07you'd have said, "That's what Beethoven's Fifth Symphony
0:22:07 > 0:22:11"looks like," and you'd be looking at sound.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14That's quite an interesting thought, isn't it?
0:22:14 > 0:22:15This is clever.
0:22:15 > 0:22:17This used to fascinate me when I was a kid.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25Record sits on there,
0:22:25 > 0:22:27machine knows when it's time for the record to drop down.
0:22:27 > 0:22:28CLICK
0:22:28 > 0:22:30CLICK
0:22:30 > 0:22:32It only drops one record down, doesn't it?
0:22:32 > 0:22:33How does it know?
0:22:34 > 0:22:36I do have a dim memory of occasionally
0:22:36 > 0:22:37no record coming down...
0:22:37 > 0:22:38CLICKING CONTINUES
0:22:38 > 0:22:40..and occasionally two dropping down,
0:22:40 > 0:22:42which meant that, if you were lucky,
0:22:42 > 0:22:44you could entirely miss Mr Blue Sky.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52I've been reassembling this record player
0:22:52 > 0:22:55for seven hours and 23 minutes.
0:22:55 > 0:22:56I've assembled the chassis and cabinet
0:22:56 > 0:22:59and installed the amplifier and speaker.
0:22:59 > 0:23:01I've got a bit more soldering to do,
0:23:01 > 0:23:04then it'll be a bona fide tool of teenage rebellion.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08So, anything else I need to do inside there?
0:23:08 > 0:23:10Yes, there is. Of course, there is.
0:23:10 > 0:23:15How foolish of me. We need to put the single valve into the amplifier.
0:23:15 > 0:23:16This is...
0:23:18 > 0:23:20Now, we're going to instigate a long discussion
0:23:20 > 0:23:24by any hi-fi enthusiasts watching about whether...
0:23:24 > 0:23:27NASAL ACCENT: ..valves actually give a warmer sound than modern electronics.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29Maybe they do.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31I don't know. They are very fragile.
0:23:31 > 0:23:32And they are enormous.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42Now, this thing that looks a bit like Skylab
0:23:42 > 0:23:44is a valve and it does the job
0:23:44 > 0:23:47that would soon be done by transistors,
0:23:47 > 0:23:50the small components that did so much to make radios smaller,
0:23:50 > 0:23:52and those are enormous by modern standards
0:23:52 > 0:23:56because that job is now done by a microscopic speck
0:23:56 > 0:23:59on a circuit board in a chip.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02And I seem to remember somebody very old saying that you should never
0:24:02 > 0:24:05really touch these with your fingers because the grease from your fingers
0:24:05 > 0:24:09can cause a hot spot to develop on the glass,
0:24:09 > 0:24:12which can cause them to fail, so, just in case that is true,
0:24:12 > 0:24:16I shall polish it up and hold it with a piece of paper.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18It will only go in one way
0:24:18 > 0:24:21because of the arrangement of the pins on the end.
0:24:21 > 0:24:22And then...
0:24:24 > 0:24:26..there's this little springy clip...
0:24:27 > 0:24:30That goes over the end...
0:24:30 > 0:24:33to hold that in place. Had I broken that doing that,
0:24:33 > 0:24:36which is very easy to do because it's only made of glass,
0:24:36 > 0:24:38the programme would have been over.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41Electricity is dull and it doesn't really exist, remember.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43We've been into this.
0:24:43 > 0:24:45You just have to believe it.
0:24:45 > 0:24:46And it will work.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49It's like Indiana Jones stepping out onto that bridge that isn't there
0:24:49 > 0:24:51in The Last Crusade.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54He has to believe it's there and it is.
0:24:55 > 0:24:56If he'd been a doubter...
0:24:58 > 0:25:00..it wouldn't have been there.
0:25:04 > 0:25:05Whoa!
0:25:07 > 0:25:08God, that takes me back.
0:25:13 > 0:25:14That was your iPod,
0:25:14 > 0:25:16your MP3 player...
0:25:17 > 0:25:21..if you were a youth in the '50s and '60s.
0:25:22 > 0:25:27This is an extremely high-quality, French flick screwdriver.
0:25:31 > 0:25:32Righty tighty.
0:25:34 > 0:25:35RATCHET MECHANISM CLICKS
0:25:41 > 0:25:43Ladies, if you're watching this thinking,
0:25:43 > 0:25:46"Hm, my husband/ boyfriend would probably like one of those
0:25:46 > 0:25:48for Christmas," you're right.
0:25:48 > 0:25:49He would.
0:25:56 > 0:25:58Do we like that?
0:25:58 > 0:26:00'Feels to me like it's time to put the lid on.'
0:26:01 > 0:26:02The lid.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06Now, putting the lid on will make this...
0:26:06 > 0:26:09actually not quite a complete record player because there's no stylus in
0:26:09 > 0:26:10it and, let's be honest,
0:26:10 > 0:26:14it's not a record player until it plays a record.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17We don't know if it's going to do that until the very end.
0:26:23 > 0:26:25There was a bit of a debate amongst the crew earlier on about what it
0:26:25 > 0:26:28was that made this truly portable.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32Was it the advent of a universal mains plug,
0:26:32 > 0:26:34was it that it was compact?
0:26:34 > 0:26:36And then Dan the sound man pointed out that it's
0:26:36 > 0:26:38because it's got a handle on it.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42He might have a point.
0:26:44 > 0:26:45Right, that's the last of those.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49It's still not quite a record player
0:26:49 > 0:26:51because it doesn't have a stylus in it
0:26:51 > 0:26:53and it doesn't have a record on it.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57We shall sort that out and then it's party time.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03Don't need my little pot for this bit.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06What I'm actually taking here is the cartridge,
0:27:06 > 0:27:08the whole assembly is the cartridge,
0:27:08 > 0:27:11the stylus is just the little pointy needle bit
0:27:11 > 0:27:14right in the very end of it.
0:27:14 > 0:27:16The stylus is really...
0:27:16 > 0:27:18a diamond tip.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21We used to get very excited about it when I was a kid because it says...
0:27:21 > 0:27:25Like it says here, in fact, "fitted with genuine diamond stylus".
0:27:25 > 0:27:27And we thought, "Wow! That's amazing.
0:27:27 > 0:27:28"Must be worth a fortune."
0:27:28 > 0:27:32But, of course, it's a chip of industrial diamond
0:27:32 > 0:27:34which is worth very little.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36This is an exciting moment.
0:27:39 > 0:27:44There you go. That's all 195 components back together.
0:27:44 > 0:27:46It looks like a record player.
0:27:46 > 0:27:47Does it sound like one?
0:27:47 > 0:27:49Shall we listen to a record?
0:27:49 > 0:27:50Yes?
0:27:55 > 0:27:58'Over the course of the last eight hours and 46 minutes,
0:27:58 > 0:28:03'I've seen a collection of disparate components gradually coalesce into
0:28:03 > 0:28:05'something more than the sum of its parts,
0:28:05 > 0:28:09'an enabler of romance, independence and sedition.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12'But that's all nonsense if it won't play a record,
0:28:12 > 0:28:15'and I've got just the record to rekindle the fire of youth
0:28:15 > 0:28:16'in your belly.'
0:28:16 > 0:28:18Right, you're going to like this.
0:28:19 > 0:28:21This is a real classic.
0:28:24 > 0:28:26That's an old, familiar feeling.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28Right, are you ready?
0:28:30 > 0:28:31CLICK
0:28:34 > 0:28:35Yes!
0:28:39 > 0:28:41MUSIC: No Limited by 2 Unlimited
0:28:49 > 0:28:50Perfect.
0:28:52 > 0:28:54# No no No no no no
0:28:54 > 0:28:56# No no no no
0:28:56 > 0:28:58# No no There's no limit... #
0:28:58 > 0:29:00RECORD STICKS
0:29:06 > 0:29:07RECORD CONTINUES SHAKILY