Little Fwend Disco Automatic Tonearm Lifter for Technics SL-1200 Models

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The product that many Technics aficionados have been asking for is finally here!

This beautifully built gadget engineer instrument will automatically lift your tonearm at the end of the record.

It does it without batteries or power of any sort. It simply detects the minute force applied from your tonearm and releases a spring loaded and finely dampened lifter to safely and quietly lift your tonearm. Might be the best way to extend the life of your stylus.  

Easy to install by peeling off the double stick tape and placing in a well defined and easy to locate spot on your beloved SL-1200. 

Works with many SL-1200's including the new SL-1200G/SL-1210G and SL-1200GR2/SL-1210GR2  

(Also works with the SL-1200/1210 Mk2 - Mk7/G/GR/GS/GAE)

DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

We are two kinds. The other kind is fine with the sound from delicate styli trapped in the dark inner circle of a vinyl record. Once upon a time in Japan, there was a device that took care of business. This device is now long gone, disappeared into the twilight of the black market. We wondered. Why? It was not an aesthetic masterpiece, but the mechanics functioned reasonably well.

Inspired by this servant of the peaceful mind, we set out on a journey to design an automatic tonearm lifter that filled the void - and then some.

We reverse-engineered the cheapish moulded plastic and aluminium lifter and found that their design had user adjustable triggering sensitivity, which in this case is a short cut in the design process. Why not aim for designing the perfect sensitivity? Maybe they gave up and just let the customer end up with the responsibilty of tweaking this parameter?

We made seven prototypes with various spring forces vs the frictional relationship between moving surfaces. Not to go all the way down into the wabbit hole, but we ended up with a good compromise: Your cantilever and stylus assembly will meet as little lateral resistance as possible, then trigger. At the same time, it needs to stay loaded and ready for action without triggering prematurely.

This balance is very delicate, and we could have played it safe and made it harder to trigger and hence, the chance of premature triggering would be zero. We went for the risky option for us and the best for your cartridge. In 99.9768% of the cases you will never experience this, but there have been a handful of cases along the years (of 4000 sold) where this have happened resulting in a return for replacement and still a happy customer. Every single unit is assembled and fine tuned by hand in Norway and tested for function before shipping out. I personally do the quality control and testing on every unit, but now & then there is the odd black sheep.

We could have made a cheap plastic knock-off or a garage made one that customers hate a few months down the line, but then I would not sleep well at night. We have thought about designing other products for turntables, but often come to the conclusion: why (try to) make a tonearm/weight/brush/etc etc that is not special or not the best in its class? Why make a copy of a copy without bringing some form of progress to the table or look at a problem in a new light? Might as well design toilet paper. OK, these are first world problems, it´s only Audiophilia Nervosa and will certainly not save the world, but the point being:

We wanted Little Fwend to be as thoughtfully designed as possible, feel smooth and safe and be as user-fwendly as a mechanical gadget can be. You will get from A to B in the Toyota, but the (fill in Premium German Brand) might make it a more enjoyable ride.