an ignorant friend of mine tried to stop a playing record by holding on to it while it was still on. now, the tone arm is having trouble lowering. it lowers but not as quickly as it should and it seems like the sound quality is less then it was. also, when i put on a 45, the tone arm didnt travel far enough onto the record to get to the lead in groves so it skated off the edge. this wasnt an issue before. anyone have any ideas?

First of all I would change my friends!

I'm not sure about the tracking but the slow lowering of the tonearm could be caused by the mechanism needing cleaning - not unusual with these. There is a "pantograph" type assembly between the solenoid and the tonearm mechanism which quite often becomes stiff over time. It requires the removal of the top plates and cleaning/lubrication of the pivot points.

 

Chris.

the sound quality is very poor as well. its not the receiver - i just did the cap job and when i turn on the radio, it sounds great. could the needle be messed up?