Makeshift pitch adjuster

I recommend heavy drinking.

As DT suggested, wrap tape or somesuch around the drive pulley to increase its diameter. That would be much easier than ToF's problem of wrapping around the driven pulley.

If it's a gilmer belt drive, however, you're screwed.

Excellent. So I was on the right track with my original idea but instead of wrapping something around the tray, wrap it around the pulley. There's only one pulley that's accessible without completely taking the thing apart, so hopefully that one is enough. That sounds like it would work. Now just to find a good way to keep the dental floss from coming off of the pulley... Or maybe I could just wrap an elastic band around the pulley instead of dental floss. And wrap it tight enough that it won't go anywhere.

And stratman, you joke... but I actually briefly considered putting something up against the record (much like using your thumb) to slow it down. But first of all, I couldn't think of anything that would stay there without me holding it and secondly, I then concluded that would probably wreck the player AND the record.

*edit* I won't be home until next week, so I'll give a report on the pulley trick when I can get home to try it.

Mucilage will hold the stuff all together - the rubber band thing could work, same with tape. BUT - using something like tape gives you a fixed thickness, which most likely won't give the exact speed you want. Be imaginative - what you use needs to be able to be built up gradually & smoothly, till you get the exact speed you want. And, if you don't keep it very, very round, you'll have speed variations which will be much more annoying than just playing too fast. You could also try machining a small amount off of the drive pully, but that could be disastrous if you remove too much or get it out of round.

Frankly, Mark's got the best answer unless you're a glutton for punishment (like me). Sony, Panasonic, several others still make pretty inexpensive turntables (see Outpost.com for a few).

But if you're interested in doing it just to see, let me know how it works out.

If it isn't the driven pulley, (turntable) don't waste your time.

If it's the drive pulley, it will make it worse; if it's an idler pulley, it will have no effect.

I was thinking multiple turns of electrical tape might work as a pulley-diameter-enhancer.