Technics Turntable, used by Grandmaster Flash: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This Technics brand turntable was made by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., in Japan. It is a SL-1200 MK2 model, originally released in 1979 as a high fidelity record player for the average consumer, and was soon adopted by radio and club deejays. This model also became very popular with early hip hop deejays and was used by hip hop pioneer, Grandmaster Flash.

Grandmaster Flash (Joseph Saddler), was born in Barbados in 1958. Growing up in the Bronx, he was influenced by his father’s massive record collection. As a teenager, Grandmaster Flash first experimented with DJ equipment and became involved in the New York DJ scene while attending daytime technical school courses in electronics. The innovations and techniques developed by Grandmaster Flash established him as one of the pioneers of hip hop and deejaying.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1979 - 1988
• maker: Technics
• Object Name: turntable
• Physical Description: plastic (overall material)
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 45 cm x 37 cm x 8 cm; 17 23/32 in x 14 9/16 in x 3 5/32 in
• Subject: Hip-Hop
• ID Number: 2006.0060.03
• accession number: 2006.0060
• catalog number: 2006.0060.03
• Credit Line: Gift of Grandmaster Flash
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.