There was a different version of the 3012R that was quite rare and short lived, it was meant to be produced for the Japanese market called the 31012R Pro the arm still said 3012r on it, it had different internal and external wire and a silver arm lift together with a few tolerance differences this also was meant to come supplied with a fluid damper. Some normal 3012R tonearms also were shipped with the silver arm lift just to use the parts up.
There were also differences in thickness of the 3012R arm tube over its production time, this did change the overall character. I actually liked the sound of the thicker walled tube it had a far more human sound to it, but one would need both arms side by side to know without measuring the tube its impossible to tell visually. The designation Series 11 3012r is just a label thing the earlier arms had that designation, as it was after the otoriganal series 11 production. There were times in later production that some of these old labels were used same for the boxes I have collectors all around wanting the series 11 3012r more so just for the label. Nearly all of the 3012r tonearms were built by one man Laurence a unassuming character who was eager to learn and develop his skills he now works part time building tonearms we would quite often discuss how it was almost impossible to make to arms identical, at the time of the 3012r the head of production was Graham Whitley who was with the company for around 40 years, his position was taken over by Brian Laker who was involved with the production of the 3012r till the last day.
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