If Technics' usual MK2 suffixes may make believe only minor upgrades and refinements separate versions from versions, in the case of the original SL-1300 and the SL-1300MK2... it wasn't the case at all !
If the original SL-1300 was an offspring of earlier Matsushita vinyl spinners, the SL-1300MK2 was (and still is) more of a side version of the famed SL-1200MK2 : same tonearm, albeit here on a fixed base but still with 6mm VTA adjustement, albeit not with the ingenious base-rotating system of the 1200MK2 but by way of a more simple Vernier lock.
Just up in the lineup was the SL-1500MK2 : fully manual and without the auto disc-size, memo-repeat and auto-repeat functions ; in the middle was the semi-automatic SL-1400MK2.
Further down the timeline, the SL-1300MK2 was in 1979 upgraded as SL-1310MK2 and SL-1410MK2, plus an added version of the 1310 (the arm-less SL-151MK2), all three in black fashion.
All of these use the same motor, the same electronics, the same platter, the same displays, the same bit of front wood veneer, the same etc - that's very good product planning !
According to Technics, the SL-1300MK2 was the world's first LP turntable to sport a digital LED displaying the pitch in .1% increments...
To achieve such technicity in 1977, Technics replaced a mayhem of cables with four home-made high-density ICs : MN6042, AN660, AN640 and DN860, which all together replaced more than 3000 discrete elements.
These Technics ICs cover all the basic functions : quartz pitch control, quartz digital driver, quartz oscillator frequency divider and speed change, phase and speed control, and full-cycle integration-type frequency generator.
Pitch control can go up or down to 9.9% ; +5,9% is equivalent to a half tone up (#) while -5,6% is a half tone down (b).
Mechanically, the SL-1300MK2 (and 1400MK2, and 1500MK2, and 1310MK2 etc) is centered around Technics' Integral Rotor Platter Motor and ultra-low-speed brushless DC motor and all this rests on Technics' Double Isolated Suspension Aluminium Diecast base.
The tonearm is a simplified EPA-100 with its 20 miniature ball bearings which allow a very respectable 7mg of maximum friction ; the real EPA-100 goes down to 5mg, had dynamic damping and used ruby bearings - everything has a price.
As in most upper-end Technics turntables, the tonearm rests on a zinc diecast base.
When the SL-1300MK2 was launched, more than 400,000 1300s, 1400s and 1500s had already been sold. And Technics had just unveiled its SP-10MK2 bestseller.
That makes for a lot of bestsellers !