What a coincidence!  I had my first Universal player stack brought
into the shop by a local tuner last weekend.  It had completely quit.

The problem seemed to be that they used a polyurethane pouch formed
over a PVC ring and then glued into the pouch well, very much like
a Wurlitzer valve block.  Most of the pouches had shrunk so they were
tight as a drum around the rings.  Some had just torn apart.

I gently pried out the rings, scraped off the poly-goo, sanded the
ring, and then applied a new zephyr-skin pouch to the ring with fish
glue.  I let it all dry overnight, put a light coat of fish glue around
the ring, inserted it in the pouch well, and all worked fine, or as
well as it can.

I remember going to a NAMM show about twenty years ago at which
Universal had a booth.  Their spiel was that they did not use inferior
materials and that in 50 years or more, these player would be easy to
rebuild.

Brian Thornton - Short Mountain Music Works
Woodbury, TN
http://www.shortmountainmusic.com/