Hello fellow sound equipment hobbyists! I developed an interest in collecting older sound equipment roughly a decade ago and have recently found this website in my search to become better educated in servicing these older machines. My first ever portable cassette player was a Realistic SCR-51 I found at a flea market with the original box for a few dollars when I was 15 years old. My grandfather graduated from Chico State Collage in California way back in 1973 with a degree in journalism; for the 38 years he was a writer, his weapon of choice for interviews quickly became a Walkman WM-R2. When I first expressed an interest in older sound equipment, he told me nothing comes closer in quality than a well-built Sony, and from then on I was hooked. I've gotten into the habit of replacing the belts whenever I buy a new machine, but recently I've taken a chance on some damaged goods online and I'm looking to gain some knowledge on how to save them myself!
The days of the working gravy are over, we used to find great working stuff all the time but now a lot is being pulled out of cold wet basements with war wounds. Luckily a ton of it was meant to be serviced and work-station tools are a fraction of what they used to cost. Good luck with your repairs!
Thank you! Estate sales have definitely been a blessing on the hunt to get quality tools, serviceable machines, and donor machines for salvage on the cheap. Up here in Eastern Washington/Northern Idaho I've found lots of estate sales where a guy tampered with electronics in a garage or basement for the last 30 years and the family unfortunately doesn't know what to do with all the stuff so they let it go. Recently I found a Hewlett-Packard 180A oscilloscope minus the probes, I've been meaning to buy probes and watch somebody use one online to get an idea of how to diagnose damaged machines but I haven't made the time. The internet has been a great resource in learning how to jump into this hobby but it's a shame there aren't more young people taking an interest in preserving this stuff, a lot of these machines just need a day or two of preventative maintenance to keep running another couple decades.
The probes can be very pricy, sometimes as much as the machine. I like working on stuff, some of it is great for brain exercise and it can help with calming, especially when you poke, burn, smash your body while fixing. I don't do thrifts and garage sales as much as 20 years ago but occasionally I'll go out and get lucky, usually when I ask if they have anything, they pull more out from the basement.
