My Sony CDP-555 ... one of a kind !

Hi everyone. This is my Sony CDP-555 CD player. It was supposed to be CDP-5555, but the printers forgot the last "5", oh well.

I started this project about 10 years ago and had it at about 40%. Then it sat in a box until last year where a buddy of mine helped me take it to the end. He has electronics experience and has s metal shop in his backyard.

Let me know what you think?

Cheers,
Sony BBoy

 

At first I thought it was a top of the range real Sony product; the type where an extra $500 buys you real wood end cheeks and an extra heavy chassis

 

Yeah, it's supposed to look and fit in with the late 60s Sony amps and tuners of that time.
I used an old non-working Sony ST-5150 tuner (1972 ish) and made the conversion.
I have this on my YouTube channel, among other things.

 

Some more pics:






In this pic you can see where I hacked the main board to work the switches on the front of the CD player (I.e. play, pause, ff, rew, etc. ).

 

Some early pics when I started down this path, about 10 years ago.
I boxed it up for 9 years and finished it last summer.
Let me know if you want to see more?

 

And the finished product of my Sony CDP-555 Vintage CD player (circa 1970 ... lol)
Below is my YouTube link. Not sure to post the link, so please copy paste the link below.
And don't forget to give me... if you like what you see!



Sony BBoy

 

Thanks... Yup, as per my other response to you. A friend of mine has a machine shop in his backyard (we worked together at Siemens for many many years and now he's retired). I took a video of him machining the front faceplate. I just need to upload it to YouTube first.

I had a full vintage Sony stack and thought... wouldn't it be nice if I could take a Sony ST-5150 tuner and insert a CD player. It took me about 12 years to finally take that thought to the final product. Mind you, there was a time where it sat in a box for about 10 years. I did the first part by myself (the pics you see above), then it sat for 10 years. Then my friend and I finished it last summer.

 

Wow! Very nice! I'm sure a lot of people would pay big bucks for that kind of player, even though it's not original.

Like previously mentioned, CD Players always fit so poorly with a vintage 60s or 70s system, so having something like this really makes the system look clean.

Ya know what, you could do this with all kinds of brands besides Sony....

 

Thanks for your comments. I thought of doing this as a side business, but they take a lot of time and sometimes I burn out the board (which I did once on this one). Or sometimes you get part way and run into a snag you can't overcome.

I have 3 or 4 other completed projects like this one... and I just started on a Sony 5x CD disc player that will probably replace this one. So...... this one could be up for sale by this fall if all goes well?? What would you think something like this could sell for??

Below is my creation of a one of kind Sony EQ component. Sony never made an EQ back during those days of this line of components. I always wanted matching CD and EQ components... and voila, here they are!

 

Wow, It looks great! I just love how they don't look custom. That's a hard thing to accomplish. Recently, I re-veneered a pair of $8 Goodwill JBL L-100t's and tried very hard to get them to look original, matching color, wood type, all that stuff. So, I really do appreciate getting something custom to look original as you've done with your Sony Stuff.




As far as value goes, My guess would be about $500, but that's only my guess. I'd probably start a bid and see how high it goes. I'm not sure what your profit margins would look like if you sold one for $500, but that seems like a fair price to me.

The only thing i'd say is, if your going to sell that CD player, paint the black tray front a silver metallic color to match with the bezel and front. That's only a suggestion though.

 

WOW you did a fantastic job on those JBL speakers. That's not easy to do. I like the new veneer color more than the original. I always thought the veneers from that era always looked like fake plastic veneers. Your veneer looks real, and I love the deep grain look with some reds!!! Perfect and an improvement over the old.



LOL, as it has it, I do have a second tray cover (spare parts) that I spray painted silver. It looks pretty good but I still thought the black looks a tad better. I think the black cover is balanced with the black display glass!? As for the profit, I only have about $150 in parts... mostly the hours is what would drive up the cost. But at $500 I might be tempted?

 

I hope to live to 119 too.... more time to be with my toys! LOL

 

Thanks! Yeah, the original was supposedly real walnut veneer, but it looked like a bad oak. I took it to many woodworking shops and all said it was the strangest thing they'd ever seen. Walnut grain with an oak tone. That actually seems to be impossible to replicate. My guess is the old veneer faded over time... the new stuff is just natural walnut veneer with a oil rubbed finish. So yes, both the original and new veneers are REAL wood. It was very expensive sourcing high quality real wood veneer, but it's better than the vinyl stuff.

Only $150? That's terrific! That'll make you a really good profit even if you don't get $500. I'd say you could get that much though.

Yeah, I totally agree. JBL had like 4 finishes for the L-100T. Piano black, cherry vinyl, real walnut, walnut vinyl, and some exotic rosewood fake. Now, as you mentioned, everything is EXTREMELY glossy, but the finishes are the same.

Haha, the TT is an interesting one. It's a LUXMAN PX-100. It's Quartz lock DD, fully automatic with electromagnetic tonearm movement, and It can be switched to fully manual if desired... I think I've got the Ortofon M-20fl super on it now...

Anyways, A lot has changed since that photo was taken, I'll start another thread about it, I don't wan't to hijack Sony BBoy's terrific thread here.