So People!............ I have been after one of these for around 5 years now since some turkey sold me one on eBay - "This Works Perfectly" trumpeted the seller, just needs a clean................ Sadly, he forgot to mention that previously someone had connected the DC input backwards which did serious damage to the output chip & god knows what else! I despise dishonest sellers Anyway fast forward to this last week: 2 arrivals both finished, 2 more on the way - stay tuned for those The second arrival was as advertised a nice condition Sharp GF-7H a really nice little mini & high quality too which is why I wanted one in the first place! This one had a working tuner & amplifier stage just dead tape deck as described & no one had been inside it before - the screws all had that slight crack of resistance as they are removed for the first time - a reassuring noise for me! Inside we have a beautifully engineered stereo comprising of a decent cassette mechanism, a separate tuner board & a cassette pre-amp/record stage with the final output chip finishing up with a 2 way 4 speaker system with generous magnets all in a very nice casing with lots if chrome! Belts easily changed thanks to a great pluggable deck which I removed in no time & got to work on.......... Really good clean of head block & pinch roller as I ran the power up to the deck out of the stereo giving it a really good clean as images show! By now I was completely caught up in the tentyhooks as I cast my mind back to 5 years ago & the state of the first GF-7H I bought So after reassembling everything & cleaning everything including all the filthy pots & switches with Serviceoil, it all finally came together & Viola!! I was rewarded with a perfectly working wireless & cassette recorder in wonderful stero!! So I am delighted to report that I have certainly caught up with even keels with this one - I have to say these are a really nice quality mini from Sharps & if you can find one in good condition then buy one It's also worth noting that no adjustments internally were needed - motor speed, azimuth & radio tuning were still all spot on after all those years, a testament to how Sharp used to be in the late 70's early 80's before going the same way as most of the other quality makes Et Viola:
Another great find and restoration Nick. I have commented on circuit boards before, probably due to sitting next to someone at work who has spent the last 25 years designing PCBs that look like the London Underground map with everything at 0, 90 or 45 degrees (which is the standard setup for Mentor Graphics) I find ones like this very aesthetically pleasing and "Old School". I wonder if this was designed in reverse, inking in the parts whee the designer wanted the copper to be etched away. View attachment 14229
