My newest acquisition has a been a great journey indeed. I saw her listed in some very rough condition: not powering up properly, dead left channel, 3 knobs missing, busted aerial, broken AC socket, no tape deck functions, some interesting gouges/scratches/dents and a layer of filth that displayed a very hard life of much use. She arrived to me looking like this:




From what I can surmise it was a tradesman's radio that he took onsite with him. The handle's loose from much carrying and I can just see the poor girl being flung uncerimoniously into a ute at the end of a days work for years on end, day after day. Lots of evidence of plaster/sawdust and other undefinables all over her showed how much of a workhorse the TPR-950 is, that she worked at all was a bonafide miracle. The damage below especially. The lord only knows what caused such nasty damage to the aluminium fascia but I'm glad it stopped where it did and didn't break the tuner window.



The cleaning process took more time than I expected thanks to the wonderful nature of plaster dust to look like it's been cleanly removed while the surface is still damp, only then to leave visible traces once it's dried. Still working this stuff out of her, but the majority's been removed. After this outside was cleaned I took the back off to find a runaway AC socket and much more sawdust/plaster. This wiped out a bit easier and the AC socket was put back into place with some polymer epoxy and superglue. I poked about inside and cleaned all the function switches and after a bit of experimenting found that the powering up issue was the Sleep switches responsibility, some more DeOxit and that problems now solved. The missing left channel sprung back to life with some more cleaning as well. The tape deck issue was definitely belts as the motor still spins up nicely, but internal layout of this innocent looking radio is such an unholy abomination that I decided I'll enlist a professional to take care of that problem.

I resculpted and painted a new tip from another antenna as a placeholder solution until I find another Aiwa antenna, so she looks nice and balanced. The scratched/eroded/defiled section above the tuner was sanded back and repainted. I'm not 100% finished with this as I realised after I painted it that I forgot to put the brushed finish on the metal first, so it looks a bit flatter than the rest currently. After a few adjustments here and there she came up a bit better looking than when she arrived.



More paint touch ups were done here and there and then the missing knobs became the focus. After I won the auction I started hunting around the house looking for any volunteer appliance who'd gladly give their knobs up for a better existance, alas this resulted in nothing useful. Trawelling stereo2go I came across a post from r o y a l ® involving his personal and physical battle with a TPR-955 that ended poorly for both the radio and it's wrangler.

After some PM trading the prince among men known as r o y a l ® gratiously donated his remaining knobs from his previously uncooperative TPR-955 much to my complete elation. It was then discovered that of course his knobs were silver and my model had black ones. I figured that I could just repaint them to match the rest of my 950 and the r o y a l ® knobs began their journey from the UK to Australia.

In the meantime I fixed up some other little cosmetic issues on my 950 and began falling in love with the clarity of sound it could produce. Any line in source just sounded so crisp and dynamic. The bass response was rich and balanced and the WIDE setting made her sound twice her size. I was constanly amazed by how much range this marvellous specimen has. A really high class piece of work, and no mistake.

The fateful day arrived when r o y a l ®'s knobs arrived. My excitement was only exceeded by my appreciation and the care gone to transport them across the planet. A quick clean and they were placed in the rightful positions. At this moment I realised how beautiful she looks complete. The silver knobs just seemed to balance out nicely and I decided at this point that I'd keep them silver, as an aesthetic choice, but also as a constant reminder of her history and r o y a l ®'s helpfulness. In honour of the man I've dubbed my TPR-950 the TPRoyal-952.5. I hope you guys like the look of the silver row of knobs as much as I do. Even if she's not 'factory perfect' she's got a sentimental attachment that far outweighs that value to me now.



And here she is, all together. Still needs the belts and I need to concoct some kind of plan to clean the cloth inside the speaker enclosures and some other bibs and bobs. This is my first radio with parts from another s2g member, for this reason alone she holds a special place in my collection. My thanks go to r o y a l ® and Jens for making this radio special to me on many levels beyond her sound reproduction.





Rock On.

thats one of the spectacular stories and pic sets and saves ever accomplished --
thanks for showing what can be done

wow!
my favorite and only one!(not counting the kaboom in this case)

Awesome work!
indeed a classic...
loaded with sentimental myths and with enthusiastic thoughts to get it into a honourfull state again.What a project!

Well done and great story glucifier!

Great story, great pics and great looking box ! Well done on taking the time and effort to get it looking so good.

Glucifer...

That is the story that seperates the men from the boys.

Well done.

I've got one of those......great sounding box, great reception too. You're very lucky that none of the toggle switches on the left side broke off, they're pretty flimsy.

What a fantastic way to start a sunday. Thanks for an awesome story and congratulations. This is pure happines from start to finish.

Looking great Rick ! Glad to help out , peace

Great job Glucifer, those are great looking and sounding boxes.

Glue,

You are impressive.

Welcome to the 950 club.

UE

wondering if the #955 members qualify for the 950 club ?

We'll call it the TPR Tub Club (Any TPR owner is a member)

Thanks for sharing thatfantastic story with us. Once again, it shows that the love and appreciation of boomboxes is truly global!

great story wow,, i am thankful to have a 950 too never really thought it was that great untill i sat down just to listen to her....

That's a perfectly written story, Rick. Thanks! The TPR-950 is a wonderful looking radio, a model I'd like to add to my collection some day. I particularly like the VU meters and the bar under the cassette keys. r o y a l ®'s silver knobs look really, really nice IMO, and add a touch of class and quality! I think it would look better in fact, if ALL the knobs and switches were silver! You certainly cleaned it up well (it looks MUCH better than it did), and it just warms my heart when I hear about it being 'brought back to life', when things start to work again, and seeing the FM Stereo light lit. Lovely. Thanks again.

Thanks very much for the kudos rockers, very much appreciated.

The TPR-950/955 is a radio I hope everyone gets to experience the joy of at some stage.



Rock On.

Congrats on a great restoration job, Gluecifer.
I think I want one of those now...

quote:

Originally posted by *TPR*:
wow!
my favorite and only one!(not counting the kaboom in this case)...

Jens quietly doubles the size of his boombox collection... keep it under your hat

Ah, don't now how I missed this such time.
Fantastic story, job and box.
You are amazing Gluecifer, bravo.

Very nice job Gluecifer!!!! I want to get a TPR for my collection someday.