Just spent the last few hours taking apart and cleaning every nook and cranny of first box ... it's a sharp GF-9494E ... picked it up from docs in his fund raising effort. As you would expect from docs it was in pretty good shape already - all present and correct - but had a few issues I thought I could improve on ... a small dent on one of the grills and some paint missing on the other was soon sorted by removing both grills and cleaning/ carefully straightening the small ding and respraying ... after removing the grills it was clear that the chrome and speakers were very dusty, as were the switches etc. With nothing more than a couple of microfibre cloths (one slightly damp, the other dry) and some elbow grease I took everything apart and cleaned anywhere I could get. A dab of polish on the clear VU meter and tuning window removed the (very) fine scratches ... the only thing I haven't been able to sort is a small area just below the left hand of the cassette buttons where it's obviously been rubbed against something which has damaged the finish of the aluminum strip that runs across the front... have to have a think about how to best cover that up. All in all I'm very pleased with both the base unit from docs and what a few hours effort can achieve.

Will now look to fit a bluetooth module and possibly do an LED mod to permanently light the VU meters and tuning scale... 

As this my first attempt, would be grateful of any advice - I think I may be looking for my next one sooner than I was expecting :-)

You picked a fine box to start your collection and made a great job of cleaning it up

^^Ditto^^

Good work. You have just put my entire collection to shame

Thanks all ... agree that any future ones may not be the same quality/ condition but wanted to start with a good one and the advice from posts on the forum have been really helpful. At the other end of the scale I've got a Sony TC-95 which I've had for some time ... definately not a boombox but still with it's tatty box, carry case and accessorie which i picked up at a car boot sale for a couple of quid just because it looked really well made a complete ... I put in the cupboard and pretty much forgot about it. Now I know its not the same quality but it is nice and looking at the results I got with the sharp (and i'm sure I now got the bug), I think I'll have a go at cleaning this one up as my next project. I'll dig it out and post a few pics if anyone is interested.

Photos of the Sony ... is in better nick than I remembered ... not cleaned at all yet but remember now why I picked it up ... or maybe I just have a better appreciation now ... would this one count? If so this would be my first and I've been a collector longer than I thought 

Was just watching tv and saw a report on Click that showed a club that helped people revive old tech, rather than just sticking in the tip .. they made the good point that a lot of the older stuff is easier to fix as the construction is simpler and descreet component are mostly still available whereas more modern kit uses ICs etc that often aren't available (good idea though to have something local where you speak with guru's that know their electronics stuff)

Good point ... the only before picture I have is the one that docs posted in his original 'for sale' post, which does show a slight mark on the left hand grill but not the ton of dust and grime hidden behind the grills ... will remember that in future as it does make for better viewing to see the difference.

Great start there sm4rt, can't whack a good gf and the 9494 is a top example, nice one

thanks Dave ... agree (I obviously had some good advice from the start, which helped )

That 9494, is a beauty. It`s certainly had every cran & nooky cleaned.

I suspect not ... just checked of some of the photos you've posted and think I have a major way to go ... must be hard to keep em all tip top when you have so many nice examples ... 

Very very nice job on the 9494

those are fairly easy too work on.

Now it just looks like new !