** Australia Post delivers a new box - Sharp GF-9090 **

Hi Guys,

Just been notified by Aussie Post of the delivery of another vintage boomer. Have to wait until after work (and a vaccination jab) to find out if I've scored a peach or a lemon........

What I know so far:

The good news: It comes with the original Sharp batteries from 1978!!
The bad news: The batteries have been inside since 1978 and have leaked. :-(

Updates soon.......

James......

That is some sort of crazy Customs Enforcement if they require you to get a vaccination before delivering a boombox to you.

My guess is a GF-9696.

Fatdog said:

That is some sort of crazy Customs Enforcement if they require you to get a vaccination before delivering a boombox to you.

My guess is a GF-9696.

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A vaccination booster is mandatory with EBay boxes!

I was so excited for pics..

JustCruisin said:

I was so excited for pics..

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Sorry dude. . I was going to do this tomorrow but here are a few quick pics of my new (to me) box: Member Scotty_M brought one of these Sharps around a while back with a bad FM tuner. Although his box was sick, I did love the bassy sound though so I've been on the look out for years for a healthy but cheap example.

Quick EBay story: The seller had this box listed well with plenty of pics etc and a starting bid of $65. Although he was prepared to ship the box, he made the mistake of listing it as 'Pick Up Only'.

He promised that everything worked fine except for a deck that won't play. After his auction ended with no bids, I hit him up with an offer of $40 plus shipping. He turned me down as he wanted to give the auction thing another try. After no bids on his second auction, I messaged him again and he finally accepted my offer.

It came very well packed (I did coach the seller on how to safely ship a boomer. Luckily he followed my directions):

A quick check of the battery compartment revealed 6 original Sharp batteries (date coded Sept 1978) and two non original D cells that had rusted away. I have one damaged terminal but the other three are mint.

The boomer looked complete. It's obviously a well used radio but not mistreated. It must of been stored away from the coast as all of the chrome is in excellent condition. The antennas are original and in good condition but will need a lube and clean up.

Why would you pay to ship prehistoric D cells??

Ok, it's time to fire her up on AC and see what's what: (Sorry it's not a 9696. No it's a lowly GF-9090).



Ok, it fired up ok and the FM tuner works in stereo, AM & SW are working too!

Now get this, every slider and switch works 100% with no scratchiness!!!!! WTF?? This box has never been apart, (or so I thought) how can the controls be static free?? Never had that happen before!!

The sliders are perfectly smooth - they definitely don't need contact cleaner!



The deck fast forwards and rewinds as promised but it won't play - easy fix.

So I'm stoked. She's a good box - nice bassy sound with clear highs. Did you guys know the smaller 9090 has the same size 16 cm speakers as the later and bigger 9191/9292 boxes?

The build quality of these 70s 9090s is just fantastic.

I'll update this thread with the tear down and cleanup pics on the weekend. The deck will get a rebelt at the same time.

Thanks guys,

James....

What a tank! The top of it looks gorgeous.

Didn't know the top panel was metal on that. The one on the 9191 is just plastic

That's a nice score, and those batteries are just icing on the cake. It's a wonder that only two are in such bad shape.

I had a Sharp mini tv box with detachable mini cassette Walkman, and it had 2 OG Sharp AA batteries in it..labels were different than your Sharp batteries..

Awesome find and who knows those 30 plus year old batteries may be worth something to a collector of batteries. Lol

Nice. The 9090 is a great smaller box. Have one I just need to chuck a new tweeter in when I have time.

Yeah im glad someone else rates these, I love my lil 9090 and its metal fixtures and fittings. Surprisingly big sound to i love it.

I have the version without the dial speaker fronts. Lovely score mate.

Thanks guys. Although the 9090 shares the deck, VUs and speakers with the 9191, the construction of everything else is different. I suppose it's good to remember that back in '77, this was Sharps top model - not a lower model than the later 9191.

The 9090 sounds different too. Sure the 9191 has more power (15v v 12v) but the 9090 surprises with better highs. I know with my 9292 and 9494, I had to always max out the treble but pull back the bass a little as the highs would sound muffled.

I also like the 9090s separate balance slider and single volume slider.

Lots of heavy metal!

I was trying to glue back another failed volume pot (this time from a JVC RC M80) when your photos came and left me speechless, except

"what a great find!"

Congrats for this SHARP and for SANYO C35 - one of my favorite boombox

What amazes me is how many controls it has for such a small boombox but that's an awesome thing I love it I love the model with the phone dial Grills but I would take either one.

JVC Floyd said:

What amazes me is how many controls it has for such a small boombox but that's an awesome thing I love it I love the model with the phone dial Grills but I would take either one.

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I think 30 separate switches/sliders on the top panel alone has to be close to a record!

** Saturday 25.4.17 update **

I spent the last couple of days on and off doing some external cleaning - plenty of nooks and crannies to clean. The speaker grills take ages to get looking right!

So today, it was time to get it running on batteries and get that deck up and running.

The top panel and handle comes off first then the front cover can be slid forward ready for the 4 wires to be removed from the main board:

Next, it was time to remove the drivers to clean........ hang on, with the funky grills fitted, they have completely protected the white speakers from any dust whatsoever!!
They look brand new!! Not a spec of dust to be seen!

With the front cover off, it was time to take a look at the heads and pinch roller. After pulling the deck and inspecting the belts, I'm thinking that someone has replaced the belts but was unable to identify the capstan sleeve issue. I noticed that the front and rear case underneath had a wire trapped so I'm definitely not the first person in here.

The heads cleaned up beautifully and after a capstan sleeve cleanup and replacement, the deck was reinstalled after the record bar was serviced.

After running some power to the deck, all looked good so it was time to test it with my NIB Kurtis Blow Best Of chrome tape:


Well I was amazed when I heard this deck for the first time. The sound quality is great. The bass and treble are strong and both channels are matched. No speed adjustment or a head adjustment was required. Wow, this is the best sounding GF9*9* sounding deck yet - the deck sound is better than the nice sounding FM tuner which is a first for the 15 odd GF secks I've worked on.

So after a clean up the rusty battery terminal, she's now fully working:

Time to replace the battery cover foam and install a brand new set of 8 D cells:

Although the GF-9090 is down on power when compared with the later (bigger) GF models, the clarity and punchy sound (particularly on the deck) really is impressive.

With the excellent build quality and cool looks, this makes the 9090 a great entry level box for enthusiasts getting into this fantastic hobby.

Hanging with GF-8080:


Thanks for reading about another of my 'limited budget' restorations.

WOW look at how white those speakers are

That is just amazing....and the top panel looks great (always trashed). Great score man!

Looks solid. Great job on gettin it all dialed in and working, nice lil score!