Ebay Pickup - Sharp GF-8989

Ok, so this is my first classic box.

First impressions when I opened the packaging was that this is a total beater but I was wrong. It's a Sharp GF-8989 and it does show it's years on the outside. Both speaker grills are a bit bent and it has quite a few chips, scrapes and places where the silver is worn smooth. Not sure if there is much I can do about the cosmetics as I don't think I have the skill to put it back to A1 condition

What I am really impressed with though is the build quality. It's proper heavy and amazingly everything works. Radio is fine and the tape deck plays pretty well after cleaning the heads. Rewinding seems a bit slow and I thought that the tape was playing slightly slow too. Not sure if it's the belts as the deck does work ok.

The advert said that the left speaker was damaged, but it looks like it's just the grill that's bent. The speaker seems to be fine, but I was getting a loud crackling off the volume control the first time I cranked it up. After a few cycles of turning the volume knob the whole way around and back, the crackling seems to have stopped.

The plastic radio band cover is a bit cloudy and is loose. Not sure if I can replace this easily but for the £50 I paid for this box, I'm very happy wit it. It cranks up very loud and sounds really good. The bass is amazing compaired to what I have listend to so far and I love the look of it.

Congratulations!!! A little bit of love and some cleaning, and that boombox will be sparkling! Be patient though, proper restorations are never quick.

Cool box...congrats. I have had issues with slow RW / play and when I replaced with new belt(s) the problem was fixed. Your could be loose due to old age or maybe not the correct size used.

I included a link to where you can get the service manual. You need to sign up but that takes 60 seconds. Look at how to open the chassis up and start tinkering a bit. You can also clean it much easier if you can get the front / back off by giving it a good washing. It took me awhile to feel comfortable with changing belts and other repairs (and I'm far from proficient), but I've slowly learnt my way around the boxes I own. It all starts by opening her up!

Also, deoxit works wonders for scratchy controls. I just got a box that was sold as having a faulty left speaker. I sprayed some deoxit on the balance slider and volume slider and it miraculously came back to life. Get a can of that...it is easily my most used product.

The plastic cover is commonly glued into place I believe. At least it is on a couple of my boxes (I only own 6). There are also products for removing scratches...and can't remember the name, but you can find it on here. It is a 3 step process with 3 separate bottles.

Good luck!

https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/sharp/gf-8989.shtml

Yeh it’ll be the belts. Not too bad to change on these tho. Congrats on getting a ‘proper’ boombox, they’re pretty nice these and, as you say, well put together

Cheers fatdog/Northerner. I'm not sure if I've got the skill to do much with it, but I'll give it a go. Main things are straightening and painting the speaker grills, fixing the plastic radio tuner cover and doing the belts. The whole box also needs a paint tbh, but some of the paint that is flaking off has writing on it, so I can't really spray over the top without covering the black text. Around the volume control is pretty bad with most of the black scale and volume text has been completely rubbed away. Any ideas on how to do this?

Thanks for that info BassHead. That's really useful stuff to get me going. The instructions are what I need as I've never opened up one of these boxes. Hope I don't break it.....lol.

Also does the DIN socket at the back act like a line in jack? Can I use an ipod or phone with it?


Thanks again for the info guys. Really much appreciated.

Opened up the 8989 today and had a look around. The box was very dirty inside so gave it a bit of a clean. Also straightend the speaker grills and cleaned the chrome speaker caps. These are really well designed boxes for working on. (Thanks again BassHead for the service manual link. Really helped me out getting into it). Then cleaned the the 5 switches while I had them off. It's starting to look a bit better already.

Apologies for all these questions but does anyone know where I can get a new set of belts for this model?
Are the belts located around the back of the tape deck unit?

These are easy & a great machine to work on! Replace the belts & clean the pinch roller until no more oxide comes off it! If the speed needs a tweak adjust it carefully through the hole in the motor with a plastic mini screwdriver (Peanuts on eBay) help is always here if you need it!

Nickeccles said:

These are easy & a great machine to work on! Replace the belts & clean the pinch roller until no more oxide comes off it! If the speed needs a tweak adjust it carefully through the hole in the motor with a plastic mini screwdriver (Peanuts on eBay) help is always here if you need it!

Click to expand...

Cheers Nickeccles. I'm going to try and do the belts on it soon.
Seen a pack of 40 belts on Amazon. Not sure if a couple of these these will do or if I need the original belts for the 8989.

I'll post more pictures of my efforts to restore it.

Nice looking box for sure, seen one at a local site, how much one should spend for one?