GF-8989 - first unit restoration

[daveck78]

Hello everyone. I just acquired a GF-8989 off Ebay. I am 56 years old and I had one of these when I was 16. I loved it. This unit had quite a few issues - but I am slowly getting there. The list of non-operation was quite long - LW/MW didn't work, tone controls didn't work, record from internal mics didn't work. I'm getting there, but there is still some issue with record from DIN. Unit is fine as a monitor when recording and shows healthy VU levels. Playback shows the recording just isn't getting enough level on the tape. Having a blast working on this. Have a second unit coming tomorrow. Big thanks to Lasonic TRC-920 - I thought your idea of spraying the speaker grilles black looked awesome - so I have done the same.

 

[goodman]

Congrats for this nice boombox! Looks good!

 

[Eavb]

Loving the black grilles, I think I'll be doing the same to mine.

 

[Atomtan]

Looks excellent. I find once you start, no box is every completely finished...

 

[floyd]

I like this model boombox and it's no slouch in the sound Department either. Always prefer these with black speakers and black grills even though they didn't come with black grills from the factory and most of the time they came with white speakers.

 

[daveck78]

Greatly appreciate all the positive comments. Second unit arrived and sadly not as functional as advertised. Makes me wonder what people understand "fully working" means on EBay. However, I am now confident given a modest outlay for the two units I can come up with a fully working unit. Have just fixed another issue with tape speed having acquired a calibration cassette. I want to get all of the technical stuff fully resolved before going full-on with the cosmetic fixes. It's getting there. I work in a charity shop and have grabbed quite a few pre-recorded tapes - Queen, Madonna etc and they sound awesome !!

 

[daveck78]

One more note - both units I received had clearly been exposed to a lot of tobacco smoke. So the grey rear case moulding is a bit more "sepia" than it should be. I am seriously tempted to try a dark grey or black respray on that ? Understand not the original colour spec, but I think might look nicer if I get the paint finish right.