This little GF-7500 was an absolute nightmare to restore to fully functional & looking nice once again!!
This stereo fought back with all it had to hamper the repair process.........
This is what I needed to repair it:
New pinch roller (It had turned to goo!)
Record/Play head worn out completely, almost zero output!
Cassette deck motor (Bearing worn out)
Volume Balance & Tone slider board assembly (Completely farked!!)
Left hand woofer (Blown no output)
Left hand woofer grille (Dented badly beyond saving)
All 4 belts turned to goo
Mickey Mouse aerial (Completely wrong one badly fitted by some 'Engineer'!!) I hate that..........
Tuning knob pitted beyong belief, never seen one so bad before!!
Idler tyre for tape take up reel missing......
Erase head connected to the left speakers & vice versa - Wonder why the speaker was blown!!
All these problems showed up as I was trying to save it from the bin........
Now I really like this range of Sharps - This really was the last bastion of machines from the golden era before the violins went all out of tune & they began producing real crap!
The cassette deck in this one is really far too good for a mid range model that is the GF-7500 - Soft touch controls, nice big flywheel driven by a flat belt & a full size pinch roller giving well above average stability, APSS track search & full auto stop.........I love this deck, it is identical to the deck in my Sharp GX-250 three piece Compo & although tricky to repair & service if you have never done one before! Getting all 3 belts on at once is an art in itself!!
Anyway back to the story! In the end I bought another two machines for parts, one was an non working GF-500 as the decks are almost the same & would have what I needed or so I hoped......
The 500 has 2 decks so I was pleased that I would have some spares for these great mechanisms......
That turned out to be a completely different fish in the kettle - The packing was so bad, the machine was smashed to bits, even both the decks had several of the soft touch controls (Parts I also needed) completely snapped off & too much other damage to list here..........Yes I had been caught out just like a kipper!! I salvaged what I could of the decks & binned the rest, put the box of what was pretty much parts of both machines away in the spares cupboard & forgot about them............
Jump to the present: I spotted one on Ebay not in the best cosmetic condition - 'Works Perfectly' Trumpeted the advert along with the now ubiquitous 'Garage Find' claim! Well I couldn't resist such a temptation (By now I kind of had a determination to own a working GF-7500) & ended up winning it!!
Arriving just yesterday I straight away noticed the dissolved to goo pinch roller & clear signs of dissolved belts under the cassette mechanism!!
'Yeah it all works mate' trilled the seller when asked before committing to buying & reflecting on how long I had been sitting here like a melon waiting for parts yet again!!
Now I was only interested in getting this Sharp completed & working!
I now had everything I needed - I rebuilt the deck & replaced the motor then after a complete strip down & lubricating the cams, reel shafts & the capstan bearing! New belts & pinch roller resulted in the deck behaving perfectly by spinning the flywheel by hand, all functions were perfect (I have done many of these & find them easy now)
The audio sliders were pinched from the new arrival & cleaned to death with servisol - they were almost seized solid! 'Yeah it all works' etc etc
Switches all cleaned then deck replaced in the original machine as it was in best condition of the two & oil cleaned of the capstan shaft before it got on the new pinch roller.......
By now I was all caught up in the tentyhooks as I replaced both woofers & changed the left grille over to the poorly patient!
All that was left to do was replace the aerial with the correct type, plug the erase head to the correct connector along with the speakers after a quick test it was time to screw it together & clean the case & front!
All working first time this time but only after after the whole story became an entire sarger!!
She looks pretty nice now & works like the day it left the factory - As I said earlier, these decks are a joy to use & play very well..........The motor needs a tiny speed down tweak but that's for another time - I can live with it until I am ready to take the deck all out again.........Yes it's the only way with these - No hole on the rear to access the motor pot!!
Ah Well..........
Et Viola!!
https://youtu.be/2avIcsz79rI
This stereo fought back with all it had to hamper the repair process.........
This is what I needed to repair it:
New pinch roller (It had turned to goo!)
Record/Play head worn out completely, almost zero output!
Cassette deck motor (Bearing worn out)
Volume Balance & Tone slider board assembly (Completely farked!!)
Left hand woofer (Blown no output)
Left hand woofer grille (Dented badly beyond saving)
All 4 belts turned to goo
Mickey Mouse aerial (Completely wrong one badly fitted by some 'Engineer'!!) I hate that..........
Tuning knob pitted beyong belief, never seen one so bad before!!
Idler tyre for tape take up reel missing......
Erase head connected to the left speakers & vice versa - Wonder why the speaker was blown!!
All these problems showed up as I was trying to save it from the bin........
Now I really like this range of Sharps - This really was the last bastion of machines from the golden era before the violins went all out of tune & they began producing real crap!
The cassette deck in this one is really far too good for a mid range model that is the GF-7500 - Soft touch controls, nice big flywheel driven by a flat belt & a full size pinch roller giving well above average stability, APSS track search & full auto stop.........I love this deck, it is identical to the deck in my Sharp GX-250 three piece Compo & although tricky to repair & service if you have never done one before! Getting all 3 belts on at once is an art in itself!!
Anyway back to the story! In the end I bought another two machines for parts, one was an non working GF-500 as the decks are almost the same & would have what I needed or so I hoped......
The 500 has 2 decks so I was pleased that I would have some spares for these great mechanisms......
That turned out to be a completely different fish in the kettle - The packing was so bad, the machine was smashed to bits, even both the decks had several of the soft touch controls (Parts I also needed) completely snapped off & too much other damage to list here..........Yes I had been caught out just like a kipper!! I salvaged what I could of the decks & binned the rest, put the box of what was pretty much parts of both machines away in the spares cupboard & forgot about them............
Jump to the present: I spotted one on Ebay not in the best cosmetic condition - 'Works Perfectly' Trumpeted the advert along with the now ubiquitous 'Garage Find' claim! Well I couldn't resist such a temptation (By now I kind of had a determination to own a working GF-7500) & ended up winning it!!
Arriving just yesterday I straight away noticed the dissolved to goo pinch roller & clear signs of dissolved belts under the cassette mechanism!!
'Yeah it all works mate' trilled the seller when asked before committing to buying & reflecting on how long I had been sitting here like a melon waiting for parts yet again!!
Now I was only interested in getting this Sharp completed & working!
I now had everything I needed - I rebuilt the deck & replaced the motor then after a complete strip down & lubricating the cams, reel shafts & the capstan bearing! New belts & pinch roller resulted in the deck behaving perfectly by spinning the flywheel by hand, all functions were perfect (I have done many of these & find them easy now)
The audio sliders were pinched from the new arrival & cleaned to death with servisol - they were almost seized solid! 'Yeah it all works' etc etc
Switches all cleaned then deck replaced in the original machine as it was in best condition of the two & oil cleaned of the capstan shaft before it got on the new pinch roller.......
By now I was all caught up in the tentyhooks as I replaced both woofers & changed the left grille over to the poorly patient!
All that was left to do was replace the aerial with the correct type, plug the erase head to the correct connector along with the speakers after a quick test it was time to screw it together & clean the case & front!
All working first time this time but only after after the whole story became an entire sarger!!
She looks pretty nice now & works like the day it left the factory - As I said earlier, these decks are a joy to use & play very well..........The motor needs a tiny speed down tweak but that's for another time - I can live with it until I am ready to take the deck all out again.........Yes it's the only way with these - No hole on the rear to access the motor pot!!
Ah Well..........
Et Viola!!
https://youtu.be/2avIcsz79rI
