It was 1979 and I was almost 13 years old when I started making my first mixtapes using my dad's Dual turtable, Sansui receiver and Teac tape deck. Having shown interest in audio and a desire to have my own boombox, my dad gave me a Montgomery Ward's 3999 for my 13th birthday.
A year or two later I upgraded to a Sharp GF-9292 and the Montogmery Wards box was sold to one of the guys my dad worked with. The GF-9292 is the one that gave me some street cred and that was toting around town and blasting tunes with... This box was on my "eventually-I'll-get-one" personal grail list, but not necessarily on my "must-have-no-matter-what" list.
In other words, I was willing to wait to pick one of these up.
Well, Fast-forward to 32 years later, and now one of these is part of my collection! Thanks to Ira, here I sit with another Wards 3999 sitting in my lap! (Huge thanks, man!!!!) This box is in good mechanical shape and just needs some rudimentary cleaning. Tape deck turns with some torque, but I can't get much sound out of the heads. I think a good cleaning and some adjustments will fix that. I will also need to polish the tape door window and tuner glass. And adding to the overall appeal, this box even has one of Ira's well-known custom-cut wood battery doors!!!!
Yes, Ira.... I most definitely will paint that sucker!
First impression after not having seen one of these in 32 years...... It's smaller than I remember, but sounds better than I remember (at least the radio does). As I remember, no line-in, phono, line-out or external speaker connections. But it does give the impression of being a solid and well made little boomer.
The GF-9292 was a good, natural step up for me back then and at one point I had a turntable, speakers and a good component tape deck plugged up to that thing until I could pay off a Kenwood amp I had put on layaway.
Thanks again, Ira!!!! This will be a fun little clean up project and put a smile on my face every time I look at it!
A year or two later I upgraded to a Sharp GF-9292 and the Montogmery Wards box was sold to one of the guys my dad worked with. The GF-9292 is the one that gave me some street cred and that was toting around town and blasting tunes with... This box was on my "eventually-I'll-get-one" personal grail list, but not necessarily on my "must-have-no-matter-what" list.
In other words, I was willing to wait to pick one of these up.
Well, Fast-forward to 32 years later, and now one of these is part of my collection! Thanks to Ira, here I sit with another Wards 3999 sitting in my lap! (Huge thanks, man!!!!) This box is in good mechanical shape and just needs some rudimentary cleaning. Tape deck turns with some torque, but I can't get much sound out of the heads. I think a good cleaning and some adjustments will fix that. I will also need to polish the tape door window and tuner glass. And adding to the overall appeal, this box even has one of Ira's well-known custom-cut wood battery doors!!!!
Yes, Ira.... I most definitely will paint that sucker!
First impression after not having seen one of these in 32 years...... It's smaller than I remember, but sounds better than I remember (at least the radio does). As I remember, no line-in, phono, line-out or external speaker connections. But it does give the impression of being a solid and well made little boomer.
The GF-9292 was a good, natural step up for me back then and at one point I had a turntable, speakers and a good component tape deck plugged up to that thing until I could pay off a Kenwood amp I had put on layaway.
Thanks again, Ira!!!! This will be a fun little clean up project and put a smile on my face every time I look at it!
I love reading stories like this. 
