Hi Guys,
Well the new Boombox acquestion situation has been a bit quiet around here lately as my DIY box has taken over completely for daily listening duties - this thing just sounds so great!
Anyway, when I started out on this crazy box collecting journey, I wanted one of those heavy duty 15v sharps - I couldn't justify spending big money on one of the show pony models, a plain Jane GF-555 or a GF-515 would be fine. My tastes have changed a little since then but when I saw a sad and lonely looking GF-515 on Ebay, I decided to try and land it for a future project.
Anyway, I ended up winning the auction at $44.50 with local pick up. I've just picked this old girl up this morning and all I can say is 'she has been ridden hard'! It's complete though bar a balance knob and antenna. Big and heavy is the best way to describe the GF-515. It's actually bigger than I thought as the body of this model is about an inch taller than a GF9696.
As you can see from the photos, this one will need a complete repaint. After a quick switch clean, both channels are balanced and sound strong. Both decks ffwd and rewind ok but neither will play - the heads look ok so that should be a quick fix. FM stereo is ok but AM is quiet at this stage - edit: if you wiggle the band selector switch AM cuts in so fingers crossed I can restore function on the AM band.
Line in works fine - interesting Sharp gave this model a proper Line In via RCA inputs but didn't on the flashier 9494, 9696 models!?
Enjoy the ugly before pics!
I'm thinking maybe painting this one a new colour, what do you think? Silver is just so boring IMHO
I'll update the pics when I have her all cleaned up.
Let me know if you can help me out with either missing part!
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Well the new Boombox acquestion situation has been a bit quiet around here lately as my DIY box has taken over completely for daily listening duties - this thing just sounds so great!
Anyway, when I started out on this crazy box collecting journey, I wanted one of those heavy duty 15v sharps - I couldn't justify spending big money on one of the show pony models, a plain Jane GF-555 or a GF-515 would be fine. My tastes have changed a little since then but when I saw a sad and lonely looking GF-515 on Ebay, I decided to try and land it for a future project.
Anyway, I ended up winning the auction at $44.50 with local pick up. I've just picked this old girl up this morning and all I can say is 'she has been ridden hard'! It's complete though bar a balance knob and antenna. Big and heavy is the best way to describe the GF-515. It's actually bigger than I thought as the body of this model is about an inch taller than a GF9696.
As you can see from the photos, this one will need a complete repaint. After a quick switch clean, both channels are balanced and sound strong. Both decks ffwd and rewind ok but neither will play - the heads look ok so that should be a quick fix. FM stereo is ok but AM is quiet at this stage - edit: if you wiggle the band selector switch AM cuts in so fingers crossed I can restore function on the AM band.
Line in works fine - interesting Sharp gave this model a proper Line In via RCA inputs but didn't on the flashier 9494, 9696 models!?
Enjoy the ugly before pics!
I'm thinking maybe painting this one a new colour, what do you think? Silver is just so boring IMHO
I'll update the pics when I have her all cleaned up.
Let me know if you can help me out with either missing part!
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Should we wait for someone to pop up with an antenna or just send it?