WillRobinson
Active Member
Good evening!
I recently saw an ad on CL for a group of stereo components, mostly Sony gear from the '90s, but among the pictures was an intriguing looking receiver peeking out from a wooden console. I could tell Immediately that it was an early tube Kenwood, although unsure of the exact model. From what I could see it looked to be in fair shape, and the seller had a very reasonable price, so I contacted him and went to have a look.
As soon as I stepped in the house it was obvious that it had been uninhabited for a long while, and it was beginning to deteriorate in areas. The seller said it was his deceased father-in-law's house that he was trying to empty out.
So he leads me to the wooden stereo console and I open it up to see the Kenwood, which I can now see is a model KW-60. It is mounted in the console so that only the front face is visible, and from what I could see it was in Ok condition it had some obvious wear and a one broken switch, but no deal killers. Then I open up the back of the console to remove the receiver and saw IT, what looks like an abandoned mouse hotel, large nests of paper, wood chips, carpet, even shredded cassette tape, and were using the KW-60 as a penthouse! Luckily the receiver was not difficult to remove so I didn't have to dig though that much petrified rodent crud to free it.
After inspecting it out of the console I could now see that the condition was truly abysmal, I have never seen such an example of the corrosive nature of mouse urine. I thought about leaving it and just driving home, but I knew it would have ended up in the garbage can as soon as I left. So I made him an appropriate offer which he gladly accepted.
So here is my next project, one ray of sunshine is that the mice didn't get into the lower section of the chassis, it is actually surprisingly clean under there. Anyway, where's the Bleach?
I recently saw an ad on CL for a group of stereo components, mostly Sony gear from the '90s, but among the pictures was an intriguing looking receiver peeking out from a wooden console. I could tell Immediately that it was an early tube Kenwood, although unsure of the exact model. From what I could see it looked to be in fair shape, and the seller had a very reasonable price, so I contacted him and went to have a look.
As soon as I stepped in the house it was obvious that it had been uninhabited for a long while, and it was beginning to deteriorate in areas. The seller said it was his deceased father-in-law's house that he was trying to empty out.
So he leads me to the wooden stereo console and I open it up to see the Kenwood, which I can now see is a model KW-60. It is mounted in the console so that only the front face is visible, and from what I could see it was in Ok condition it had some obvious wear and a one broken switch, but no deal killers. Then I open up the back of the console to remove the receiver and saw IT, what looks like an abandoned mouse hotel, large nests of paper, wood chips, carpet, even shredded cassette tape, and were using the KW-60 as a penthouse! Luckily the receiver was not difficult to remove so I didn't have to dig though that much petrified rodent crud to free it.
After inspecting it out of the console I could now see that the condition was truly abysmal, I have never seen such an example of the corrosive nature of mouse urine. I thought about leaving it and just driving home, but I knew it would have ended up in the garbage can as soon as I left. So I made him an appropriate offer which he gladly accepted.
So here is my next project, one ray of sunshine is that the mice didn't get into the lower section of the chassis, it is actually surprisingly clean under there. Anyway, where's the Bleach?
