kapohoguy
Active Member
I recently picked up a CT-F8282 cassette deck on Craig's List for $50. The guy said it was fresh from his mom's basement storage and he didn't have any other compenents to hook it up to and test. We did plug it in and it lit up. All the buttons seemed to work and the capstains turned. Cosmetically it was nice except for a layer of dust and some separation and tears in the old vinyl veneered top and sides.
I got home, hooked it up and popped in a cassette to test. It worked but the right channel was very subdued and sounded muddy. Disconnected and took it out of the case. All the belts looked good. Blew out all the dust, deoxited the pots. Cleaned and demagnitized the heads. Cleaned the pinch rollers and tested again. It sounds great!
Now for the peeling veneer on the case. I admit that at least 50% of my attraction to vintage Pioneer gear is the way it looks, so appearances are important. Inspecting the case I realized that there were two types of veneer. The edges had a sort of woodgrain laminate not ulike you would seed on a kitchen counter top. That was all in great shape. The problems were in the top and sides where the vinyl veneer was separating and the outer woodgrain layer was peeling off. This left an underlayer of thicker tan vinyl still adhereing to the plywood case. Sorry I didn't take before pictures, but I found one online that had simlar issues.
The thin woodgrain layer peeled right off with very little effort. The tan underlayer was quite tightly adhered though. I heated it with a hair dryer and had to use some muscle to peel it off. With the vinyl off, I sanded the top and sides with a palm sander to remove any residual adhesive and roughness. I had some walnut veneer left over from my PL-530 reveneering project, and found three peice to fit the top and sides of this cabinet. You have to be careful with the cuts and trims, and sand down the edges. Then I stained it alternating dark walnut and java stain to get the color to match the edges. Applied a Tung Oil finish. I'll add dark wax in a couple of days to complete the blend. I'm pretty please with the results. Still need to reveneer my PL-560.
I got home, hooked it up and popped in a cassette to test. It worked but the right channel was very subdued and sounded muddy. Disconnected and took it out of the case. All the belts looked good. Blew out all the dust, deoxited the pots. Cleaned and demagnitized the heads. Cleaned the pinch rollers and tested again. It sounds great!
Now for the peeling veneer on the case. I admit that at least 50% of my attraction to vintage Pioneer gear is the way it looks, so appearances are important. Inspecting the case I realized that there were two types of veneer. The edges had a sort of woodgrain laminate not ulike you would seed on a kitchen counter top. That was all in great shape. The problems were in the top and sides where the vinyl veneer was separating and the outer woodgrain layer was peeling off. This left an underlayer of thicker tan vinyl still adhereing to the plywood case. Sorry I didn't take before pictures, but I found one online that had simlar issues.
The thin woodgrain layer peeled right off with very little effort. The tan underlayer was quite tightly adhered though. I heated it with a hair dryer and had to use some muscle to peel it off. With the vinyl off, I sanded the top and sides with a palm sander to remove any residual adhesive and roughness. I had some walnut veneer left over from my PL-530 reveneering project, and found three peice to fit the top and sides of this cabinet. You have to be careful with the cuts and trims, and sand down the edges. Then I stained it alternating dark walnut and java stain to get the color to match the edges. Applied a Tung Oil finish. I'll add dark wax in a couple of days to complete the blend. I'm pretty please with the results. Still need to reveneer my PL-560.
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