Hacker GP42
 

Yesterday I found this Hacker Gondolier on the floor in a junk shop with all kinds of stuff piled up on top of it. All i could see was the three knobs but I knew straight away what it was. I managed to pull it out and behind it was an old Murphy radio, so I yanked that out as well. On asking how much I was told "you can have 'em both for 15 quid". So I now have a totally original Gondolier complete with its paperwork and guarantee card. It's filthy. missing a foot and there is a dent in the front grille. Apart from that it's in good condition cosmetically. The electronics are untouched as you can see in the photos. Needless to say I have NOT powered it up and I won't for the time being as there are lots of dubious looking electrolytics in there. So here's a few photos to be going on with.

Re: junk shop hacker
 

It's really nice when that sort of thing happens! Good luck with them.

Re: junk shop hacker
 

Hi all
today i have removed the amp controls and speaker .There was a little wax under the transformer along with lots of dirt so after a good clean with the hoover its looking better . There are a few Supermolds in there i will change them before i do anything else.While i am waiting for the new caps to arrive i will have a go at getting the dent out of the front grill and give the cabinet a good clean As you can see the big smoothing can has Sept 66 on it so we know roughly how old the thing is

Hacker GP42
 

While removing the 220k resistor [that is open circuit ] that was hidden under the wax cap .I had trouble trying to free up one end of it and i think i may have heated it up a little while i was doing this .Will it be ok or should i replace it ?. Theres another one of these on the bottom tag strip .Will any 330 PF cap do the job

Re: Hacker GP42
 

Hi The capacitor may well still be ok.

I have replaced these with 330pF 500v silver mica caps in the past, they work just fine no noticable change in performance.

If you need some pm me with your address, I can send you a couple of these caps foc. I have a large bag of them.



Kind regards RT

Re: Hacker GP42
 

So long as the square, wax covered, mica capacitor is not cracked or the end connections strained it should be OK, you can always melt a little wax over the bit that was melted to help seal it, but I dont think it is really necessary to do that to the cap.

Mike

Re: Hacker GP42
 

I note the speaker has no whizzer cone. I think they must have all been the same which suggests why you need boost the treble on these, but at least it does look to be curved. These grilles are mostly dented by now, but there are various techniques for pulling/easing them out.

Re: Hacker GP42
 

I took the grille out and put it on a flat surface. I then rolled it with a rolling pin and that seems to have done the trick, of course you never can tell with these grilles .If I look at it in a different light it may still show.