Exclusive: Vintage Radio Shack

Having been exiled to California for the last 4 years, I returned home to Arizona and was quite surprised to find a significant change to my local friendly neighborhood Radio Shack.  This one is a Vintage Radio Shack.

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Not just the usual collection of soldering tools, batteries, and home electronics; this one features a wide and varied array of restored and reconditioned vintage electronics.  The owner has a serious hobby, and is constantly working to bring yesterday’s glory back to life.

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Just look at all this stuff, and this isn’t even the half of it.

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For example, this is a 1949 Motorola 7-inch B&W television.  It works and gets a picture.  I’m really tempted to get it and hook it up to my Xbox 360.  Why?  To watch old Abbott & Costello movies on Zune.

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This is for the REAL audiophile.  Forget spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in high-tech overblown gold-plated imitations.  Get the authentic and original sound quality you were meant to hear.

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Look at that multi-meter.  After all, if you’re going to have vintage home entertainment, you might as well have vintage test equipment to service them.  Besides, this thing is probably more accurate than most modern solid-state meters.

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Everything is original.  I saw the inside of some of these; and yeah, it’s 50-years old.  Re-solding old point-to-point connections, replacing bad tubes, removing rust, and re-finishing wood is not an easy task.  The prices are reasonable (actually a steal), and the owner usually sells out by Christmas.  Even if you’re on a budget, there are individual vacuum tubes for display on your knick-knack shelf.  So, if you find yourself in Arizona, come visit the Vintage Radio Shack in Chino Valley.

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