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What happened to Electronics Stores

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DavidApp said:
Explaining there was 2 to 3 weeks of evening work in it did not seem to register with them as they had seen lamps at Sears for $99.99.
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Another example as to why true craftsmanship is largely unappreciated.

Reminded me of this Georgia based business:

Bill Oyster fly rods
 
I like to buy my holsters from El Paso Saddlery, they typically take around three months to get them to me and they cost a bit but the craftsmanship is outstanding. I once told a guy who was looking for a quality holster that he should order from them and when I told him about how long it would take and how much it'd cost, his reply was that he'd buy one on Amazon.
 
Talking about craftmanship this guy makes these lamps from flat sheets of brass. In this series he is making 8 or 10 lamps. A lot of painstaking work. There are 6 or 8 videos to get to the complete lamp.

David

 
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Hobbytown Hobbyplex is a Radio Shack Express store. My local store has two isles of Radio Shacks basic bits.
 
pdplot said:
I have an old GE cathedral radio. Only gets one am station. Has SW also but it doesn't work. Anyone restore one of these?
AM station now does not come in without a squeal. Can you still get tubes & parts?
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The guy who used to maintain the jukeboxes at America On Wheels had a stockpile of parts including tubes. Now that he passed away I am trying to find someone who can help the museum get these back operating. Only one of the 3 is operational, and it is not sounding as good as it used to. But tubes were available somewhere.
 
Gliderman8 said:
I miss the “old days” of getting (begging :smile:) my mom to drive me to Lafayette Electronics to buy components to build projects that would be in Popular Electronics.
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I too miss Lafayette Electronics. I even shopped there when I was a student at Lehigh University, and our main rival was Lafayette College. I just tried to ignore the name.
 
Dave - probably too far for you, but I've had several old radios perfectly repaired by Mike at Vintage Hi-Fi museum in Hartford.

Vintage Hi Fi Museum

Explore the history of high fidelity music, analog audio systems with components "Made in the USA," beginning from the Golden Age of vacuum tube audio (1950s to 1960s), to solid state transistor designs of the 1970s. The museum is an extension of the Vintage Radio and Communications Museum...
www.ctvisit.com www.ctvisit.com

1928 Radiola 18 with RCA 100A speaker:

Radiola18-100A.jpg


1930 Atwater-Kent 74:

attachment.php
 
I just ordered a 6D6 tube from a store in Orlando. $7.50 plus $10 for Priority Mail. The metal cap came off and I was unable to solder it back on. If it still doesn't work, how can I tell what's wrong? Even if I had a schematic, I wouldn't know what to do.
 
Paul - give a call to Mike at that museum. He'll tell you how to handle it.
Tom M.
 
Might also ask - "What happened to all the neighborhood electronics stores that sold components, to build and repair electronic devices?"

shutterstock_175375409.jpg
 
Tom said:
Might also ask - "What happened to all the neighborhood electronics stores that sold components, to build and repair electronic devices?"
Click to expand...

Imiss the "instant gratification" part, but Mouser and a couple other on-line outfits are good for about anything in components.
 
One thing that gets my panties in a bind is when Youtubers tell me to hit the like button at the beginning of their "Thing". Well, what if I don't like it? can I unlike it at the end? That's two things I have to do unless I wait til the end and just like it (one step) or not (stepless) ((even easier)).
 
Yes, Mouser has taken up the slack (and are very good - though not the same as poking around in an old shop).
 
Big difference for many of us - there used to be Radio Shack (components, hi-fi systems, speakers, kits, testing equipment, etc. - not just toys, phones, and games!) in nearly every town and city in the USA. You got to see the items and read the details.

A 1960 catalogue - over 300 pages.

www.radioshackcatalogs.com

1960 Radio Shack Catalog

Flip through the 1960 Radio Shack catalog containing vintage: transistor radios, tuners, stereo receivers, transmitters, tube amplifiers, record players, headphones, electronics, test equipment & more!
www.radioshackcatalogs.com
 
Electronic components are not the only things that are hard to find these days. I need to buy a few round head steel rivets. It has taken a lot of google time to find somewhere that I can buy less than 10,000 rivets. I only need a hand full.

David
 
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