[bgadow]

Orange drops (and equivalents) do go bad, but rarely. I would not replace one unless there was a problem.

I have learned to do wholesale recapping. Every time that I didn't it resulted in lingering problems. If there is a circuit you can get away with it, it would be the audio. You will not get a vertical circuit to work reliably without new caps, that is my experience. If you have the chassis out you might as well change them. If you really wanted to learn diagnostics you could replace caps one by one and see what changes are brought about.

On a rare piece restuffing is probably the best practice; I don't own a TV that I consider that rare.

In the end each restorer has to decide which is more important, keeping the set all-original or having the set work like it did when it was new. Compare it to an old car from the fifties: would you replace the tires? a worn-out clutch? Would you insist on NOS spark plugs, filters, hoses, belts?