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The last tube set that I got from a shop (same shop that I got the RCA from) was a 19" late '60's tube type GE B&W set, several months ago. Some lady brought it in and asked the shop to discard it. He knew I liked tube stuff; so, he saved it for me. Before that, the last tube set was a metal cabinet RCA CTC39 Mural TV that was on the discard pile at the local Zenith/RCA dealer. This was around '95.
I can't begin to tell you how many TVs that I've gotten from people who had already put them in the shop only to be told that they were unrepairable or would cost more than a new set. One was an '80's General Electric PC chassis console that was on someone's garbage pile. The owner told me that the shop said it needed a "horizontal board". What it actually needed was a new HOT, a horizontal centering pot, and an electrolytic cap. Another set was an older Symphonic TV/VCR combo that I bought for $2 at a yard sale. The owner was told that the board was burned beyond repair. The only thing burned was the horizontal yoke plug on the chassis. I hard-wired the yoke connections and the set worked fine.
At one time, this town was full of TV shops and most of them were the kind that didn't like to help people such as myself when I was a kid and trying to learn about TVs. There were a couple of older shops here that would help me and acted like they were glad to do so. There was another shop in a town about 30 miles away that would give me used parts and tubes if I needed them. And, I always made it a point to return the favor to the shops that helped me. Now, there's only two or three shops in town and I think only one of them still accepts CRT sets for repair. The rest are only interested in DLP, LCD, or Plasma.
Like was said earlier, it's very possible that my RCA could have belonged to a deadbeat customer and that's why the shop didn't mess with it. The guy that gives me these sets once told me that he didn't even open some of them because the customers didn't want to spend any money and he already had many TVs for sale.
Now, let's see if I can make a few $ off of the RCA so I can buy something with tubes in it.
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