[AiboPet]

yeah.....I hope a 70's set isn't giving it's life for this sort of lousy Frankenstein thing.

And now that I got my IMMEDIATE reaction out of the way (since I am hoping you are not actually gonna kill a set to do this)

I can SORTA see the point in a project like this, but immediately would see an issue with the CRT dimensions around the screen. Depth, not so much since newer sets appear to be shallower and higher deflection (shorter tube). The problem I DO see that might present itself (and be real obvious), Newer sets are "very" rectangular. If the masking won't be perfect....it'll just SCREAM "hack", but this is just my two cents. Try to avoid the "flat" CRTs because in my opinion, the round convex shape of the screen sorta HAS to be there to look right. You might have to put up with some bit of overscan in the corners since almost certainly the 70's set will be rectangular, but not perfect...and you'll lose the corners of a more square CRT to the masking.

The controls would likely be EASY, since you are most likely only dealing with an IR receiver and maybe some LEDs. Chassis.....probly also not too difficult since a little PC board is likely MUCH smaller (and lighter) than a full chassis. You'd have to figure out mounting this in such a way so it's not just a PC board banging around inside the cabinet. Speaker....no brainer really. Try not to use a stereo set so you can just literally use the existing 70's speaker...most likely 4-8 ohms as well. make sure you retain all the ground points...and any of the CRT safety stuff the newer set may be employing (shielding, etc).

It's the sort of thing I would only do if I could TOTALLY pull it off....and of course am NOT sacrificing a perfectly good or salvageable set (screw the '90's set....you can replace it for ten bucks).

I had a Sony 700U sitting around for like TWENTY years that I couldn't seem to get perfect...and thought for like ten minutes I was going to gut the thing and somehow shoehorn a MUCH more modern set inside, but I instead decided to get the SAMs for it and put in the time. Much prouder of that achievement...and that old Sony now runs like a champ, and I turn on the MODERN tv in the front room when I want to not screw with VHF tuners and aerials.