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#17
10-31-2005, 01:41 AM
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A couple years ago a local TV and jukebox repair shop was destroyed by a fire that took out the entire building (shared with a ceramics art shop). Seems a plumber who did a repair with a blow torch may have set it smoldering until it went to full fire late at night. Nobody inside when it did burn down. In any event I wouldn't expect this TV repair business to reappear in the replacement building whenever it does get built on the site.
This shop had a few 80's era TV sets on display in the front window, along with a jukebox. I don't think that he moved much inventory before the fire happened. Another shop in the next town folded about 6 months before the fire. Both had shop signs with Zenith logos. Once I mentioned to a friend that WallMart was evil. He said in reply that they still have great prices..... 
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#18
10-31-2005, 07:06 AM
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I never had alot of real repair experience with tube sets. By the time my shop got established, tube sets were few and far between. Roundies? Never.
I kept a small stock of deflection tubes for later tube color sets. 6JE6, 22KM6, etc. I have at least 4 6LQ6/6JE6's for a late '60's RCA that my cousin has in her living room. I stopped repairs after a year of being bitched out for overcharging. "50 bucks? I can buy a new one for $99!!!" VCR repairs went on a little longer, as I had some good suppliers of older parts. I liked repairing VCR's that were metal. For awhile, Emerson had that little ORION built machine that broke a single nylon guide with a steel pin in it. I bought 500 of the guide part from them, and sold them all. Life was good. When Magnavox dropped Panasonic built VCR's and went to FUNAI with their crap power supplies, I decided that it was time to stop. My personal home TV's are all Sony's... 2-27" sets from the early 1990's, and a 13" Sony in the kitchen. One of the Sonys is their first XBR set. It was left with me, and the owner never came to pick it up, even after I contacted them by phone and by letter at least 4 times. My big RCA CTC-10 dominates the living room, and runs thru a 1984 Hitachi hi-fi VCR that refuses to die. I lurk on the streets of my town these days looking for old TV's. I found a screen mask for an Admiral a few months ago, but I let it go. I gave it to a friend that used it in a display. I dont like to go to Wal-Mart either.
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#19
10-31-2005, 09:54 AM
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Worked part time in a TV shop (by the hour), watched the market change till we closed up in 98, at the end we did claims for 3 insurance companies, big screens (projection), no VCR's, no sets under 27", far cry from when I started in 90 when we took in anything and VCR's were a good portion of the income.
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#20
10-31-2005, 11:43 AM
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I currently do a little part time work in a repair shop. I get paid per piece, so I always try to finish as many things as possible when I'm there. I'm often surprised at the junk people bring in and have repaired. Things like 70's BSR record changers and low end TVs.
The big problem is that they are understaffed. It's not unusual for a TV to take a month or longer to finish by the time I get to it and parts arrive. I can't blame people for not wanting to wait that long next time the TV breaks and just replacing it. Professional A/V equipment is by far the most profitable. They will still pay well over $100 for a basic repair on a pro VCR. There are plenty of unskilled people working on pro equipment. I once saved a $10,000 JVC that was judged unrepairable. It turned out to mostly be damage caused by the last repair attempt. Fortunately, none of it was serious. Bose is also a good source of income. People will gladly pay for repairs and they are usually very easy to fix. Service manuals and parts are also pretty reasonably priced too. Obviously the trick is to stick to things that are worth repairing. You can't make money fixing VCRs now any more than you could have on B/W TVs in the 70's.
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#21
11-01-2005, 10:53 AM
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in the early eightys customers would buy the consoles off of my work table before the were really finshed. how much. up to $250.00 they would pay. but i didnt sell any junk. always put dependable sets out there. i have installed a lot of 25" replacement picture tubes, $250.00 plus tax. the tubes cost i believe $79.00 and were brought to me every tuesday. i used to have 2 parts salesman every week come by to see what i needed. also every 2 weeks here come the rca salesman philco and sony salsman. rca always got my business. up untill about 3 years ago i got a load of rca a week. pretty impressive for a town of only 2500 people. i draw a large area. why because i give great service with resonable repair prices. and have been here for over 25 years. i must admit i am almost ready to quit. business is good but i am getting bored. steve
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#22
11-08-2005, 01:08 PM
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Steve, are you still an RCA dealer? I can't think of anybody independent around here who still carries them. Our town is the same size as yours, I think the shop downtown here is the only independent left in our county. In fact, I think the only other place you can buy a new tv in Caroline County, MD is in the Roses discount store in the county seat. Well, a Radio Shack dealer just opened up there but I haven't been in to see what he carries. Anyway, the shop in town here still has signage for Zenith & Philips Magnavox but I think what little he sells he buys from another dealer 30 minutes away.
__________________
Bryan
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#23
11-11-2005, 12:47 PM
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<<<It's hard to believe that they can make new TVs and sell them for such a low price that it's impossible for used TVs to compete>>
I'm picturing a hoard of Chinese political prisoners being whipped while installing the picture tubes into cheapo 13-inch color sets...
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#24
11-13-2005, 08:32 PM
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yes we are still an rca dealer. been selling mostly dlp sets as of lately. i dont want one of thoes to break down but they will. we are buying loads of scratch and dent proj. sets. last load was sony and samsung. the sonys are a pain in the big ass to fix. these sets sell real well. about $600.00 each. most are in fine condition when they get here. some have broke mirrors and some have had tech,s in them that did not know how to fix a big screen. still i am ready to give it up. steve
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