Hitachi V-152

[ablethevoice]

I promise I'll get to the subject of this thread title in a minute. I've always been a fan of tube stuff, but it wasn't until fairly recently that I learned about the concept of a full recap of an old device rather than a troubleshoot to locate specific component(s) which have gone bad.
Here's the deal: I have a Hitachi V-152 oscilloscope which I found and bought in fully functioning condition about 6 years ago. I don't use it as a piece of test equipment so much as I do a monitor to examine waveforms as I'm creating new sounds on any one of several synthesizers I use in my studio (see podcast link below)

My creativity level ebbs and flows in an irregular manner and there are some periods of time where I don't do anything musical for weeks or months. Being a husband and a dad as well as running my own voiceover business does that to one. Anyway, I've found myself with some real free time that I have been putting to musical use again and for the first time in months, I powered up the old 152 only to find that it no longer works as it should. I still get one or the other or both traces and I still can draw waveforms in those traces, but the traces are short and stumpy and no longer reach from one side of the screen to the other. It dawned on me that this rig might be a candidate for a partial or a total recap, but I've not been able to find much info at all on this beast online. Heck, I can't even figure out how old this thing is.
So my question to you all is, where might I go to locate an operating and maintainence manual for this old scope? I'd rather not just pop this old man open blind without even a component placement map or a schematic.
Any thoughts?
Thanks.
Tom

[Keefla]

tom,

not to sidetrack the thread but i like your work. very creative. just wanted to let you know. good luck with everything.

keith

[ablethevoice]

Thanks, Keith! I appreciate the comment (I'd like to know if these pieces sound "good" on someone's high-end system or are they all smashed and compressed and sound like crap?)

Anyway, back to the subject at hand: anyone have any info on the o'scope? I'm surprised to see how little I'm able to locate on this particular device.

[wkand]

The problem with older Japanese test equipment (also true for newer LG Test Eq) is that service info was either shipped with the unit, and not documented anywhere else, like those old transistor radios, or not documented at all, because sales volumes were too low.

The stuff worked well for a while, and was very cheap compared to the Tek and Phillips scopes of the era. Schools were a big customer for Hitachi scopes.

[fsjonsey]

The paper in oil capacitors used in Japanese electronics of that era are notorious for failing. If they haven't failed yet, they will soon enough. I've never had a piece of japanese tube equipment, be it an amplifier, radio, or tape recorder that I haven't had to recap. New capacitors will probably bring that o-scope back to life.