Looks fairly tidy, boxed with what looks like all the original items. Shame the photos look like they’ve been taken through an ice cube.

As I type this the bidding is up to US $224.60 and its still not met its reserve price with 6 days to go.

Seeing that manual reminds me, does anyone have one they could scan so I can share it on this site? That’d be nice.

Leaking battery cells will cause the spring contacts to corrode. You can help prevent this by coating the contacts with silicone grease.

You can use it in any equipment that uses battery cells – from remote controls, model boats, model cars to hearing aids.

Seems like a sensible, easy and cheap precaution to take on our turntables to me.

I plan to add a maintenance section to this site one day to which I’ll add this, but in the meantime I thought I’d post this info here as it may help others and to remind me to add it to a more permanent part of the site one day.

Sony Linear Tracking Stereo Turntable PS-F5 for repair – eBay (item 200589266795 end time Mar-27-11 21:21:06 PDT).

Interesting how the user inserts the records in their sleeves. Not sure if that’s really necessary, specially as he seems to pull them back out to see which way round he’s put the record in.

I saw this UK eBay listing for a P-Mount with a decent photo:

This is what a VL-44G cartridge from a PS-F5 turntable looks like (with stylus installed):

The difference is plain to see

So the question remains, is there another Audio Technica model number that these cartridges go by? That would surely help in tracking down replacement/ upgrade cartridges. The quest continues…

What doesn’t quite add up to me is why the seller would have removed the It’s A Sony sticker from the front of the player and stuck it on the cardboard box. Weird. Anyway, I guess you could try to stick it back on, but I doubt it would go back all that cleanly.

So if money’s no object and you want an almost Fresh-Out-the-Box clean example, throw in a bid now.

Update:
It only received one bid, but sold for US $1,200.00!

Some vintage gadget enthusiasts have come up with a home-brew chemical gel that can be applied to yellowed plastic which restores it to its original colour. This wonderful sounding product’s called Retr0bright.

“We have now proved on several forums that plastics yellowing can be completely reversed in hours without damage using our mixture.”

There are a number of recipes on their Wiki. Thankfully all of the chemicals involved are easily obtainable (at least here in the UK) and all are safe apart from Hydrogen Peroxide, which is the main ingredient in hair bleach and is to be treated with respect. Be sure to wear gloves and goggles and work in a well ventilated room.

I was initially concerned about any chemical solution affecting the printing on the case, but then I saw this Lego piece in the Retr0Bright gallery, which is painted. The paint appears unaffected by the process:

Although the Problems and Pitfalls page on the site does show some examples of label fade, the printing on the PS-F5 is generally of good quality with a heavy black ink, so hopefully this won’t be too much of an issue, especially if the Sony’s not too yellowed, and therefore doesn’t require many applications.

There are other examples in the gallery with stickers and paint too, all of which suggest that it should be safe. Something I’m not sure about is whether the smoked transparent plastic on the front of the case would need to be removed prior to applying the gel. Maybe masking would be safest, attempting to remove the glued in smoked panel may cause breakage.

I’d like to give this a try, but would really appreciate it if anyone out there has a spare case (or piece of case, ideally one with some printing) for their PS-F5 that they’re willing to experiment on and report back to the site so I can let everyone know for sure that this works on our Sonys and is safe.

“There were an incredible number of people at first that said this was impossible – that was until they saw the pictures, then tried it and proved it for themselves. The usual reaction was ‘No way!’ then ‘WOW!!’.

This looks to be a mighty fine example. I’ve seen worse go for more money on eBay. If you’re looking for a clean PS-F5 with all the trimmings (apart from a case & power supply) and have a spare 500 bucks to spend, this could well be for you.

The description reads “comes with original box,manual,rca cables,sony mdr-30t headphones,it plays record and sound good,clean battery compartment”

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