Tony Meloche wrote:
craigm wrote:
wrote:
Yes I agree Telamon. A good service bureau is an expensive
proposition. The ones I am familiar with (industrial based) barely
break even after salaries are paid. The important thing here is that
somebody is getting paid a salary. I would think the consumer market
is even worse. I suppose that is why so many mom & pop tv radio shops
are gone now. It's a shame.
73
Bob
N9NEO
If there were a demand for the mom and pop repair shops they would still
be around. However radios and TVs no longer need to have tubes replaced
on a regular basis. Without that business there is little for them to
do. Combine that with generally decreasing prices for electronic
products and it becomes advantagous for folks to replace rather than
repair.
craigm
I agree. When I was knee-high (mid fifties) TV repair shops were
swamped with work, and many "8 to 4:30" guys studied nights to learn TV
repair, and made it into a lucrative sideline. The original TV chassis
(save the Muntz, for one) had around 32 tubes on the board besides the
CRT. They were in the shop three, sometimes four times a year as a
matter of course, as they slowly cooked themselves to death. People
accepted it as part of the miracle of "pictures through the air".
Madman Muntz designed a 17 tube chassis (some double duty some cut
corners) and they were very reliable sets - maybe into the shop once or
twice a year (we had one for years).
Craig M is right - Assuming they pass the "infant mortality" stage,
todays electronics last about exactly as long as it takes for people to
*want* a new one - for better features or whatever reason.
Tony
Back then TV sets were very expensive and not particularly reliable.
Tubes went out, tuners needed cleaning and the early color sets seemed
to need frequent realigning. A TV nice TV set with far more features
than the sets of the 1950's costs a lot less and is highly reliable.
When a new CRT set finally does die the replacement cost is usually
equal to the price of a new one.
Does anyone know if there are repair shops for the still pricey plasma
and lcd sets?