Got myself a Pioneer 979 deck, and am not sure what to do with it. It's an awesome deck -- Pioneer's #2 model -- and in almost-new condition.
The purchase was a long story. Bought it from a seller in Hungary three years ago, and got it shipped to my friend in Amsterdam. (EU-to-EU shipping is inexpensive, safe, and has no Customs.) My aim was to find a restoration and refurbishment expert in the EU before I brought it back. So I found someone, but Covid struck, and I couldn't get the deck shipped from Amsterdam to him for two years. When Covid lifted, this expert had decided to hang up his boots. So I found MagneticBlood in Romania, who has done awesome restoration for my WM-D6* decks, and asked him whether he does full-size decks too. He said yes, I got my Amsterdam friend to ship them to him, and he took three months and restored it to as-new spec. He said one idler was a mess, so he had to do deep disassembly and replace the idler. Heads were fine, electronics were mostly fine, but a thorough cleaning, measurement, lubrication, alignment, and calibration of everything was done. Now it's working better than spec and MagneticBlood is playing it regularly at his home.
I have now got too many spectacular decks, so I am not even sure I want to get it to India -- maybe I should look for a buyer in the EU or UK. I never imagined I'll reach a point where I'll hesitate to get a Pioneer CT-93 or 979, but here I am.
These photos are from MagneticBlood -- I haven't seen the deck yet.
The purchase was a long story. Bought it from a seller in Hungary three years ago, and got it shipped to my friend in Amsterdam. (EU-to-EU shipping is inexpensive, safe, and has no Customs.) My aim was to find a restoration and refurbishment expert in the EU before I brought it back. So I found someone, but Covid struck, and I couldn't get the deck shipped from Amsterdam to him for two years. When Covid lifted, this expert had decided to hang up his boots. So I found MagneticBlood in Romania, who has done awesome restoration for my WM-D6* decks, and asked him whether he does full-size decks too. He said yes, I got my Amsterdam friend to ship them to him, and he took three months and restored it to as-new spec. He said one idler was a mess, so he had to do deep disassembly and replace the idler. Heads were fine, electronics were mostly fine, but a thorough cleaning, measurement, lubrication, alignment, and calibration of everything was done. Now it's working better than spec and MagneticBlood is playing it regularly at his home.
I have now got too many spectacular decks, so I am not even sure I want to get it to India -- maybe I should look for a buyer in the EU or UK. I never imagined I'll reach a point where I'll hesitate to get a Pioneer CT-93 or 979, but here I am.
These photos are from MagneticBlood -- I haven't seen the deck yet.
