Well that explains it and marks the final end of an era in my area
On to more positive thoughts... I carefully snipped out the 5 HV caps and tacked in ASC replacements.
I took a lot of reference photos and am carefully storing all the old caps. I'll be giving the owner two repairs estimates. One with all new caps and one for a full restuffing. Either way the caps will be saved. They have nice Motorola logos under all that wax.
That got me this. OK reception but unable to get a sharp focus. After a few rounds of troubleshooting, it suddenly started working much better. For a while... then back to a muddy image. Let it cool down and sharp picture gain.
Still have a few paper caps to replace so I'm not too concerned yet.
I did learn something useful while digging through the HV bleeder resistors. They all have around 700-1,000 volts across them but they appear to only be 1W carbon comps. Those have a max voltage rating of only 500. I've seen other electrostatic sets use 2W which are good to 750. Either way, that's really pushing them.
Now I do have a supply of Vishay VR37 resistors good for 3,500 volts I can pop in, but they are light blue and will run the originality.
Still on the fence - originality vs reliability
Will consult with the owner.
https://www.vishay.com/resistors-fix...product-28907/
