Encyc Brown
Addicted Member
I spoke with Jerry Saunders of Hartman & Sons in Roanoke VA, via the telephone. Again, This is the service shop that would be 2.5 hours each way / 5.0 round trip. I am thinking the drive with units in the back seat resting in boxes and buffered for the drive would be preferable than shipping back to sellers. I really appreciate their willingness to take care of the issues but it requires I send it back round trip. These 40 year old units are vulnerable on these trucks. Jerry really impressed me! He did not actually state his age but eluded to it with his credentials. He said he specializes in Pioneer and Marantz and has build up quite a stock of parts over his career. He said he could tackle about any issue / unit I brought him especially being vintage Pioneer. He said he also is very good at turntable service. He says he knows turntables inside and out going back to 1938 models. That is when he laughed and stated that may give a hint as to his age. Anyway, the man sounds like he knows what he is doing and has the parts stock to handle repairs. He said about the only thing that would be hard to find these days are knobs. Don't know why he singled that part out, but he did. So, I am still wishy washy, but I am now thinking about taking the 3 decks that are down for the count over to Roanoke via a nice 5 hour weekend saturday road trip. I could drop all 3 off at once. He said he has about a 3 week turn around time at the moment. I will of course pay for service / repair and the gas going over, but it will save on shipping and insurance. The benefit with this option is I have control of the units safe in my back seat well packed for the trip and no worries about handing sensitive and beautiful vintage equipment to the UPS man. (Sorry UPS!). Ya, I am thinking this is the best route to go to wrap up these decks after their point of origin via e-bay. That is where I got em', but maybe not the place to send them back to for the service to ensure they work. What a project and effort this has turned into in the last month. I just want it all behind me and the decks working well in my lil ole neck of the woods way out in Hillbilly Rural America.