In Praise of Repairing

Thankfully, there are people out there that revel in rejuvenating all things mechanical!
Thats a nice one! I have a lot of my dads old albums and would like to get a decent turn table to play them again.

Amen. Sadly, it almost requires someone on a reliable pension or with an inheritance to do this kind of work because the fees they can charge don't pay the rent in most cases. There's a photographer who has done gallery shows of photos of mountains of discarded devices and appliances to illustrate how the disposable economy generates waste. I can still remember when a refrigerator lasted forty or fifty years and a radio receiver might do the same. It's not common, but a few beloved automobiles still have parts manufactured for replacements, as with the Ford Model T and some of the MG sports roadsters and some others. I had my wife's much loved little Singer sewing machine, portable, rehabbed by a man in town who does this, and her clarinet rehabbed by a local musical instrument shop. Glory be to these guys and gals.

mikethompson, Happy you found them.
Made me remember my Gerard in the 60's with Fisher speakers. Forgot the brand of amp, & a LOT more.

If often times mourn the loss of old fashioned craftsmanship. In my home town we used to have quite a bit of that as I was growing up. Last week I was looking for an old timer, that for the past 40 odd years was working with leather. You know, harnesses, backpacks, belts, ammo belts, knife sheaths, to find out that he passed away and that nobody took his place, as hand leather works are not in demand anymore. This week an elderly jeweler died in town, to read in the newspaper that he was the last to hand craft jewelry in our home town .. sad our wedding bands, and my wife's engagement ring were made by this guy. There used to be radio and tv repair shops, watch repair shops (well, there is one left, and the former apprentice is still young and does a pretty good job), etc. Hardly anything left ... supply and demand, man. Like mso said, why repair if it costs more to repair than to buy new ... regardless of the price we pay, as a society, for disposing waste.

This is happening here as well, though almost every jeweler shop has their own subcontractors to perform watch and wall clock repairs,but it is no worth sending them an average cheapo hand wind mechanical wristwatch,only those of higher end watches might be worth repairing because the cost they tend to charge for cleaning, oil change and time adjusting would easily cost more than $100,