As for Randy, see if you can find old units, may be less effort to refurbish than build from scratch.
I have found amplifiers and keyboards in the flea markets here, and most needed a wash and a dose of contact cleaner.
They work well enough after that.
Price was about 5% of new.
Once, a Brother M-1500 portable typewriter for $4, and that model was sold in Japan only, how it got to India wold be a nice story.
Cleaned, return string wound on pulley, a spray of WD40, and a new ribbon (finding that took effort!), and good to go.
I have found amplifiers and keyboards in the flea markets here, and most needed a wash and a dose of contact cleaner.
They work well enough after that.
Price was about 5% of new.
Once, a Brother M-1500 portable typewriter for $4, and that model was sold in Japan only, how it got to India wold be a nice story.
Cleaned, return string wound on pulley, a spray of WD40, and a new ribbon (finding that took effort!), and good to go.
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Oh yes, he did!
Kolkata may seem obscure from Argentina or North America, but 4.5 million people live there...it's hardly obscure to any of them, or the rest of the 1.4 billion Indian people! 🙂
-Gnobuddy
I've heard it said that, traditionally, the Inuit used to base the value of an item, on how important it was to their survival, and the price was set by the buyer, not the seller.
A knife would be worth a lot if you didn't already have one - without a knife, you would not live long in that part of the world, as it was an essential tool. However, a fine Persian rug - an expensive luxury elsewhere in the West - would be worth essentially nothing to an Inuit person. They are useless in the Yukon.
I'm the Inuit person in this analogy. I have two real Fender tube guitar amps - both too loud to use during the COVID-19 pandemic, with live music events shut down or too dangerous to attend. My Fender guitar amplifiers have turned into Persian rugs in the Yukon - luxurious elsewhere, virtually useless to me in my current situation.
Meantime, the Flamma Preamp - which cost one-tenth as much as my '65 Princeton Reverb reissue - has become my mainstay. It is now the only knife I own, so to speak. The one thing that lets me continue to enjoy playing electric guitar, in an apartment, surrounded by fragile white-haired senior citizens, all shut-in by a pandemic that won't let up.
So yeah, the Flamma Preamp is now worth much more to me than both my real Fender tube amps put together. 🙂
-Gnobuddy
I live in Baroda (now called Vadodara)...it is 1560 km., nearly 1000 miles from Kolkata.
Last visited in 1991 for a friend's wedding.
Must be Nirupam Bhowmick you have in mind, he lives 70 km. from Kolkata.
All I ever told people to look for is the kits from Delhi, that city is 1000 km. from my city too.
Last visited in 1991 for a friend's wedding.
Must be Nirupam Bhowmick you have in mind, he lives 70 km. from Kolkata.
All I ever told people to look for is the kits from Delhi, that city is 1000 km. from my city too.
Actually, the main market for electronics in India is Delhi, and there are some good sources on Lamington Road in Bombay (now known as Mumbai).
Kolkata is a city where people are migrating away from, due to political and economic reasons, other cities have overtaken it in population.
Not a particularly aspirational destination.
As for Mumbai, there are places which stock the weirdest items, once a Brother daisy wheel (not to be found in the USA), man says what only one?!
Rarotype (Berlin, Germany)... it worked.
He even had IBM electric typewriter golf ball elements, from the 1960s.
Another time, a Rotring lettering stencil for use with drawing pens, again not to be found in the UK...it was an unusual size and style.
Since I do not visit Kolkata, I have no contact with the merchants there.
So I am not going to be able to recommend merchants of any sort from there.
For me, Ahmedabad is 100 km. That is also a well stocked market.
Mumbai is 400 km. Very well stocked, good quality, more expensive than Delhi.
Delhi is 1000 km. Good for large volumes, not so good for obscure parts, and quality can vary.
As I usually do only some repair work, I buy the parts from a market here in Baroda, and if it is not found here, the known merchants I deal with can find it. They have been in business for many years, and they know which merchant has what item in stock, and I get it third day, at a price which is very reasonable.
Kolkata is a city where people are migrating away from, due to political and economic reasons, other cities have overtaken it in population.
Not a particularly aspirational destination.
As for Mumbai, there are places which stock the weirdest items, once a Brother daisy wheel (not to be found in the USA), man says what only one?!
Rarotype (Berlin, Germany)... it worked.
He even had IBM electric typewriter golf ball elements, from the 1960s.
Another time, a Rotring lettering stencil for use with drawing pens, again not to be found in the UK...it was an unusual size and style.
Since I do not visit Kolkata, I have no contact with the merchants there.
So I am not going to be able to recommend merchants of any sort from there.
For me, Ahmedabad is 100 km. That is also a well stocked market.
Mumbai is 400 km. Very well stocked, good quality, more expensive than Delhi.
Delhi is 1000 km. Good for large volumes, not so good for obscure parts, and quality can vary.
As I usually do only some repair work, I buy the parts from a market here in Baroda, and if it is not found here, the known merchants I deal with can find it. They have been in business for many years, and they know which merchant has what item in stock, and I get it third day, at a price which is very reasonable.
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