Panasonic SG-610D

When is a radio not a radio? When you push the button on the speaker and it becomes a secret evil funk vinyl machine! Best thing to come out of the Panasonic factory in 1967 was the SG-610. Took me ages to find one without a dented speaker.  Only sold in America because it had an auto 45/33 speed detect button in centre of turntable, and there 45's have a big holes in them. So solid centres will play at 33 rpm and 7" singles at 45 rpm. I've always liked Panasonic products starting from the days when I was a television repair man, they have a quality internal build that shows attention to detail. Founded in 1918 by Konosuke Matsishita as a light bulb socket maker and later bicycle lamps under the National brand. I also own a funky red yo-yo shaped radio from 1970 that was one of the first to use thick film resistors, a sort of paint-on component that is essential today for miniaturization of computers.
This one arrived with all it broken bits stuck to the cabinet with Sellotape thankfully, making the repairs much easier to do. The telescopic aerial was broken off and bent, also the top had fallen off the selector switch knob and a piece of plastic had broken off the tone arm. All were glued back where they belonged, then there was a problem with mains voltage, this machine working only on 110 volt a.c. mains, so I added a step-down transformer that is concealed in the mains plug and bingo we have life. The styli and crystal cartridge were fine, although a pick up level adjuster control had gone open circuit, causing intermittent sound from the record player, soon fixed with a little 3-in-1 oil. The mains cable has a box concealment at rear and the cover was missing, that was corrected by cutting cardboard into the right shape and spay painting it black and attaching a black plastic knob that was a wall poster pin.

New a.c. cable door made (bottom right)

Inside it's well made and solid

Many hours are lost cleaning the dust from grills with a tooth brush and rubbing away what antique patina (greasy stuff that dealers like to see on old objects.) I thought at first the loud speaker was behind the chrome front 'speaker grill', if that was the case the volume would have shaken the styli out of the grooves, so what Panasonic did was hide it inside the main body of the radio inside the open door, putting lots of holes in the door so the sound goes through it when closed and not being used for records - cleaver.
I must say the volume control is not easy to reach to clean, so I'm saving that job for another day, some times when you take units apart for the first time you can hit unexpected snags that cause you even greater trouble, so some crackles from the control I can live with for now. The plastic piece broken from the tone arm was easy to re-fit with Super Glue, the arm pulls away from its lock position and it's easy to think it needs lifting as normal players do, that's why it had broke, a sort of a designer fault, lol On the left side of the tuning dial in the black paint was a long scratch, I hid this from view by putting a short length of black 'sticky-back plastic' over it. It has a few scuffs to the chrome, but hell ... it's 49 years old now what do you expect?