Hi,

I am hoping that this isn't a vintage stereo taboo that I am going to ask, but I have a late 60's GE console stereo that has a beautiful case. On the inside there is an AM/FM radio, record player and reel to reel tape player. For a while now I've been wanting to convert it to have a newer receiver with better speakers and a CD player. Would this be an awful thing for me to do? I'm sure that it could work fine with a little work as it is, but I don't have much use for a reel to reel tape player and I don't have any more records. I am not planning on selling it because it was left to me, but I really don't want to destroy any value that there might be in it by doing something that wouldn't go over well.

Any information you would be willing to give, as well as links to sites that might have tips for doing this, would be great!

Thanks
Dennis

Email responses would be great!

At this point in history they are not highly
collectible..which is not to say they won't be in the
future. I would never advocate this for a 50s or
earlier set, but the 60s, well, not too special generally speaking.
But it's your call. All I would suggest is that
if you do rip out old components, sell or donate them
to someone who might want them and don't throw them in
the landfill. You could always put the stuff up on ebay.
There is probably some value in the audio output tubes, etc.
and someone may be looking for just the thing you're
trying to get rid of.

I think that Chris offered you some excellent advice.

Another option might be, if you have the room, to remove all of the original components and carefully
pack them and store them. Then, say in 20+ years, they could be reinstalled into the unit. Case in point:
about 30 years ago, my friend's mother was given a deluxe Victrola VV-XVIII (spring-wound acoustic
type) that belonged to her late father. She removed the horn, motor board, tone arm, etc., along with the
internal shelves and packed them in a large crate and put it in her basement. Then, she had a new interior
constructed for the cabinet which just fit into place where the old "innards" had been. Basically she turned
the cabinet into a bar! (This was all the rage in the early 1970s.)

When my friend inherited the Victrola a couple of years ago, he removed the internal fixtures his mother
had added and reinstalled all of the original components. He recently had the Victrola, which is in
PERFECT & original condition appraised at about $2,500-$3,000. (In the early 1970s, it was worth
about 25-50 bucks and was considered old junk!)