picky Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 "Craig", as in “NOS Valves” that is. Please allow me to share a story with you all that has a happy ending... I sent Craig a deposit about a year ago to schedule my 1961 EICO ST-70 tube amp in his service queue for a complete rebuild. My slot finally opened up last month (June) so I got the amp up to him while he was visiting somebody in Davidson. Craig had moved further north this past spring and so we took advantage of the fact that he was a shorter distance for me to drive to drop it off with him. I told him I’d be ready to pick the amp up on Saturday, July 25th, so he said he’d have it ready for me at his house. Verna and I decided to make a little road trip out of it and invited another couple to drive up north with us. Our long-time friends, Tom & Miriam accompanied us Friday afternoon. They have a Klipsch Home Theater in their basement but are not forum members. They have attended one of my “Pickyfests” a couple of years ago, so they have met a few of our members. We drove up to Tawas for the night and the rain got so bad on US23 that we nearly had to pull over for a while because it was so hard to see, even with the wipers on “high”. We made it to our motel safely and we were able to make a really nice night of it. We went out to dinner at a brew pub in Oscoda called Wiltse’s. The micro brew tasted pretty good but a little flat. The food was pretty good. We would like to try it again sometime. We picked up some adult beverages to take back to the motel and we sat at a table in the lobby area a played Euchre until about 1 am. The manager didn’t see to mind too much so long as we kept it down to a dull roar. LOL Unfortunately, the only tunes we were able to enjoy we on my cell phone’s speaker. Klipsch needs to think about making a cell phone with a speaker for audiophiles! LOL Still, it was better than nothing and after a few of those beverages, the dang thing almost sounded good! The next morning we got up and both of our rooms were without ANY hot water. RATS! No shower! The hotel’s boiler had gone and we both got 20% off our rooms. Apparently the entire place was affected. No worries; we checked out and had a nice breakfast down the street at Augie’s, a little place we try to frequent when we are in Tawas. We also had to introduce Tom & Miriam to Norman’s. It’s a discount clothing store in the middle of town that just about anyone who’s been up north knows about. There’s one in Standish, too. They sell lots of shoes, coats, shirts, pants, jackets and even waders and hunting gear. The shelves are literally stacked to the ceiling and it’s a big store. You can get a flannel shirt in there for $6 bucks. After Norman’s we checked out a few of the shops in the little downtown area and then it started to rain. It was about time to head over to Craig’s any way. I had told Craig we’d be there around midday. We got there a bit early as it wasn’t quite noon. Craig met us out at the car with a big smile on his face as usual. It was good to see him. He introduced us to his wife and we also met their three dogs. They’ve got a really nice place there in deer country. It’s hilly and well kept on about 9-1/2 acres. They have a nice house that’s a pretty good size, especially his work shop. I never saw his old place but he said this place has so much more room and everything is now on one floor. They just moved in this spring and they are storing things for a house that is being built next door so he said his shop is still in transition. Even so, Craig has a really nice setup in there and plenty of room. His test bench is really cozy and he has a nice assortment of test gear including a pair of VRD’s. He mentioned he has more equipment stored away that he would bring out later as the room progresses. But there it was; my Eico ST70: Just playing away, driving his custom La Scala’s just like it was no effort at all. The amp sounded great, too. Craig went through the list of items he had replaced with me. The amp has now been re-capped and he had to replace a rectifier tube that someone in the past had replaced with a solid-state, plug-in that simulates (sort of) a vacuum tube rectifier. The case of this device almost looks like a piece of ½” or 5/8” copper plumbing tube with a round pipe cap soldered on top. All of the solid state works are stuffed inside of the pipe. The bottom has a standard vacuum tube connector plug that fits the socket on the amp’s chassis. When this replacement apparatus blew, Craig figures that the 3 amp fuse in the amp went, too. Craig also replaced a diode and installed a brand new power cord, among other things. Many of these old Eico’s began life as kits and in many cases, the assemblers made mistakes when they put them together. Mine was no exception; it was a kit and Craig did find some mistakes made in the wiring that he corrected and even found a short in the phono circuit. He realigned the amp and cleaned everything up including the faceplate. Anyone who knows the Eico ST-70, knows they are an ugly amp. But, it sure looks purdy now! I’ll have to take a picture of it to post here for you. It certainly looks great gracing my Craftsman, tool roller chest out in my garage, where I use it to drive my Heresy IIIs. We spent some time at Craig’s place. His wife is very nice and we all enjoyed talking with them both and watching the dogs play. Craig and his wife explained some of the plans they both have for their place and everything sounds like it’ll be real nice. We packed up the amp and I thanked Craig for doing such a great job on our little friend. Then we went on our way to do some sightseeing since the rain had stopped. We stopped along the Au Sable River ridge on the River Road Scenic By-Way to view the vistas that the National Park service has built at various vantage points such as Loud Dam Pond, the Canoeists Monument and the Lumberjack’s Monument. I will post some of the pictures later. The area is simply beautiful. We made our way back to Oscoda and decided a stop at the local Dairy Queen was in order. Afterwards, we headed south on US23 along Lake Huron and I took the folks to a couple of my old deer hunting areas to show them some of the local landmarks and out to the gypsum quarry at Alabaster, where the old conveyor used to stand that took the ore out to deep water where it was loaded onto freighters. The conveyors are now gone, but the huge support pilings remain in the water. We returned down-state to Tom & Miriam’s house round 7 pm and we had some pizza and beer for dinner. Verna and I returned home around 10 pm. It’s always so great to get home, even after a short time. The next day (Sunday) I hooked up the Eico in the garage to our Heresey’s and man did they ever sound great! They used to sound good in the past when they were driven by the Eico before it quit working. But, now the sound is fuller and richer and the pots don’t make noise any more. It was well worth the time, effort and reasonable cost to have the wonderful old amp rebuilt by Craig. I highly recommend that all of you contact Craig if you need any work done to your equipment. His work is Top Notch and he is very knowledgeable! Thanks Craig! It was so good to see you and meet your wife. I also am happy that you have finally been able to return to the North Country, somewhat near where you grew up. You seem so much more relaxed now and less stressed. That is something we could ALL use more of! - Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 great story, thanks for taking the time to write it, waiting for the pics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hifi jim Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Excellent story complete with happy ending... reminds me that I need to get off my @ss and send Craig my Scott 222! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 Here are the photos I promised... Our long-time friends,Tom & Miriam whom some of you have met with the Au Sable River in the background: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 The Au Sable River (in Lower Michigan) near Loud Dam Pond: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 My beautiful bride Verna and I at the Au Sable: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 The Au Sable near the Canoeist's Monument: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 The ridge is fairly steep and about 400 feet down to the water: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 High Water Quality, Brown and Brook Trout fishing: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 The river becomes rather wide at the Lumberman's Memorial: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 We thought about building a house on that little island out there......for about a minute! LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 Me and Tom discuss the view near the Lumberman's Monument: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 The bronze, Lumberman's Monument was placed in 1931. Old photos show that there wasn;t a single tree around back then. We assume they'd all been logged out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 There are plenty of trees around, now. Miriam shows just how large the momument is: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 The end of the road sign for M55 at US-23 in Tawas. That's Lake Huron which looks just like an ocean. You can't see the other side but Canada is over there: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 Here are a couple of "Before" pictues of the EICO ST-70: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 It had a lot of yellowing from cigarette smoke over the years. No, not from us; we don't smoke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 Today's setup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 The EICO's faceplate is now clean and shiny thanks to Craig. Unfortunately, I still have that one bad knob with the missing insert. Other than that, I think it looks great and I hope you think so, too. That's a Sony 5-disc carousel CD player and an old Detrola vacuum tube radio that I use for listening to the Detroit TIgers baseball games in the garage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 All of the faceplate lettering still looks good: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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