Hello,

I thought I'd ask here before converting my CD player into an inverse
AIRFIX lifesize model.

My about 10 y.o. SONY har recently begun misbehaving, with progressively
worse skipping primarily when playing newish (Audio) CDs, the first
three (innermost) tracks mostly affected.

Last week I opened the cabinet for the first time since it was
assembled, discovering a very clean inside, with whitish grease still
neatly lubricating the interacting surfaces of the disk transport
mechanism. Only sign indicating use was on the inside of the cover above
the transformator, where a light deposit could be wiped off. I cleaned
the laser disk gently with ethanol, but found nothing else I obviously
could do anything with. Subjectively, I imagine a slight improvement in
the clarity of music played post-cleaning (but this may be a
placebo-like effect).

The skipping continued as before. Today I consulted a local SONY shop,
who informed they'd be happy to take it in and look at it (£42). If they
could do anything to it they would charge per hour (£36) spent fiddling
with it. If they decided they could do nothing with, it they would
generously deduct the "staring fee" against the purchase price of a new
unit from them. Needless to say, I left immediately.

Does anyone recognise this behaviour as signs of increasing misalignment
(or other correctable deviations from normalty) ?

If this is the case, can anyone recommend an independent workshop which
might adjust the player?

Or alternatively, does anyone know whether this may be done DIY-wise;
thus instructions of how to do it would be very much appreciated (very
often, specialist servicing jobs are surprisingly simple!).

Thanks for any input!

(And whilst typing the above, I've listened to one of my favourite
recordings, purchased the same year as the player - without any
skipping)

Cheers,

--
T Sandvik // to send e-mail, remove clothes