To clarify: I don’t like working on equipment that others have ruined, sadly, a relatively common scenario.

In a nutshell, I don’t enjoy cleaning up messes created by others, hospital handpasses, as they are called in footy. The best scenario is hi-fi equipment that is unmolested, perhaps dirty or even broken, but in otherwise good, original condition. I am always happy to work on pieces that skilled technicians have worked on, but sadly, they are few and far between.

Many DIY and poorly executed commercial attempts at maintenance create problems such as damaged printed circuit boards and pads, compromised wiring and low-quality, incorrect or mismatched parts. This work rarely resolves the original issues and usually introduces new faults, all of which must then be diagnosed and resolved. A classic example is this Sansui AU-317.

They say a picture tells a thousand words, though, so the best explanation of why I often refuse to look at equipment that has been worked on by the worst offenders is summarised perfectly here:

This scenario isn’t limited to electronics; it’s everywhere. Every good mechanic understands the pain of working on a vehicle with loose, broken, stripped or missing fasteners everywhere. Likewise, doctors see bad plastic surgery, and lawyers encounter terrible legal work.

Undoing bad work is tedious, time-consuming and therefore expensive, wherever it is found. When you’ve seen and rectified as much of this sort of thing as I have, you will understand why I generally avoid it!