|
If I had a rare or really mint condition set, I'd go to the trouble of pulling the board. I actually did that on one of my Predictas (hardly a rare or mint set, but hey, it seemed like a good idea at the time...) Otherwise, for a garden-variety set, I have NO problem just working from the top. It's always entirely upgradable to a fussier restoration in the future if someone should choose to do so. And as Tom noted, I'm less likely to cause other problems in the process.
Many years ago, a company (Mallory?) used to sell kits of repair parts that I think were called "squigs" which were little coils of wire that looked like very small springs, with an inside diameter the same size as capacitor leads. You would insert the coil over the cut end of the wire left from the part that had been removed. Then you'd insert the end of the replacement part into the other end of the coil and solder it. A very easy and secure repair (although admittedly it didn't look as nice as unsoldering the old part.) A guy in our club figured out how to make a tool out of brass tubing and piano wire to make it easy to wind those tiny little coils. It makes it a LOT easier to replace parts as long as you're not shooting for a pristine restored appearance.
|