Hi all,
I just came across a beautiful Fender Deluxe 5E3 amp, in amazing condition. I have some questions about the restoration process. Any help would be appreciated. Some background: I don't normally work on amps but rebuild 1930s transformered radios and can find my way around inside a chassis with not much difficulty.
Anyway, not being familiar with Fender equipment/techniques, my questions:
1. What is the best way to remove the electrolytics, bypass caps etc.? Is my best bet to remove the entire eyelet board? And if so, can someone advise the best way to remove it? I am going to replace the electrolytic filter caps with 16/475 Sprague Atoms, the bypass caps with 25/25 Sprague Atoms, and the coupling caps (If any are bad/leaky) with Mallory 150s.
Ideally, I would like to preserve the full leads on all of the original caps, to keep with the amp. If that involves removing the eyelet board, so be it.
2. One half of the primary on the output transformer is open, and it will need to be replaced. If you were going to replace an AOT on a nice vintage 5E3, what transformer would you use? Heyboer? Magnetic? Any thoughts on my best bet for the best tone would be appreciated.
Thank you!
Here's a link to an album with a few pics of the amp:
http://imgur.com/a/AlVii