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Aren't those black strips just a surface mounted pot?

Yeah, it's a potentiometer, just not one that's self contained or particularly robust.

After cleaning the "strips" with isopropyl alcohol (not much to it -- I actually just used my finger) and letting the little plastic doo-dad with the metal "legs" soak for about 30 minutes, the microphone slider works correctly once more. Or maybe it was due to me adjusting the actual microphone a bit? Really don't know. Either way, it's working when it wasn't before. :-)

Now to figure out if it's possible to replace the cartridge connector with a new one so I can end the shove-cardboard-behind-the-cartridge method. Heh. :-)

koitsu wrote:Now to figure out if it's possible to replace the cartridge connector with a new one so I can end the shove-cardboard-behind-the-cartridge method. Heh.

I'm guessing there are other physical constraints that cause issues, but from what I remember the pitch matches up with the 60pin connectors on digikey. I've used these connectors on my kazzo cart dumper and they've worked well with famicom carts.

If your interested in more details I can take some comparable measurements and such compared to my FC and those connectors. You'll be loosing out on the mounting tabs obviously, but depending upon if you can find original replacements they might be your best options.

koitsu wrote:After cleaning the "strips" with isopropyl alcohol (not much to it -- I actually just used my finger) and letting the little plastic doo-dad with the metal "legs" soak for about 30 minutes, the microphone slider works correctly once more. Or maybe it was due to me adjusting the actual microphone a bit? Really don't know. Either way, it's working when it wasn't before.

Now to figure out if it's possible to replace the cartridge connector with a new one so I can end the shove-cardboard-behind-the-cartridge method. Heh.

First drown a cartridge edge connector in alcohol like for the slider, then insert and remove the cartridge repeatedly while wiggling it around a bit. This will help those contacts a lot if they are filthy. If the cart slot is too loose and the pins have widened, you can very carefully bend them back towards the center with a screwdriver but I wouldn't do this on your most loved system until you've done it on a lesser one...

I'll refurb your machine for the cost of shipping if you want