A stranger at a garage sale changed how I test secondhand electronics

Last Saturday I picked up a dusty old stereo receiver for $8 at a yard sale in Akron, figured it was a gamble but whatever. I got it home, plugged it in, and it made this awful humming noise that got worse when I touched the knobs. I was about to toss it when a neighbor walked by and said, 'you gotta clean the pots and check the ground before you ever power those on.' He showed me how to spray contact cleaner into the volume and balance dials, then re-tighten the ground screw on the back. Ten minutes later, the thing sounds crystal clear and I basically stole it for the price of a sandwich. Now I never test vintage gear without spraying the controls first, and I'm wondering if anyone else has a dumb little ritual that saves them from junking a perfectly good find?

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