[sdiy] Soundtracs 32-8-2 mixer opinions

[Benjamin M. Woenig]

I've come across what seems to be a relatively good deal
on a large Soundtracs 32-8-2 desk. I do not know the exact
model number, as I only had about 2 minutes today to look
at it, I'll be going back tomorrow for a closer look...

But this is what I noted.. 4 band eq with 2 mid-sweep eq's, 6 aux,
invert signal, various routing switches, 100mm (very smooth)
faders. Master section has L-R faders, Bus section has eq and
aux. for each as well. Meter bridge with LED's (I think maybe
needle meters for the main L-R though).

All channels 1 to 32 are individually modular. The master
section contains the L-R and 8 bus groups.

Problems I noticed...

The wrist-pad on the front of the desk is in bad shape - easy to
replace I'm guessing :)
A couple of slider and knob caps missing (2 or 3)
A couple of the faders are a bit stiff...  (replace, clean?)
Generally a bit on the grubby side... needs a good clean.

The asking price is $1900Australian (about $950US).

Basically I'm about 80% sure on buying this desk, but would like
to know something about fixing/upgrading... like would it be worth
upgrading all resistors in each channel to metal-film, and using
higher spec opamps? Are replacement faders/pots available? How is
the eq? I'm assuming it has a typical British character (which I'm after).

I've been avoiding Mackie and Behringer stuff for a long time... I would
rather have an old desk with character, and this looks like a good way
of going about it, especially since I'm happy to make it a bit of a
restoration
project in the process. I've always wanted to be able to just patch a
compressor
into just one channel, or run the individual outs from my sampler, and
experiment
with effects more creatively through a decent auxiliary section...

Any opinions/warnings/etc would be most appreciated! Reply off-topic if
you feel this is too off topic :)

~ben