So I read the FAQ and found the entry that tells me why half my display is dead. (Luckily this happened literally three hours before I was removing my Empeg to replace it with my stock radio in my Miata).

However, most of the normal service avenues for this seem at the moment to be either dead or on hiatus.

Do I have any other options (assuming rightfully that I am not at all experienced with a soldering iron, so doing it myself is just not an option)? Or is it just, put it in storage and wait for the service avenues to start back up?

Greetings!

I just had to reread the FAQ entry (thanks, Tony!). I have never seen this one before. Because the FAQ entry says that it is a chip embedded inside the VFD, you basically have to replace the entire VFD.

This is not really a horribly difficult thing to do. Or so I have been told - I am an idiot with a soldering iron. You would be replacing the entire glass display, and it is something you can do if you are comfortable with it, or have someone who you know can solder well do it for you. You don't really need much in the way of SMT soldering skills for this one. If you would like the repair done by experienced professionals (no laughing in the back row!), you can contact Eutronix in the US or Mark Lord in Canada.

The trick is getting a replacement VFD. I still have a bunch on order, expected at the end of the month, for people who break their nipples, etc. If you can find one sooner, great. If you can get one on your own, great. If you would like one of mine (I ordered about 10 for just such emergencies), send me email and I will let you know the details when they arrive.

General Purpose Note: This was not a large / bulk VFD order. There were a bunch of those already. These are specifically to replace my exhausted cache, and to repair known broken units out there. If there is still interest for another bulk order, send me an email and I will think about it.