Take a look at my "state of the art" stereo!!!

[Gothic Sponge]

Well, state of the art in 1942, and not stereo! It was my grandparents radio. I'm working getting it restored. It needs to be refinished.

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. Don't refinish it

No matter how good of a job you do to it won't have the patina that makes old furniture appealing. And, although you probably wouldn't sell it, it is worth more to others with the original finish.

[ret5hd]

2. exactly...

pay attention to he_Casual_Observer.

The most i would do is hire a professional to clean it. my guess would be that it is finished in shellac, and a pro can do a good jopb of cleaning without destroying.

[Gothic Sponge]

3. I'm going to have a pro do it, and i'm only having it

refinished around the bottom. The wood is scratched up there and in some spots it's bare.

Thanks

[VOX]

4. Nice! Make sure that whoever's doing the restoration knows old radios...

Don't let them mickey mouse anything -- Not sure of the brand of this radio, but say, for instance, it's a Crosley, and some guy guts it and puts in parts from an old Philco, and a Zenith, etc. You've then got an attractive-on-the-outside Franken-radio on your hands. Which, if that's okay with you, is fine.

Usually, if the radio hasn't been dropped or otherwise abused, all that needs fixing on these is the wiring, the tubes and the capacitors. There are a ton of books on the subject, and if you're inclined, get into it!

Agree also with the above comments on refinishing -- don't.

Get it fixed up right, have some extra tubes on hand, find an AM radio that plays 40s swing music, and away you go!!! :bounce:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

8. Power transformers go kablooie too

That's what happened with the one in my parent's house, after 40+ years of faithful service. Took the rectifier tube away with it, too. I suppose the insulation just eroded over time. It was a Philips, and was a little smaller than a 14" monitor.

There was no way in hell I could restore it without schematics. No way toi know the tensions the transformer gave out (and it had a LOT of terminals). It went to the trash. Bummer. :(

[DancingBear]

5. PM me!

There is a guy in Connecticut who does absolutely fabulous restoration work on old radios - I believe he is the only person in the country doing both electronic and cabinet work. if you go to his shop, ask to see some of his customer letters - you'll be shocked at the folks who have him do work for them.

The cabinet restoration/refinishing is flawless - done with period refinishing products/tools. I am a professional woodworker (furniture), and I had him restore my 1930's American Bosch floor radio.

He is somewhat expensive, and the turn-around time is really long (over 1 year!), but he is without a doubt the best there is.

[Gothic Sponge]

6. LOL!

Is this it?

http://www.oldradiodoc.com/

[DancingBear]

7. Yep - that be him!

Do you know him?

(I don't - I just thought he was really good)

[Gothic Sponge]

11. I don't know him, but i heard good things.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

9. I sent the guy this link:

http://www.geekculture.com/geekculturestore/webstore/tubesrock.html

I'm sure he'll agree with the spirit.

[markus]

10. I really want to find a good quality old Hi Fi cabinet

one with the lovely wood and nice cloth grille, and turn it into a sound enclosure.

Yeah, it will sound better without the speakers in it, but I'm not an audiophile. I just want that beautiful cabinet I group up with.

It was cutting edge. It had FM!

[MadHound]

12. Nice Philco!

What is that, AM plus four short wave bands? Sweet, I love collecting old radios and TVs. One thing you need to do though is find a complete set of tubes for it. You can probably order a complete set of new ones, but if you look around and pay attention to your auctions, you can find a set of NOS tube for real cheap. Hell, I picked up an entire stock of tubes for real cheap when an electronics shop went out of business here locally.

If you want to get the best reception, it is all in the aerial. You can get yourself one of those little SW towers, but to do it on the cheap, simply run a couple of wires in different directions, about 50' each in length, and hook them up to your anttena terminal. You should then be able to pick up the other side of the world.

Have fun with it, you've got a beaut there.