OK so the other old radio thread is great. I thought Id start another about repair instead of jumping that one with sometrhing other than the cool photos and stories. Anyhow, I have the chassis restored on both of these and now its cabinet time. I have done a fair amount of woodworking but I m a little nervous about taking these cabinets apart. The RCA box has separated on the bottom so that wont be a problem but I dont want to break it taking the sides off. Is there anything that will help soften the old glue? I assume there is glue in the joints . It was built in 1946. It appears to be poplar with a lacquer finish. Any advice on getting it apart??
if the sides are tight I would just leave them, if they are loose they won't be hard to take apart. A lot of the lower priced model radios had a decal like covering that made the lower price wood look like better wood. When you sand it off to refinish you loose that nice looking grain. It looks like your radio may be one that used this. Not much you can do in a home shop about it just be aware that this may happen. Philco did this a lot I don't have many RCAs so don't know if they did it also.
@46international thanks for your post. Well I didn't have to worry too much about taking the cabinet apart, It just basically fell apart once it started fooling with it. I looked it over - no decals. it appears to be just a lacquer finish from way back in 1946. So all I have to do it repair a couple little things, clean the daylights out of it and finish it. Then put it together and enjoy!!
In the future, just know that they usually used glue made from horses. It is very water soluble. Just wet the seams, and the old glue will literally dissolve..
No telling, maybe $75? If someone really wants it. Consoles take up a lot of room. That thing heard a lot of history in the making. What's the tube lineup? How many? Some had more elaborate designs, it isn't always easy to tell by appearance.
@King ford does it work?? that might have a little effect on the price. There is a local guy trying to sell one like this for a couple years and asking $120 and cant get it. I too think $75 like Truck64 suggested is fair
It's kind of strange, most of the people into old radios, they don't care whether it works. If they want a working radio they usually prefer to do the work. In fact unless it's a top drawer complete restoration they may not want it. Don't plug it in "to see if it works" only Bad Things will happen. In fact cutting the cord off would be wise. Don't refinish the cabinet, etc.
I had to refinish the cabinet. Mine was all busted to hell and no finish. Here it is Not perfect but ok from what I have been kicking around for 42 years. looks like I need a little 800 grit on the louvers..... Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Well what I meant by that, if someone wants to sell an old radio (or antiques in general) is don't do anything the $$ value of many if not most antiques is usually reduced quite a bit no matter how well meaning the refinishing might be. And old radios outside of the really high end models don't have much. They were hot collectibles for a while though mostly the art-deco, unusual, and the colored plastic types. Not Bakelite, the name escapes me. Stupid money for some of those. Anyway the market for AM only radio sets is small. Even the FM band these days is pretty much a wasteland.
Oh yeah I get that on the finish. It’s better off left alone. I have another oval face 1930s Zenith I’m going to leave alone. That’s a cool radio. And I agree it’s a wasteland foe Am and FM. Shortwave too. Who even knows what that is??? Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
SW bands used to be absolutely full, English language broadcasts from just about every country. That's pretty much gone away completely. Too expensive, and the internet took its place. There was some strange stuff. The "Woodpecker", and the "numbers stations", thought to be one time pad codes or somesuch, James Bond spook stuff.
I collect old radios. I got a lot from a collector in Connecticut who wrote a value guide book, Martin Bunis. I called him...nice fellow. He said collectors main concern is that they are complete. Doesn't matter if they work. I repair mine since that's what I did 43 years, retired 5.5 years ago. It does take knowledge, equipment, skill but #1 concern would be transformers. Then tubes, then capacitors, resistors. I cringe when someone says they "recapped" theirs. Transformers must be good...then tubes (weak is ok). Main filter electrolytic dries out, usually is bad. It's time consuming but I've carefully gutted them, reusing the paper case, replace with quality hi temp low esr ones, re-use leads, re-use wax heating and melting back together so it looks original. It's a labor of love if you restore back original, your time probably $1/hour! One in bedroom is a pink/white 50s one. I had to fabricate the dial pointer. I used broken one as a pattern, but it's lighted red plastic (#1846 lamp in holder). In the 80s I found a large old country store in NC that had new in box tube radios from 40s-50s I bought. Most table AM radios from that era used 5 tubes...50C5, 35W4,12BA6,12AV6,12BE5 (from memory...I could be wrong but close). I have my grandfather's cat whisker radio he built in 1920 when he lived in Pittsburgh, student at Carnagie Tech. That's before radios were manufactured. My wife's grandfather built this 4 tube, 4 pin battery powered radio in 1926, Atwater Kent. A-B battery for filaments and plate voltage. Sent from my SM-S320VL using Tapatalk
that 4 tube 1926 radio had to be way way space age for the time. I have looked at some 1930-31 schematics and they seemed pretty crude to late 1930's I cant imagine 1926. good for you for keeping that piece of American history
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