[Patrick Turner]

On Mar 6, 1:07*pm, "Keith Park" wrote:
Restored Antique Radios FS

http://www.a383ina68.addr.com/radiorest/main.htm

ANOTHER BLACK DIAL ZENITH JUST POSTED!

I can see that you probably spend zillions of hours farnarkling around
with the radios you have there.
Here I do get a few old radios and radio-grams in for a complete re-
wire and restoration but not as often as it was 5 years ago.
I really don't encourage ppl to have me spend time on tubed radios
because invariably they cannot afford real tradesman's wages equal to
a mainstream electrician or plumber who earn about +15dB above most
audio/radio techs. Its satisfying to restore a radio but then what is
there to listen to? Here most commercial stations are all networked
and have played to death old rock and roll hits plus adds plus dumb
talkback.

But the local government owned stations have real good content so its
worth having an AM radio just for the two here in my town.

If ever these AM station are moved to FM when Digital Radio gets here
then there would be zero need to have an AM radio unless one likes
something nice + old to look at.

I sometimes cheat a bit during restorations by removing horrible
circuit design which always sounded bad and putting in a better
circuit for the detector and audio stages. In Radiograms I have
sometimes chucked out the terrible turntable made in 1955 with ceramic
cart and installed a 1970's TT for magnetic cart plus a box with solid
state preamp with proper RIAA eq.
I always keep the tubed audio amps but tweak them to give less
distortions and hum. Sometimes I'll add a 3 way switch for radio, gram
and CD PLAYER.
People then can play an LP or CD and enjoy the nostalgia and time warp
of going back to 1960, but then be able to hear an LP slightly better
than it really played back then when ppl needed to be a bit drunk
before such old junk seemed to sound OK.

The old tubed radios which have been most difficult to restore have
often been the Grundigs and other European radios with LW, MW, SW, FM
mono, plus record player inputs, 3 way speaker systems including an ES
tweeter, and a whole array of buttons for different EQ. Usually these
sets were very good on AM but the FM band back then was a slightly
lower band of F so the oscillator has to be tweaked up to receive
modern stations between 88Mc and 108Mc.
Often the FM was not so good because the number of tubes were kept to
an absolute minimum.
The schematics for these old sets were hard to find, and very
complex.

There is nothing like well done french polish.

Patrick Turner.






Just be sure to click on the "Radios for sale icon" to view the sets!

These investment quality Fully Restored radios will give you the advantage
of a set that has indeed been RESTORED, and not simply fixed, repaired,
spiffed up, or outsourced to another servicer or refinisher for work.

I have 29 years of experience in Antique Radio restoration and combine that
with my full time day job of MRI coil and system development and expertise
in Failure analysis to *produce a restoration that has had *detailed
attention given to each part of the radio, and not just a simple gutting of
the electronics or recapping of the chassis.

* * * * * Each questionable part is replaced, wiring is examined, all tubes
are tested and replaced if necessary, mechanical assemblies are
disassembled, cleaned, relubed and aligned. *Each set also gets a new
powercord that is grounded or polarized and an AC line fuse is added if not
already equipped.

* * * * * Cabinets get detailed veneer repair and replacement if necessary
from an extensive inventory of vintage veneer, dial bezels are restored,
each knob is refinished or detail cleaned, Photofinish is recreated if
necessary and 7 coats of hand rubbed finish are applied. *The result is
stunning and gives the purchaser a set that will be around and working for
many, many, years to come. Please visit the above website for even more info
about me and my restorations.

My Restorations are just what you're looking for if you want a set that
looks and works as new. *These are completely redone, not only part of the
cabinet is refinished and another part left cobbled up, the entire unit is
restored. *These restorations are not simple "Recappings with a new power
cord" I tend to every part of the chassis that needs attention, cleaning and
relubing mechanical parts, rebuilding of dial assemblies, detailed
refinishing or cleaning of knobs and bezels and any specific needs of a
particular chassis. My sets are not "over restored", I don't rip every
component and wire from the chassis and replace it just because its old,
these sets are preserved in as much of their original state as possible to
keep them reliable and safe. *30 years of doing antique radio restoration
goes into knowing just what needs to be done and just how it should be done
when I restore one.

Thanks!!

Keith Park