Some of my later additions.

[Wild Root]

Ok, since MK shared his new radio (very good taste MK!) I thought I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢d share some of my radios that I have acquired over the last year that I haven?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t shown you all yet.

First off we have the latest! This I bought about three months ago off of ebay. It?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s a 1935 Coronado model 686 that I have been looking for, for a long time! This radio has been completely restored inside and out and plays like new! The simple and graceful deco cabinet is amazing and the refinish job is just nothing short of beautiful!

Now, here is another gem! My 1937 Philco model 37-602 (the one?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s I have pictured earlier are not of my radio, but of the same model)

Here is a radio that I got on my birthday. A 1934 Philco Cathedral model 60. This is an Art Deco Cathedral and is my favorite of all time!

This is a 1935 Word's Airline that I picked up years ago but, never got around to posting photos. I love this radio for it's very nice mid 30's depression Deco.

Last, two photos of my record player. This is a 1940-41 GE Radio Record combination.
The sound quality is amazing! I love these players the best for playing 78?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s.

Can't you just hear the sweet sound of Helen Forest on this Bluebird?

Enjoy.

WR.




Enjoy,
WR.

 

[Cousin Hepcat]

That's All Right!

Once again, Root, how many times can I say it... You're indeed a man of impeccable taste!

Yes, Glenn, Helen, and everyone never quite have the same rich warm velvety sound as when playing from an original 78 on a vacuum tube amp. Feel so sorry for folks who only get to hear the CDs, theyre really missing out

Swing High, good man...

- Cousin Hepcat

 

[Bebop]

Those are wonderful Wildroot. Radios and phonographs used to be fine pieces of furniture. The nice wood is what is missing from any electronics that we now have. Way off topic but Cousin Hepcat, I am sure that it was just a silly mistake but were you aware that your ball cap is on backwards on you avatar photo? I sure am!

 

[Cousin Hepcat]

Those are wonderful Wildroot. Radios and phonographs used to be fine pieces of furniture. The nice wood is what is missing from any electronics that we now have. Way off topic but Cousin Hepcat, I am sure that it was just a silly mistake but were you aware that your ball cap is on backwards on you avatar photo? I sure am!

It's a joke, Bebop... that avatar's gonna stay there till I can become sufficiently educated in the fine art of vintage habidashery, for which I have the utmost admiration and respect (naturally, being a huge fan of Cary Grant, Bogie, and all the fine dressed-to-the-nines swing & bebop musicians of the 40s), but no working knowledge whatsoever.

Wild Root, saw your ivory Reefer Madness philco earlier, do you have earlier-posted pics of the rest of your collection on here somewhere? Mych as we;ve been swapping emails and finding we have near-identical taste (beyond reproach!), just dying to see the rest of your stuff... will try and post pics of the 78 jukebox and the record-mastering lathe sometime (they still press 10-inch records at many plants; read all up on legalities of negotiating royalties for (re-)issuing masters owned by other labels, like Collectables Records does with their 45 reissues; someday when funds permit...)

 

[Wild Root]

Cousin Hepcat, I'm glad you like my radios! Those were some of the top ones in my collection. I do have a few others I should take photos of but, they're some what hard to get at right now. Any way, I shall try!

Say, I have an avatar idea for ya! It would be real easy too! Pretty much keep what you have on right now, just ditch the ball cap and comb the hair 40's style and take a cool pose with your sax like a band leader like Ol' Jimmy here!

Or good ol' Tex.

Find a blank wall, point a lamp at ya off to the side and a small one from the bottom (to get the right shadowing) and then have some one snap a shot. It's not to hard to get that cool 40's dramatic shadowing.

Ok, back onto the radios!

The ivory Philco I posted a wile a go is also a member of the elite! She has a nice spot in my kitchen and looks so sweet!

I have a solid looking waterfall styled 1935 GE console that I need to dig out of storage and snap a few photos of! Gee, I have so many of these stupid things! What is one man going to do with all these home receivers?

WR.

 

[jamespowers]

I have a solid looking waterfall styled 1935 GE console that I need to dig out of storage and snap a few photos of! Gee, I have so many of these stupid things! What is one man going to do with all these home receivers?

Send them over to me.

 

[Sefton]

Obviously Cousin Hepcat's ball cap kept flying off owing to the fabulous and furious blowing on his ax. Simply easier to don it in the style of a submariner!

Wild Root,
Those are exceptional radios. I can only second the praises already writen here. Fine examples of the lost art of functional electronics for the home.

 

[Mycroft]

Beatiful. What kind of woods are they, they appear mostly cherry? Can you pick up every station or just a few? Love the Art Deco lines and form.

 

[Wild Root]

You know, I'm not sure what kinds of woods are used on most of my radios. For the most part I'd say walnut and maybe some others but, not sure. Don't know my woodgrain very well to tell. Remember, most of these were all stained different colors to maybe give them a look of being cherry or what have you. In the photos they seem to have a rich redness to some but, it's just the photo. Most of them don't have much red to the finish.

WR.

 

[Cousin Hepcat]

Wild Root,

Love the idea!

Say, I have an avatar idea for ya! It would be real easy too! Pretty much keep what you have on right now, just ditch the ball cap and comb the hair 40's style and take a cool pose with your sax like a band leader like Ol' Jimmy here!

IMG

Or good ol' Tex.

IMG

Tex, one of my Top Five! Or like Benny Carter here, with a curtain in background:

Not to hijack the thread, Root, posted a more full reply to your idea here about a suit...
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showpost.php?p=54941&postcount=23

back to radios now

 

[Absinthe_1900]

Some of the wood used would be things like birch plywood, with veneers added to accent the design, along with other woods like mahogany etc.
Lacquer was the standard finish applied to the wood, to get the color they wanted.

Most of the real labor intensive varnish finishes that Victor and others used on their phono cabnets, had been abandoned by the end of the 1920's, and lacquer became the standard for finishing, as the radio age took hold.

Some of the material would depend on the maker, and the price range of the radio, a Zenith Stratosphere would obviously have a better selection of material, than an inexpensive AM only table top radio.


Beautiful radios Wildroot!

 

[Wild Root]

I'm almost moved to tears!

Absinthe_1900, let me say it's good to have a knowledgeable radio collector here!

Today, I was over at my buddies shop and he had a parts set there. It was a late 30's Gilfillan model 6U table top that was thrashed! Here is a photo of the model but, imagin that it had bad water damage to the cabinet and missing all but one knob and also having that plastic dial escutcheon meeting in the middle looking like a bowtie!

Notice the fancy veneer trim around the top and bottom! Well, that trim was in bad shape at the bottom. I looked at the lacquer that was flaking off and I could see that the pattern on the veneer didn't match the grain pattern under the lacquer! It was another form of a photo finish process that used a lacquer technique to imitate a tiger veneer pattern.

Thanks, I'm glad you like my radios! They're my babies!

WR.

 

[Wild Root]

Beatiful. Can you pick up every station or just a few?

Sorry buddy, I forgot to answer that question.

Vintage radios from the 20's or earlier will take miles of antenna to get two or three stations! Also, at that time there wasn't many radio stations to begin with.

As you get into the early 30's you can pick up more stations because, there was more to hear and also the technology progressed! As you get into the late 30's and early 40's it was much better! Radio had taken off like a runaway train much like computers today! Most sets of 1937-1939 had short wave and AM. Some late 30's RCA sets did tinker with early FM but, it didn't take off till after the war.

Your expensive sets like Scott, Sparton, Zenith and the higher end PHILCO consoles offered multi band sets. They would have AM (Standard Broadcast) Short Wave (long distance band) Police, Aviation and Amateur bands

Police bands were really keen back then! Folks would tune into this band and hear police chases, police reports and fallow the hunt for gangsters and other wanted criminals.

Aviation band was a frequency to hear pilots talk to other pilots, pilots talking with the control tower and such. Also weather reports I'm sure were part of the chatter on that band.

Amateur band was, was, I don't know. I have just seen it on some of my radios and can seem to receive low wattage stations broadcasted from the gas station down the road.

Hope this helps!

=WR=

 

[shamus]

Don't forget some had an early FM too, but it was different than todays FM and died off as AM was King.

 

[Wild Root]

I did mention it. It's in there

=WR=

 

[shamus]

Sorry Root, I missed that.

What do you use as an antenna?

 

[Absinthe_1900]

You use a long wire. (Literally a long run of wire)

I think Radio Shack still sells a long wire kit with insulators etc.

 

[Absinthe_1900]

Today, I was over at my buddies shop and he had a parts set there. It was a late 30's Gilfillan model 6U table top that was thrashed!
WR.

I like seeing the rough ones saved.

My long term project is an AM/SW Zenith 5s-228 Tombstone, which showed up at a garage sale literally two blocks from my house!.........Unfortunately it was in very very rough shape from sitting in a garage for several years.

The wood was a mess and was de-laminating, and most of the veneer on one side was missing, along with the speaker cone being rotted out, and one "Z" knob missing.

Happily, when I pulled the chassis I found the missing knob, and got my favorite shop to get everything going again. (I have a modern speaker with the old matching transformer salvaged)

I'm doing the cabinet myself, and have re-veneered the bad side, and have repaired all the moisture damage, and I'm about ready to re-do the color back to the original medium brown finish. ( It was re-stained Red Mahogany in one of it's previous lives)

I hate to see an abandoned radio, but I think next time I'll get a easier project.

 

[Wild Root]

Ah, antennas hahahaha, yes, a long wire is what you use! My 1928 Atwater Kent model 40 that I bought works only if I have a spool of copper wire attached! I can drag in four to five stations on that thing with a wire attached. In the 20?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s and to the 40?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s it was very common to see a house with wire running out of a window and being attached to the close line or up in a tree! The earlier the radio, the more antenna you?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ll need. Also, it was very common to see the wire lined around the base boards of a room the radio sat in. Or, up the wall and along the roof. Any one see the three to four wires that would run from one mast to the other mast on say the Queen Mary? That?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s the radio antenna! And, in the early days some of the first radio enthusiasts would construct such aerials for their home receivers!

You know, I hate to see a radio used mainly for parts! The cabinet on this pup was really bad and I do mean bad! It?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s fixable but, that cabinet really had some bad warped wood at the base and it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s missing one of the vertical bars over the grill also, the time to find matching knobs and to find a replacement escutcheon is near impossible. I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m all for restorations of these sets but, some times one must die to make another one live!

I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢d love to see some before photos of your Zenith! That is if you took any. Love radios and will for ever I believe! Nothing like the smell of vacuum tubes worming up! Ah, I tell you soon as I got that PHILCO 60, I had it right by my bed and turned it on turned it around to just watch the tubes warm up and glow!

Cheers!
=WR=

PS. Shamus, no harm, no foul brother!

 

[Absinthe_1900]

There is a great old Laurel & Hardy short where they try to run a longwire on Ollie's house, and destroy everything else in the process.


The little Zenith was pretty trashed, so I started working on it without thinking about taking pictures.
Now that the case is stable, I need to take a couple of snaphots before I do the color, it has one problem spot where the veneer was sanded through at the top waterfall front, I'm trying to decide what to do about the mahogany veneer .

You can see what one of these radios looks like here:

http://www.tuberadioland.com/zenith5-s-228_main.html

I'm working on tracking down the two decorative bolts that hold the speaker in, and I'd like to find an original speaker, but I'm not as worried about that since the radio plays pretty well.

I've got TV covered too, I inherited my Grandmother's 1949 Dumont TV, that had really neat radio dial channel selector, and "green eye" tube, & FM radio.
I've had a heck of a time finding someone that still knows how to work on a TV from that far back.

Just think, in a few years we will be forced to use digital converters on our antique radios & TV's...........I'm not looking forward to that part of so called "progress".