"Before" "After"
Brand: Crosley Radio Corp. Year Of Manufacture: April 1936 Frequency Range(s): 550 - 1550KC, 1.6 - 3.5 MC
Tube
lineup: 80 Rectifier, 6B5 Output, 76
2nd Detector, 6D6 I.F., 6D6
Osc/Mod
Schematic: Available here, courtesy of Nostalgia Air. Riders 7-58
One of my first "true" restorations, and not my best, but you gotta learn the rights and wrongs somehow. Purchased in September 2004 at a local antique store for $35.00, this radio literally had my name written all over it. The grill cloth was rotten, and mostly gone. The original finish was flaking off over most of the cabinet, and the glass dial had a crack in the right hand side
Schematic: Available here, courtesy of Nostalgia Air. Riders 7-58
One of my first "true" restorations, and not my best, but you gotta learn the rights and wrongs somehow. Purchased in September 2004 at a local antique store for $35.00, this radio literally had my name written all over it. The grill cloth was rotten, and mostly gone. The original finish was flaking off over most of the cabinet, and the glass dial had a crack in the right hand side
And now for the good things. All of the original parts were there. No water damage to the cabinet, or major chips in the veneer. The chassis looked dirty, but complete, and the cord had been cut, so the chances of a burnt up power transformer due to bad electrolytic capacitors were slim.
Electronic Restoration
After a good cleaning, all new capacitors, and replacing a bad 6D6 and 76 tube, the set was carefully powered up. The radio seemed to work fine, but the speaker sounded horrible. A previous repairman had coated the entire speaker cone with some sort of hard glue. Fingernail polish remover and lacquer thinner had no effect. Re coning was my only option at this point. I found a PM speaker with the same size cone and voice coil. The transplant was carefully accomplished by cleaning off the old speaker, installing the new one, and reglueing. The set now sounds much better, but not as good as an original would have sounded. Below left: The speaker coated with some sort of glue, Right: The chassis before a cleaning.
Cabinet Restoration
As seen in the"Before"
photo, the cabinet and grill cloth were in poor shape. The
cabinet
luckily had no veneer chips, but did require a refinish job. The
original finish was stripped off, and a new finish was applied using
Mowhawk brand toners and Deft brand clear lacquer. The dial had been
broken in the past, and was held together by some old white tape. Over
the years, the glue on the tape had turned to a nasty gel type
substance. This was removed using rubbing alcohol, and the dial was
reglued.
The original grill cloth was rotten, and most of it was gone. A new reproduction grill cloth was purchased from Antique Electronic Supply . This was installed by cleaning off the old grill cloth, sanding off the old glue, and spraying on several coats of a spray adhesive. The new cloth was prepared by ironing it and using starch to help eliminate wrinkles. Below left: The cabinet before refinishing, Right: The replacement and original grille cloths.
The original grill cloth was rotten, and most of it was gone. A new reproduction grill cloth was purchased from Antique Electronic Supply . This was installed by cleaning off the old grill cloth, sanding off the old glue, and spraying on several coats of a spray adhesive. The new cloth was prepared by ironing it and using starch to help eliminate wrinkles. Below left: The cabinet before refinishing, Right: The replacement and original grille cloths.
