For this radio, I may do something a little different than a traditional restoration. First off though, I had to identify which model this was, and that was no easy task. With only a picture and a brand name, I started my search online. Google gave me nothing but links to Silvertone amplifier and guitar sites. I did finally find a site where a father-son team restores old Silvertone radios. I emailed them and after telling them what I had, the model number of the chassis and the types of tubes in the receiver, they told me this was model number 7181. The next day I verified this through my online post to the Philco forum. Another hobbyist told me the tube selection was unique to this model from Sears. I have yet to find a picture however of another one. Strange, huh? Well I ordered the electrical schematics for $10 online through another hobbyist’s website and I’m still waiting for him to email the document to me.
The cabinet was painted black sometime ago, which may have looked ok wherever it was, but it’s not authentic. I really would love to strip the paint off of this and see what’s hiding underneath. I also promised the antique store where I bought it from that I would send to them pictures when I was finished, so I want to show them a dramatic change.
While surfing eBay one day last week I saw a radio where someone had hooked up a connection to be able to play your iPod though the radio. That would be a really great idea I think. So I got to thinking about restoring the cabinet and then installing an mp3 station player inside using the chassis as an amplifier to get some really great sound out of it. Of course the dials wouldn’t work on the front of the cabinet; they would really just be for on-off-volume. Maybe I could hook up a remote to it to scroll through the selections. The possibilities are endless.
Showing posts with label silvertone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label silvertone. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Welcome
Welcome to my online restoration journal. Here I’m going to document the progression of the restorations on which I’m currently working. Like anything the more I get into the se projects, the more resources out there on the internet I find, and it’s always amazing to me the ideas that people come up with to solve problems that they face. I’m hoping that you can take away something from this too. Maybe, like me, you’re looking for ideas on restoring your own antique, or maybe you’re just trying to identify a recent purchase. Whatever your reason for visiting, thanks for coming and enjoy your stay! Feel free to leave comments as well.
Currently I have three different projects in the works, each in a different phase:
1952 Seeburg M100C Jukebox
1940 Philco 40-160F Floor Model Radio
Silvertone 7181 Floor Model Radio
The Seeburg is sort of my life-long project. It’s about 90% complete and I hope to finish it soon. The cabinet has been fully restored and I am ecstatic with the way it came out. There’s an electrical problem with the amplifier that has eluded me for many years. I need to go back to the drawing board on this one. Recently I’ve been buying new tubes for it, so I hope to power it back up soon.
The Philco I acquired at a flea market in Roanoke, AL back in September 2007 for all of $60. It’s in rough shape, not terrible, but not great either. The cabinet will need to be refinished, and a few pieces of wood on the front are split and cracked. It will need a new grill cloth definitely and a re-coning of the speaker. The receiver was covered in a quarter inch of dust and grime, so that will be fun to clean. It will also need all new tubes and capacitors as usual, and the antenna is in really rough shape. Basically it’s a mess. To me, though, it looks beautiful, but I’ll make it look gorgeous when I’m done.
The Silvertone I recently bought at a local antique store here in Manassas, VA. It was a birthday present to me from me and like the Philco, I only paid $64.26 including tax. Not bad at all. I don’t know the model number or the year it was made, I’m still researching that information. All I know is that it’s intact, minus the vacuum tubes (7). It looks as though it was painted by someone many years ago, so that’ll be the first thing to go. I’ll strip the cabinet down to the bare wood, give it a nice light sand job and maybe some Tung Oil and varnish to finish it off. It’ll need all the same things the Philco requires, grill cloth, speaker cone, tubes, caps, antenna, etc. This project will come last on the list as I need more information before starting on the receiver.
Currently I have three different projects in the works, each in a different phase:
1952 Seeburg M100C Jukebox
1940 Philco 40-160F Floor Model Radio
Silvertone 7181 Floor Model Radio
The Seeburg is sort of my life-long project. It’s about 90% complete and I hope to finish it soon. The cabinet has been fully restored and I am ecstatic with the way it came out. There’s an electrical problem with the amplifier that has eluded me for many years. I need to go back to the drawing board on this one. Recently I’ve been buying new tubes for it, so I hope to power it back up soon.
The Philco I acquired at a flea market in Roanoke, AL back in September 2007 for all of $60. It’s in rough shape, not terrible, but not great either. The cabinet will need to be refinished, and a few pieces of wood on the front are split and cracked. It will need a new grill cloth definitely and a re-coning of the speaker. The receiver was covered in a quarter inch of dust and grime, so that will be fun to clean. It will also need all new tubes and capacitors as usual, and the antenna is in really rough shape. Basically it’s a mess. To me, though, it looks beautiful, but I’ll make it look gorgeous when I’m done.
The Silvertone I recently bought at a local antique store here in Manassas, VA. It was a birthday present to me from me and like the Philco, I only paid $64.26 including tax. Not bad at all. I don’t know the model number or the year it was made, I’m still researching that information. All I know is that it’s intact, minus the vacuum tubes (7). It looks as though it was painted by someone many years ago, so that’ll be the first thing to go. I’ll strip the cabinet down to the bare wood, give it a nice light sand job and maybe some Tung Oil and varnish to finish it off. It’ll need all the same things the Philco requires, grill cloth, speaker cone, tubes, caps, antenna, etc. This project will come last on the list as I need more information before starting on the receiver.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
