06-05-2009, 09:11 PM
The hole in the front of the cabinet is 3/8" diameter and the original tenite jewel was lost at some point between 1940 and now. I can get a 9mm cubic zirconia jewel for under $20 that's pink-to-red and it will fit nicely in the hole somehow. I'd like to stay faithful to the original look if possible - not that is would be as down right ugly as a Philco floor model that I saw in an antique store with a bright colorful floral pattern for the grill cloth and flat-gold spray painted bakelite knobs.
Has anyone seen the original jewels and do you know what they look like? I'm not sure if they were plastic that was molded in the shape of a circular jewel or if the shape of the jewel followed the contour of the molding. Are they all the same for the floor models?
I've been very fortunate in my restoration so far. The grill cloth looks original (tan to to gold diamond cross hatch) with some signs of wear around the on-off switch from scraping fingernails. The condition of original buttons look as you might expect for the age; shrunken with a crack through the center. I've got a glass dial cover still and the paint is in excellent condition. There's even felt around the volume, tone, tuner and selector wheels. About all that missing there are the pads for the push buttons on the inside of the face plate. The only finish that need some attention was the cover. It was shalack and needed a vigorous rubdown with 0000 steel wool after softening to remove the roughness. I'm not ready to say working with shalack is easy but it could have been worse. The radio is ready to find a proper resting place once I'm able to move some furniture around or out of the way. The jewel is the last hurdle.
Has anyone seen the original jewels and do you know what they look like? I'm not sure if they were plastic that was molded in the shape of a circular jewel or if the shape of the jewel followed the contour of the molding. Are they all the same for the floor models?
I've been very fortunate in my restoration so far. The grill cloth looks original (tan to to gold diamond cross hatch) with some signs of wear around the on-off switch from scraping fingernails. The condition of original buttons look as you might expect for the age; shrunken with a crack through the center. I've got a glass dial cover still and the paint is in excellent condition. There's even felt around the volume, tone, tuner and selector wheels. About all that missing there are the pads for the push buttons on the inside of the face plate. The only finish that need some attention was the cover. It was shalack and needed a vigorous rubdown with 0000 steel wool after softening to remove the roughness. I'm not ready to say working with shalack is easy but it could have been worse. The radio is ready to find a proper resting place once I'm able to move some furniture around or out of the way. The jewel is the last hurdle.
