Busy vintage radio repair Winter ahead!

[Texasrocker]

One of my best vintage radio collectors/customers just called tonight. I now have 12 more vintage radios to restore, brands range from A-Z, that they have collected in their travels nationwide this spring/summer. Must be nice to be "retired"? Reckon?
These folks are "serious" bout their radio collection too! They have many nice collectable sets that I wish I owned indeed!! They have brought in some very nice condition rare sets before for repairs! I remember a few yrs back when they dropped off a "mint" orig Philco mod 90 and I "drooled"!! Got it working like new (single output tube type). They bought it for $65 at a 2nd hand store outside Denver! Oh the luck of these retirees!! I couldnt even afford the gasoline to travel as much these days period, much less,... buying vintage radios along the way!!
Its been awhile since I restored a old RCA Mod 18 (trf type chassis), but another is in their mix of recent finds for me to restore. Luckily, I have a complete orig RCA mod 18 w 100-A/spkr in my radio collection to refresh my memory. They also found a 36 Crosley 516 (simple poorly designed early superhet chassis-design in my opinion), but they look very cool!!, small tombstone type Crosley sold originally for low prices so every working person could afford one back in 1936? Ive repaired several of those in the past, no AVC control allows uncontrollable "blast" thru the spkrs on those sets orig designs, via longwire antenna only connect. I even tried adding AVC to the 516 crosley models without much luck at all.
Im sure I will be needing mucho suggestions and tech-tips getting thru these various brands sets for electronic restorations indeed! My customers told me a few of the tube radios they recently purchased had "attempted previous repairs" with no success according to their sellers. We ALL know what that spells: "previously hacked maximus'!! Missing parts surprises in most cases!!
Whoa!, and one is a 41 model Zenith tabletop, and I can just imagine all the old rubber brittle-crusty orig wires under that chassis before I even look at it!
Im stockin-up on beer,solder-tips,caps, and dusting-off my JF Riders collection! All are gonna come in real- handy in the near future!!
Not complaining at all though!,... these vintage radio repair "payin-jobs" come in handy during the winter months indeed! Im truly blessed to have such good "repeat" vintage radio collector/ customers after all these years!! I was also "eased abit", when my customers informed me all my previous repairs for them were still working fine! I would have figured by now, a used type tube "filament" would have failed over the yrs. However, no one can guarantee the life of still-test-good pre-used tubes in these type sets anyways! Beers up!!

[Michael Dennis]

Hats off to ya, Tex. Have fun!

Mike

"Did you say 'two utes'?"

[Texasrocker]

Mike, I just noticed your new signature!: "Did you say two yutes"! (hee hee)
"My Cousin Vinny"..., used to talk like that in the courtroom also! (hee hee)
..... You ROCK dude!!

.... the ol UPS truck is dropping off the first 6 radios shipped from my customer either tomorrow, or Monday at the latest.
If you wanna learn how to get started repairing vintage radios, head to my shop in Texas!! Repairing these sets will be a challenge, but covers everything from early TRF type chassis, to early(early superhets), thru the mid 40s real- superhet chassis designs! A great learning experience indeed for newbies in this hobby!! This "variety" of vintage sets chassis-designs pretty much covers it all in restoration of vintage radios except the early 20s type 3-dialer type/ neutrodyne sets that ran on batteries only. I will highly enjoy bringing all my customers sets back to life again! Just hope they havent been really "hacked" electronically over the yrs!! If so, repairs take abit longer, but as we say in Tejas,... aint nothin but a thang! (hee hee)
Im right in the middle of restoring "another" 49 Chev truck radio on my workbench. Got it working w full recap. Still waiting for a new 6x9 spkr,repl vintage delco vol control, & the cosmetic parts to arrive to put it back together for delivery. I also have to build a 12v to 6v dc dropping resistor to be used with it.
My workbench looks like a W Tx tornado hit it!!
" did you say two yutes"?.... what was that your Honor? (hee hee)

[Michael Dennis]

That's a GOOD sign that your workbench looks like a W Texas twister hit it, it's a sign of a busy man who knows what he's doing! Sure would love to see yer shop. Randall, I just couldn't help it, I saw "My Cousin Vinny" recently and the "two yoots" reminded me of the abbreviation some swl'ers use for utility stations; "utes", like time signal stations, AT&T high seas circuit adjustment stations, airport "LOM" beacons, MARS phone patches, AM Volmet, Coast Guard, point-point etc. And Fred "Herman Munster" Gwyne was a scream in that movie!

Best Regards - Mike

"Did you say 'two utes'?"