Going over to the dark side.

[codefox1]

Only one I trusted was Panasonic in late 60's hundreds of 'em, and I always insisted on opening up and give them a free battery to prove it was OK. The old man in the jobber shop kept a stone face as I sold the sets for full list price. Far as I know, none came back.

[Arran]

Quote:I did find one roughly 7 years back at an antique mall, a model 90 for $200 which I thought rather steep at the time.

$200 for a model 90 Majestic is too steep for any time, the model 90 is probably one of the most common Majestic models out there, and the cabinets look even more common. They are also nasty things to work on too I'm told, a clamshell design chassis, rock hard rubber wiring, oh joy!
Regards
Arran

[Jayce]

I have to correct myself on that Majestic I saw at the antique shop years back. It was the model 91 or 92 with the more ornate cabinet and was the first Majestic I had ever seen. Still would love to find one like it.

[PhilcoMike]

You mean like this one I got for $15 at a yard sale?
Model 92 Majestic with the Model 90 chassis and seperate power supply.

One heavy mother to load on those spindley legs....

Thanks,

Mike

[Jayce]

Yep! That's the one! Um, dare I ask why it's upside down?

[PhilcoMike]

I thought you may ask. I was moving if from the garage to the basement to start work on it. As heavy as it is and as weak as the legs were until I trusted them more I had it stored upside down. I took the photo and just rotated it before posting.

That is one heavy radio. I can see why more than a few were dropped in the day or the power supply falling out because someone forgot to bolt it down....

Thanks,

Mike

[Jayce]

I guess many a Majestic died from the power supply falling out when they were moved in later years. There is no way to bolt down the power supply, it just sits there. AK was a bit like that as well. Now when it comes to the legs, that was an issue with alot of radios of that era. Spindly legs holding up heavy components. Heck, I have yet to find an AK console that hasn't had the legs sawed off around here due to one breaking!

[rocketeer]

Alas, my only Majestic, and a late comer at that, 1939 model 639. I have less than no room for any more consoles so it's destined for the Kutztown show in Sept. where it will hopefully find a good home.



Larry

[Jayce]

I think I am just amazed at how well the early Majestics work, being TRFs and all. They tune well and sound good. The fact that both Majestic and Philco basically came out with radios at the same time is also rather neat in my opinion. Majestic got the jump on Philco that first year, but Philco learned quick and started advancing their radio designs.

[Arran]

Majestic had a few nice radios after G.G went bankrupt and the company was reformed under Majestic Radio and Television in 1935 but I think they were well on the slide by the time that 639 came out. By the late 1940s Majestic really became became a sad joke compared to the G.G days producing really cheaply built AC/DC sets and later low end TV sets.
The orginal Grigsby Grunow had a partnership with Standard Radio LTD of Toronto, later known as the Canadian Radio Corperation and Rogers-Majestic LTD. Ted Rogers senior, the founder, had taken the Kellogg tube and perfected it creating the world's first true AC operated reciever in 1925. Well Rogers owned their own tube factory so they could engineer and produce any tube they could come up with.
Sometime in the late 1920s Rogers Tubes LTD, later Standard Radio, etc, formed a partnership with G.G of Chicago and they both started producing sets of similar designs on both sides of the border. Very likely they pooled some engineering resources since Rogers was somewhat of a pioneer in the production of AC powered sets and held many patents in the area. Not only that but Rogers produced and marketed sets under the Majestic name in Canada and kept doing so until the early 40s. An interesting product that came out of this partnership was the metal spray or spray shield tube. I believe they were developed by Rogers but American Majestic used them in their 1933-34 line of radios, but contracted with Sylvania to manufacture them.
Majestics under G.G were the only U.S made sets to use metal spray shielded tubes and they only used them for a short time before the bankruptcy. The original spray shields were called the "S" series, those came with four, five, six, and eight pin bases, G.G used these as did Rogers, some of the earliest vesions had a balloon envelope. But Rogers didn't abandon the idea, they developed the "M" series which have an octal base, they even came out with a line of GT styled spray shield tubes just before the war.
Regards
Arran

[D R FORD]

your very close on the year for spray shielded tubes i have a majestic 310A [soon to be restored] that uses them david

[Arran]

I think that after G.G went bankrupt and was reformed in Majestic Radio and Television there wasn't much call to use such an odd tube as a metal spray shield type, not that they had the production volume to make it worthwhile using. RCA came out with the first generation metal tubes in 1935-36 so if one didn't want to use a seperate tube shield it was cheaper to buy a metal tube. I know that General Household Untilities, the company the William Grunow formed after leaving G.G, used metal tubes as soon as they became available.
Rogers-Majestic/Canadian Radio Corperation was the largest or second largest manufacturer in Canada, who owned their own tube plant, so they could develop whatever suited their fancy and had enough production volume between their three brands to make it worthwhile economically. They also came out with some whacky tubes where there is no direct substitute like the infamous 2X3 rectifier tubes, but there are ways around them.
Regards
Arran

[Philament]

Arran,
You reminded me of what the engineers used to say when I worked at KTTV in Los Angeles in 1969/70. With Brand Z NTSC means Never The Same Color

[DKinYORKpa]

My Majestic 55

[Jayce]

That's a neat looking little set.