I just got into tube radios, and bought my first Hippo this weekend.
Even as a newbie to the hobby, I recognized that as an iconic brand, and when I saw the urethaned one selling for over $400, I thought I hit paydirt! I still think I got a good deal but I've seen wildly varying prices on completed listings on eBay, from too high for a broken set, to too little for a recapped and clean one!
Of course, a trip through antique stores tells you how out of touch sellers are with their tube radios. People think that if it has tubes, it must be worth a fortune. I mean 60's plastic (broken) 5 tubers with printed circuit boards and they're asking hundreds of dollars for 'em!
Anyway, my idea was to recap the Hippo and sell it on for a nice profit. I'll still ask an ourageous price, but only because I really want to keep it, and that's what it'll take to pry it out of my hands.
Anyway, those are my thoughts. I can't afford, nor do I have the space or skills to deal with the really cool wood consoles out there, so I'll just be over here with the small tabletops.
Cool wood consoles sell for less than a Hippo does.
PS. Oh, yes, welcome.
Hi, and thanks for the welcome!
Hippos are easy to work on, and I've now done my second one, which I will sell at a more reasonable price than the first, which I'm still listening to even though it's on eBay.
One problem with the second one, the volume pot is bad, and I need a new one. I took it apart and see the carbon is actually worn off so there is no continuity between the two fixed ends. Getting one with that long D shaft will be a bit tricky, so I started looking for other pots I could maybe take apart and salvage just the wafer with the carbon on it. Well, that ain't happening!
So, the question is, where would one go to replace this pot? I've seen other Philcos with the knobs on top, and imagine the chassis arrangement inside is similar to a Hippo. Is there a chance that some of these use the exact same part? Anyone found, say a guitar amp that uses a really long D shaped shaft? (Those would be easier to find.)
Anyone found an available substitute new? Anyone got a junk Hippo chassis with a good volume control pot? (If the switch is bad, I know I can swap that out with mine, so that's not a problem.)
By the way, I'm stepping up my game, and just won a 49-909, which will sit and look pretty for a while before I get around to recapping it! (There might be a Zenith or two or four that have to be done first.)
Dan
An easy way to overcome the problem of needing a long shaft on a potentiometer or rotary switch is to use a 1/4" shaft coupling and a long shaft.
I bought some shaft couplings on eBay some months back, and I've also seen 1/4" round brass stock on there as well.
I think these are the couplings I bought, but I also think the price has gone up since I bought mine:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/251377224704
Be careful if you buy 1/4" brass rods. I bought an aluminum rod from Home Depot that was supposed to be 1/4 inch. It wasn't - it was just slightly larger than 1/4 inch, and would not fit into my shaft coupling. I ended up having to cut a shaft off an old control.
But if you're replacing an old worn out control with a long shaft, you can cut that shaft and re-use it, with the coupling, to make the shaft long enough.
Thanks for the advice. Turns out, Radio Daze has the couplings for a coupla bux each, so I bought one from them, plus a 500K switched pot off eBay designed for a guitar amp. (Turns out 500K Audio taper is a very popular pot for guitars, and I'm using a split shaft Stratocaster pot temporarily until I get the switched one I bought.)
I would prefer the original pot, of course, but what can I do?
Dan.
(02-22-2015, 11:28 PM)ntsc525 Wrote: [ -> ]I just got into tube radios, and bought my first Hippo this weekend.
Even as a newbie to the hobby, I recognized that as an iconic brand, and when I saw the urethaned one selling for over $400, I thought I hit paydirt! I still think I got a good deal but I've seen wildly varying prices on completed listings on eBay, from too high for a broken set, to too little for a recapped and clean one!
Of course, a trip through antique stores tells you how out of touch sellers are with their tube radios. People think that if it has tubes, it must be worth a fortune. I mean 60's plastic (broken) 5 tubers with printed circuit boards and they're asking hundreds of dollars for 'em!
Anyway, my idea was to recap the Hippo and sell it on for a nice profit. I'll still ask an ourageous price, but only because I really want to keep it, and that's what it'll take to pry it out of my hands.
Anyway, those are my thoughts. I can't afford, nor do I have the space or skills to deal with the really cool wood consoles out there, so I'll just be over here with the small tabletops.
Hi;
Just a note of warning, that gloss polyurethaned Hippo on fleabay belongs to one of the known sleazeball sellers notorious for shill bid auctions. So a sale is not really a sale with that guy, and at some point it will reappear listed either under the current name or under one of his other identities.
Regarding antique stores and old radios, most of them are utterly clueless when it comes to vintage and antique items of any sort, otherwise they would not attempt to sell plastic radios with broken cabinets any more then they would attempt to sell broken cups and saucers. It's also been my experience that antique shops, those of which that are not run as store fronts for the purposes of laundering money, have a failure rate as high as restaurants.
I can't really see the point in buying something that you want, and then to fix it up, and then to offer it for sale at an ourageous price just because you want to keep it. Why bother offering it for sale at all? All you are doing is wasting everyone's time. What's more when you do things like that it tends to poison the well when there is something else locally that you would like to buy.
With regards to console radios, I don't know where you have been looking but those are among the most difficult radios to sell, and consequently some of the least expensive to buy if they are as is. This is not to say that there are not many desirable consoles out there, but they are usually more complex then a six tube AC/DC set, and they are not something that can be shipped cheaply, but if you want a high performance radio that's usually the best route to get one. As for space, well I can fit probably at least a dozen consoles into a 10'X12' bedroom, but you need workshop space to repair and refinish the cabinets, even so not everyone wants to make the space for them.
Regards
Arran
Every time I have a pot, switch or even a tuning shaft that I am scrapping I always cut off the shaft and save it. They are perfect for using as extensions with the little couplers but also they have the right type of machining for the knob you want to use. Most Philcos from the 30's have a D shaft but it is not the same as others. The flat is not as deep as you will see. the split fluted ones are especially handy because they are pretty hard to duplicate. Also one of each type I save in my tool box to use with a drill when polishing the knobs. Very handy indeed
