The PHILCO Phorum
Truetone 724 cabinet makeover - Printable Version

+- The PHILCO Phorum (https://philcoradio.com/phorum)
+-- Forum: Various and Sundry Categories (https://philcoradio.com/phorum/forumdisplay.php?fid=37)
+--- Forum: Other Radios (Non-Philco) (https://philcoradio.com/phorum/forumdisplay.php?fid=12)
+--- Thread: Truetone 724 cabinet makeover (/showthread.php?tid=13434)

Pages: 1 2

Truetone 724 cabinet makeover - Fred Taylor - 11-04-2015

Picked this up 2 weeks ago a finally finished the cabinet . Its was pretty rough and Kirk thought is was a fire victim, it wasn't burnt looked bad , the veneer on each side on front had been replaced along with both sides. Look presentable now have to finished the chassis later next week.

RE: Truetone 724 cabinet makeover - OldRestorer - 11-04-2015

A+ as usual!

Me

RE: Truetone 724 cabinet makeover - Fred Taylor - 11-05-2015

(11-04-2015, 08:53 PM)OldRestorer Wrote:  A+ as usual!

Me

Thanks Kirk Icon_wave

RE: Truetone 724 cabinet makeover - JimZ - 11-05-2015

Amazing change.^^ I thought for sure you might be pulling your hair out repairing the columns in front.
And whoever redid the veneer on the sides and top seemed to have gotten the veneer type correct. Some of the tops Ive seen and worked on may have been more figured veneer but someone would have to be pretty anal(myself included) to spot that slight difference. Very pretty radio now and it will play great!

RE: Truetone 724 cabinet makeover - Fred Taylor - 11-05-2015

(11-05-2015, 08:52 AM)JimZ Wrote:  Amazing change.^^ I thought for sure you might be pulling your hair out repairing the columns in front.
And whoever redid the veneer on the sides and top seemed to have gotten the veneer type correct.  Some of the tops Ive seen and worked on may have been more figured veneer but someone would have to be pretty anal(myself included) to spot that slight difference.  Very pretty radio now and it will play great!
Thanks JimZ , the top and front control panel is factory veneer, the sides and L/R column's is what I replaced .

RE: Truetone 724 cabinet makeover - Arran - 11-06-2015

 I would rather have one of these then one of the motorized dial models, either under the Trutone or Detrola brands. Not only do the pushbuttons clutter up the front panel but if the auto tuning mechanism jammed up it was almost guaranteed to burn out the 24 volt tuning motor winding on the power transformer, or even the primary, for some reason they didn't think of connecting a fuse in series with the tuning motor. They are nice looking radios, but when I got into this hobby in the late 80s early 90s nobody really had an interest in private label department store type sets, regardless of who built them, and before Dennis Smith (Mr Detrola) set up his web pages nobody really paid much attention to anything Detrola built. It was pretty much the order of the big black dial, Catalin crap, and then Atwater Kent, RCA-Victor, Philco, and every other make in a declining pecking order with private label type sets near the bottom.
Regards
Arran

RE: Truetone 724 cabinet makeover - JimZ - 11-06-2015

So you did do the columns..whoops I misunderstood Fred. She's a beauty.
Arran I couldnt agree more on the motorized tuning models (727 I think). Nice if you find an example
where its working but otherwise it's a crap shoot. Some of the parts are a nightmare to replace or have made.
Ive had a couple of the 724's like Freds and for my $ its one of the best playing radios made at the time.
Along with the 723. Good series of radios made for Truetone and the darned things sure sell well.
Restored Ive seen em go for minimum 400 to sky is the limit depending on refinish and sales venue.
The fully restored example I own will never leave my clutches. I think I have around 15 Detrola made
radios..Detrolas/Truetones and Aircastles. Wait..I forgot the Silvertone wood Pee Wee. Fun to collect once the company history is clear/

RE: Truetone 724 cabinet makeover - Arran - 11-09-2015

(11-06-2015, 08:48 AM)JimZ Wrote:  So you did do the columns..whoops I misunderstood Fred.  She's a beauty.
Arran I couldnt agree more on the motorized tuning models (727 I think).  Nice if you find an example
where its working but otherwise it's a crap shoot.  Some of the parts are a nightmare to replace or have made.
Ive had a couple of the 724's like Freds and for my $ its one of the best playing radios made at the time.
Along with the 723.  Good series of radios made for Truetone and the darned things sure sell well.
Restored Ive seen em go for minimum 400 to sky is the limit depending on refinish and sales venue.
The fully restored example I own will never leave my clutches.  I think I have around 15 Detrola made
radios..Detrolas/Truetones and Aircastles. Wait..I forgot the Silvertone wood Pee Wee. Fun to collect once the company history is clear/

 Here is an example of how NOT to refinish one of these, from one of our favorite fleabay shill bid scammers and hack restorers. It's a shame how you can ruin a nice radio by refinishing it like a cheap guitar, not to mention ruining the patina of the escutcheon by polishing it. Nine times out of ten he never sells these, he's like that guy in Brooklyn, (or is it Jersey now?), who plays a pump and dump fraud with his team of fake bidders trying to run up someone's maximum proxy bid, and if one of the shill's wins they go back to the real bidder with a second chance offer.

http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/78292-1938-truetone-724-u

Regards
Arran

RE: Truetone 724 cabinet makeover - Fred Taylor - 11-09-2015

I dont like the highly polished escutcion either , there not suppose to be like that, mine was pretty bad so cleaned it up and recreated the patina. With my radio the antenna coil is bad and audio out put push pull transformer for speaker is open so I have order new at antique radio supply. Should be here this week. The chassis was real nasty also so I had to carefully  bead blast and repolish chassis best as I could. I will update this post as I go along with radio or when finished.

RE: Truetone 724 cabinet makeover - PhilcoJohn - 11-13-2015

Coming along great!

RE: Truetone 724 cabinet makeover - Kestas - 11-13-2015

I have an exact model in the queue for cabinet restoration. The veneer is slightly lifted at the front on each of the verticals on the sides. Did you have this problem?

RE: Truetone 724 cabinet makeover - Fred Taylor - 11-13-2015

The veneer was shot on both sides when I got my radio, these sets are know to having the veneer come loose on the sides, its common from what I understand so most guys will replace or repair what you have

RE: Truetone 724 cabinet makeover - Fred Taylor - 11-15-2015

Almost finished, I am waiting on dial cover though, I put in new antenna coil and replaced electrolytics also replaced speaker wires along with the speaker push pull transformer. Got it playing pretty good and put it in cabinet now nothing , well time to pull it out and poke around some to find the problem. Overall this truetone turned out pretty nice. Had to make a grill cloth backing board which was nothing to speak of, im wondering if I should get a repo dial scale cause this one is seen better days?

RE: Truetone 724 cabinet makeover - Fred Taylor - 11-15-2015

Hers what the chassis looked like before surgery Icon_eek Icon_eek

RE: Truetone 724 cabinet makeover - Crist Rigotti - 11-15-2015

Looks very nice Fred!