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My Philco 39-25 - Printable Version

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My Philco 39-25 - 462ron - 03-03-2026

   

So I saw this radio back in 2015 at an antique store we usually visit once a year. I passed it by for years then finally took pity on it and got it for $36! But, then last summer decided to refinish the cabinet so that meant substantial investment in time and materials. Then came decals, output transformer, new push buttons, dial scale plastic lense in escutcheon and grille cloth, it adds up quick! I had already invested more than this is worth but with the time and money spent on cabinet refinishing and electronic restoration and those parts I was kind of stuck. I couldn’t abandon this project now, had to see it to completion no matter what. One of the last things was sending the speaker out for reconing so now it’s finished with a total investment of $329, I know that’s nuts and while my wife supports my hobby I dare not tell her how much I spent! Icon_shh So I ask you guys and gals out there have any of you went overboard on a restoration?

Ron

RE: My Philco 39-25 - dconant - 03-03-2026

I say if you enjoy what you are doing then you are not over spending. Just need to realize you probably won't recoup your money. At least you have something to so for your money. Some people waste their hard earned money on alcohol and have nothing to show for it. I just have to ask why are so many men afraid of their wives? My wife does not bother me and I don't bother her. We do what we want and support each other.

RE: My Philco 39-25 - morzh - 03-03-2026

Ron

This is a great looking radio, and just looking at it gives me pleasure.
So, my criteria is this: as long as you can afford it, it does not take food from your children, does not break your retirement account, you do not mortgage your house, do not go into indentured slavery and so on, this is money well-spent and this is what people should be doing instead of moping and drinking, or gambling, or just doing nothing because they do not know what to do with themselves.
It is not overboard. It is exactly where it should be.

462ron - 462ron - 03-03-2026

I got into this hobby after I retired in 2013 just for pleasure and I don’t approach it as a job. I generally only work on my radios in winter when we are stuck in the house and then I might putz around with it for an hour or two then I might not get back to it for a week. In the summer we travel and I like to hike with friends so about the only thing I will do on a radio then is cabinet refinishing. I never worried about recouping my money because I don’t sell any of them. Yes, this hobby is better than sitting around and drinking my time away. My wife and I do the same, we support each other but I feel guilty going overboard this much on any one radio but she never asks how much do I spend on them. I’m a lucky man indeed!

Ron

462ron - 462ron - 03-03-2026

Thanks Mike, it’s nothing special, really just an AA5 but I do like the style and I guess that’s why I finally bought it after seeing it sitting at the antique store for years. And you’re right, I didn’t break the bank or sell my self into slavery or remortgage the house so I guess we will survive! Icon_lol 

Ron

RE: My Philco 39-25 - morzh - 03-03-2026

Wives are usually a good gauge of going overboard. Even the supportive ones, so do not worry: if she detects you are over-splurging, she'll let you know Icon_lol

RE: My Philco 39-25 - radiorich - 03-03-2026

Hello Ron,
Nice radio, and that set can get pricey quickly with the push buttons.
Yes, to answer your question, I’ve gone over budget on some of my own sets.
I don’t restore and collect radios to make a profit; for me, it’s all about the enjoyment of the hobby.
Ron, I really enjoy the challenge of getting them working again.
One set that I restored that I have more into it then it's worth is my General Electric model L-916 console counting what I paid for it and parts I say good $150.
Sincerely Richard
P.S.
I do repair and restore sets for people thou

RE: My Philco 39-25 - Arran - 03-04-2026

Ron;
It's hard to tell from the before photograph, but other then the grille cloth the cabinet didn't really look that bad, not compared to some of the crud I've hauled home, in fact it looks like a good cleaning may have been good enough for me. It's not that I don't know how to refinish cabinets, it's just that I'm a bit lazy, I don't like to refinish cabinets that are at least passable.
The pushbutton problem was a deal breaker for me on a 41-280 console I once saw, that and the escutcheon, and knobs, all made out of that horrible Tenite plastic that warps, cracks, and turns to dust, that was easily another $80-100 before doing anything else. At least the 1939 and 1940 models didn't have that, just the pushbuttons, which you could live without, or even bodge some substitutes if you didn't want to pay out.
I've never had a speaker reconed, so I have no idea what they charge, when I started I was a teenager, pre internet, not much money, but a retired TV service man showed me how to repair speakers. patch, or reset a warped cone. I did not fix everything but I probably salvaged 80-90% of what I ran into, mostly in farm battery radios, again because those were what I could get cheap.
I have been meaning to have a go at making plastic dial lenses, I think that Kirk and a few others have figured it out. Somehow paying $25 plus shipping for less then $.50 worth of sheet plastic rubs me the wrong way.
If you kept track of the hours you spent it would be even worse, but then again there are people who blow twice what we might spend on a radio, or car, and have NOTHING to show for it.
Regards
Arran

462ron - 462ron - 03-04-2026

Thanks guys. I am not a fan of cabinet refinishing at all. I had the chassis done on my 37-116 for 10 years before I finally refinished the cabinet just because I had to force myself into doing it. I did give this radio the goop treatment and it cleaned up nicely but it was too dark for my liking. The speaker had a couple holes in it which I patched but the sound was garbled and distorted and clipping in a different one revealed it was the speaker and not the radio. With paying for shipping both ways and the reconing itself it was around $70. A lot for a 6” speaker but glad I did it. As radiorich said it’s the enjoyment of the hobby, not what I could get if I ever sold them. For my next project I might give recapping a transistor Channel Master radio. Only reason I bought it was it is the same portable radio mom had when I was growing up and I remember using it a lot. Not looking forward to working on a small set with a PCB but it will be something different.

Ron

RE: My Philco 39-25 - radiorich - 03-04-2026

Hello ron,
Good luck on the channel master I have like 20 or more transistor radios and I find they are fun most of the time also I can bring them to work to show off to the students and coworkers how cool is it to listen to your local radio station say on a 1950s Zenith Royal 500 or Sony .

Sincerely Richard

462ron - 462ron - 03-05-2026

Hi Richard, my usual criteria for buying any radio is do I like the style. If I like it I buy it without regard to if it’s some special collectible or not. There are people on here who can tell you how special a certain radio is and can give you the history in depth and I admire that, Mr Fixr and Mike comes to mind here but I’m not that knowledgeable. My 37-116 is probably the only radio I bought back then only because so many people felt it was one of those special models that is worth collecting so I traveled out of state around 4 hrs round trip to pick it up. It sounds great with a 14” speaker and push-pull output but being a long wire antenna set, well I have other sets with a built in loop antenna that I feel outperforms it with less noise and better sensitivity. So this Channel Master portable transistor radio was bought on a whim because I remember mom having it and I also bought for $8 an RCA AM plastic clock radio from around 1960 only because it was my first radio as a kid my parents bought me, nothing special!

Ron

RE: My Philco 39-25 - radiorich - 03-05-2026

Hello Ron,
Yes, I also buy things for their looks, and I have a transistor radio made by Arvin for the Hudson Department Store. I really enjoy talking about the history and connection to Hudson.

Sincerely Richard
P.S. I have a couple of radios that have been in the family their whole lives.

RE: My Philco 39-25 - MrFixr55 - 03-05-2026

Ron, nice job on that radio!! That general cabinet style is popular. I have a 41-255. My uncle gave me an AM / SW / 1st gen FM (42-395?) chassis that was taken from a console and a table top cabinet sans speaker was built for it out of plywood. Rather utilitarian, not finished or styled, but the same angle. I need to get to this one. Both of these sets have push-pull 41s with phase inversion done at the screen grid of one of the 41s. Bad news is that both of these sets suffer from Tennititis. Ther are repro escutcheons available on the internet.

You folks are all correct regarding justification of what we spend on these hobbies!  Go on a vacation, 3 week bender, etc., what do you have to show for it?  What happens in Vegas does not stay in Vegas if you get drunk and do something sufficiently stupid to land you in their jail. Travel outside the US and you may fall afoul of laws that you don't even know about that could land you in jail there.

All in all, unless one tries for an EH Scott, a Zenith Stratosphere or a Radiobar (unless you get lucky), the hobby is not really expensive.  Go to a Broadway Show in NYC for 2 with dinner and transportation, you can be out $500-$1,000.  I think that for retirees, $200/month for hobbies is not excessive.  Could be worse, you could own a BOAT (Bust Out Another Thousand).  

We all have living history right in our houses.  In my case, the people who built, owned and used these radios benefit from my prayers.  (I pray the Requiem Eternam for those who built and owned the radio every time I touch one.  Catholic theology teaches that the Souls in Purgatory benefit from our prayers.)  

I too, have some radios and TVs that were in our family from time of purchase.

Now, to convince Ms. Fixr of this, and worse yet, sinking $20-30K for bodywork and engine rebuild into my1964 Lincoln Convertible. Hey, cheaper than buying a new luxury car. Even a Wagoneer now starts at $100K. My collector car insurance on the Lincoln ($300K liability and small estimated value for comp and collision) is under $150/year vs what, $3K /year for a new luxury car? My insurance is now about $1500/year for each of my $20+ year old cars for Liability and Comp, no collision as the deductible is more than what the car is worth.

RE: My Philco 39-25 - morzh - 03-05-2026

I certainly will buy a radio for its looks.
I will also buy it for its significance as a quintessential representative of its cohort, or a ancestor of a group, or the first example of using of some technology, or just great performer. Or family history.

This is why I own a Philco 20, a Philco Hippo, a Philco 70/90, several of Philco 16 (a 16X console, a 16B cathedral, a 16 shouldered and a 16 peaked tombstones), an RCA140, a Philco 38-690, or a Telefunken 6445 GWK, an AK10, a Tropic 53-960, a Zenith 9-S-232, Atwater Kents 82 and 84. Or why I want a Walton, preferably 9-S-232.

RE: My Philco 39-25 - Arran - 03-06-2026

Ron;
I think you may like the Channel Master after you get it going, those were built by Sanyo, and whilst they are notorious for using poor quality electrolytics with a plastic shell, many of them have a tuned RF amplifier stage, so they are good sets for DX. The one I have also has a shortwave band, after I recap it I will have to give it a DX shootout with my two Sony sets from the same era, which also have a TRF amplifier stage.
Distortion from speakers is quite common, it's usually caused by a warped cone which caused the voice coil to rub on the pole piece, to fix it involve removing the dust cover, inserting shims between the voice coil and pole piece, and wetting the cone, and often the spider as well. It's not something for ham fisted people to even think about. This is one of the sub projects I will have to deal with on my Bush DAC-90A, the spider has come loose from the frame on it's Celestion speaker, the cone is perfect however, it too has a 6'' speaker even though it's only an AC/DC set with a single ended output.
Regards
Arran