G.E. J-100 Cathedral - Printable Version
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+--- Thread: G.E. J-100 Cathedral (/showthread.php?tid=19911)
G.E. J-100 Cathedral - Eliot Ness - 04-25-2019
I bought this radio way back in the 80's and it has been on a back shelf forever because I initially thought it needed to be refinished. This is the model they used when they made the reproduction G.E. cathedral radios.
I finally pulled it off the shelf (it weighs a ton) to clean it up a little and sell. As I slowly cleaned and applied some magic potions to the cabinet the radio began to pop and even with the worn finish the patina looks great (at least to me), but I'll tolerate a worn original finish before I refinish. The grill cloth is absolutely perfect and as a 10 tube set this monster is supposed to be a great performer, although the chassis is jammed packed and very difficult to work on, but I'll eventually get around to that. Julie brought a set of original knobs to the Louisville meet so it now has the correct knobs (picture updated 05/07/19):
[Image: https://i.imgur.com/o6jEO6L.jpg]
The magic potions I used were a liberal amount of Goop hand cleaner (white formula, not orange), followed by some Howard Restore-A-Finish (walnut), and several applications of Howard Feed-N-Wax. I'll follow this up with one of my paste waxes.
RE: G.E. J-100 Cathedral - Jake Blake - 04-25-2019
Very detailed speaker opening. Interesting. Thanks for sharing this.
RE: G.E. J-100 Cathedral - Art Hoch - 05-05-2019
What knobs did you get?
Nice cloth!!!
RE: G.E. J-100 Cathedral - morzh - 05-06-2019
I always wanted one of this style radios.
I believe there is also a Crosley and an AK that have similar style.
RE: G.E. J-100 Cathedral - Eliot Ness - 05-06-2019
Art, Julie (Radiopup) brought me a set of the original wood knobs. Later I'll update that picture to one with the correct knobs on the radio. And yes, despite the worn areas on the cabinet that grille cloth is perfect. The only other grille cloths I've seen hold up as well are some of the Atwater Kents.
Mike, the chassis was made by RCA and is the same chassis used in their huge R-74 tombstone. Which is good news for me since RCA service documentation is much better than Riders. In fact, luckily for us, there is now a source to download the RCA service notes and data:
https://www.americanradiohistory.com/RCA-Victor-Service.htm
This is by far one of the heaviest table radios I own, except for my dual chassis Pilot. A.K. makes a large tombstone model 447, but those are pretty hard to find, and then you have that huge RCA R-74 tombstone that uses the same chassis and I'm sure is just as heavy!
Anyway Mike, when G.E. made their reproduction cathedral (G.E. 7-4100JA) they modeled it after this radio. From what I hear those are the one of best performing reproductions made, but I've yet to pick one up.
RE: G.E. J-100 Cathedral - morzh - 05-06-2019
John
I'll wait for the real thing to fall in my lap. Hopefully not the pointed top first
RE: G.E. J-100 Cathedral - SteveG - 05-08-2019
John,
Very nice radio!! I have a 98 point RCA R-71 8 tube model that looks very much like your GE J-100, only a bit smaller. I love the Gothic sets of the early 30’s!
RE: G.E. J-100 Cathedral - OldRestorer - 05-08-2019
Super beauty...
You bought that radio when I was 2,
RE: G.E. J-100 Cathedral - Jake Blake - 05-08-2019
"I love the Gothic sets of the early 30’s! "
We may call them cathedrals, but Gothic would be a more-accurate adjective.
RE: G.E. J-100 Cathedral - morzh - 05-08-2019
Yes, Gothic describes it about right, this is why the radios I recalled before are also all gothic.
There are also several of the Ecophone radios that I Love.
RE: G.E. J-100 Cathedral - Eliot Ness - 05-09-2019
Yes, many of the Echophone radios have the gothic look but it is achieved with repwood and they are much smaller and lighter.
Not , all cathedral radios have the gothic look. And cathedral, bee hive, gothic, or whatever we choose to call them today, back in the 30's they were considered mantle sets whose roots go back to Los Angeles.