Your expierience in $$ for DIY restoration? Newbie w/41-608 - Printable Version
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Your expierience in $$ for DIY restoration? Newbie w/41-608 - SpiritLyric - 05-30-2011
Hello everyone, my name is Kathy and I live in Florida. I'm so glad to have found this website! It has really helped me in identifying and learning about my new "old" baby, Philco #41-608. Just got him on Saturday off a Craigslist ad for $60.00.
The cabinet appears almost mint and everything seems to be original on the inside. I've posted some pics - just used Howard Naturals Wood Cleaner & Polish
I've read many questions & answers through this forum, but one thing I haven't read too much about is your personal experiences with financial investment in a DIY restoration.
Would any of you mind sharing how much you have spent on some of your projects?
Thank you!
Kathy Cochran
Longwood, FL
Re: Your expierience in $$ for DIY restoration? Newbie w/41 - Ron Ramirez - 05-30-2011
Hi, and welcome!
If you do the work yourself, you can spend between $10-30 in capacitors and resistors to restore a radio. Tubes, when needed, add more to the tab. However, more often than not, most if not all of the tubes in an old radio are still good. It is the failure of capacitors that causes most of the problems in old radios.
As you can see, the cost of parts themselves is not expensive. But your time and effort in repairing the set adds up fast. Not to mention the fact that your 41-608's chassis is full of wires that have rubber insulation. This rubber dries out and falls off over time, and therefore needs to be replaced for safety and reliability. So now you're spending more money on either wires to replace every wire, or heat shrink tubing to use as sleeves over every old rubber-covered wire in the set (the method I prefer).
This operation adds even more time to your restoration.
So (and I'm not sure if this is what you are asking, but I'll provide this bit of info anyway just for fun), if someone wants to charge you $200-400 to rebuild the chassis of that 41-608, they aren't trying to rip you off - they are actually being fair both to you, and to themselves. Doing this type of work the right way takes a lot of time, but the end result is worth it.
I should point out that I noticed your 41-608 still has its original record changer, but the main tone arm is missing - only the optional record cutter arm is in place. The record cutter was used to actually make home recordings of 78 rpm records. But, the playback arm is missing. This may be a hard part to find. You might try asking West-Tech Services if they have one for sale.
http://www.west-techservices.com/
At any rate, enjoy your new find! And feel free to ask questions as you go along - that is what we are here for.
Re: Your expierience in $$ for DIY restoration? Newbie w/41 - SpiritLyric - 05-31-2011
Thank you Ron. Obviously this is going to be my first restoration attempt. I have a basic understanding of capacitors, fuses, soldering, heat shrink tubing, etc., from working for Grainger for the past 14 years. But knowing about these things and actually using them are 2 different things.
I certainly don't mind the work. It will be a labor of love for sure.
Kathy
Re: Your expierience in $$ for DIY restoration? Newbie w/41 - Chuck Schwark - 05-31-2011
Welcome! After reading this thread, you will want all the service bulletin and documentation for your 1941 console.
See my website's Schematic Info page to order a set. My photocopy service provides copies from the ORIGINAL Philco service bulletins, as well as any subsequent Production Change Notes issued. Also have the service manual for that changer, which is a part of the entire packet.
See also the Beam-of-Light section of my site for insight on the unique record player.
Regards,
Chuck Schwark
Website Partner with Ron's site here.
Re: Your expierience in $$ for DIY restoration? Newbie w/41 - codefox1 - 05-31-2011
Well my first recommendation is not to quit your day job. It's a great hobby, and for most of us, at best a self liquidating persuit, that is discount labor, and see if you can make a few bucks on a sale to pay for the next wreck you find at your door from the post office or UPS.
Somewhere there is a guru on top of a mountain, probably in Europe, who earns a 7 figure income by restoring ancient microphones, radios, maybe even obscure glass optics for even more obscure film cameras.
Great hobby, very doubtful career path. When that ***hole finallly goes silent, not gonna be much on AM. Or is he gone > Dunno.
Re: Your expierience in $$ for DIY restoration? Newbie w/41 - Ron Ramirez - 05-31-2011
codefox1 Wrote:When that ***hole finallly goes silent, not gonna be much on AM. Or is he gone > Dunno.Huh?
: Oh, you must be referring to "The Golfer."
Re: Your expierience in $$ for DIY restoration? Newbie w/41 - SpiritLyric - 06-01-2011
Hi Chuck - thanks for the information on where to get all the documentation. I must admit that I'm starting to feel a little frightened about doing this. Reading your page about the Beam of Light Phono Pickup was almost like reading Greek.
I've got a gazillion questions. Looks like I've got a lot of reading to do.
Codefox1: This radio is for me, not for resale. When I was a teenager, I used to work in an antique shop, which eventually progressed to me becoming an antique dealer. I had a few old radios come through my hands, which I resold. Now that I'm older and no longer in that business, I wish I had kept them.
Thanks for responding everyone!
Kathy
Re: Your expierience in $$ for DIY restoration? Newbie w/41 - codefox1 - 06-01-2011
OK, there will be a lot of help available to you here to get your set up and running again. There is tons of stuff on this forum you need to look at, dealing with replacing all the capacitors, using a variac, etc... But that looks like a nice clean set, so you shouldn't have to deal with the nightmares of rodent infestation, etc... that we often find in these old sets.
If you haven't worked much with electical devices, please be especially aware that you should not touch anything when power is applied to the set. Never ever! We do want to hear from you again.
Fixing old radios is a wonderful hobby, and a great way to starve to death as a profession nowadays. Others might beg to differ.
Re: Your expierience in $$ for DIY restoration? Newbie w/41 - Marsupial - 06-01-2011
Hey Kathy,
your console is the big brother of mine, that I am currently restoring.
here's my thread in case it can be useful:
http://www.philcoradio.com/phorum/showthread.php?tid=3110
It is my understanding that most of the wires you have in your radio will have to be changed, in addition to the capacitors.
I know it sounds harsh when you start (I was there not long ago) but take up one issue at a time and you will progress. When you have questions, do ask. The people on the phorums know about them Philcos.
The $$$ for restoration ain't that big if you already have the tools. Particularly if you can locate a place locally that sells the proper capacitors (which I didn't until I had already received my order...)
I have about 80$ worth of parts so far invested in mine, and I think it'll cover all I need until its completely recapped. This includes Philco water transfers, felt for the knobs, and refinish material.
overall, I don't find it too pricey, the audio quality was already good to begin with, but its getting even better now that I am replacing the caps.
Enjoy your project.
Re: Your expierience in $$ for DIY restoration? Newbie w/41 - Arran - 06-03-2011
codefox1 Wrote:Well my first recommendation is not to quit your day job. It's a great hobby, and for most of us, at best a self liquidating persuit, that is discount labor, and see if you can make a few bucks on a sale to pay for the next wreck you find at your door from the post office or UPS.
Somewhere there is a guru on top of a mountain, probably in Europe, who earns a 7 figure income by restoring ancient microphones, radios, maybe even obscure glass optics for even more obscure film cameras.
Great hobby, very doubtful career path. When that ***hole finallly goes silent, not gonna be much on AM. Or is he gone > Dunno.
Are you talking about Ed Schultz? There is lots of stuff on AM, it just depends on where you are and when you listen.