[Ron Ramirez]

This cabinet originally left the factory as a 38-643B battery set.

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...e00000.jpg]

Yes, it is a 1937 Philco cabinet, and they did not produce this style during the 1938 season. The only answer that makes sense to me is that, somehow in spite of Philco's tight production controls, they had some 37-643B/650B/etc. cabinets left over and these were fitted with chassis and sold as 1938 models.

A genuine 38-643B can be seen here:
http://philcoradio.com/gallery2/1938a/#Model_38-643B

Anyway...the photo above is a set I used to own. It's a long story, but I ended up with the empty cabinet once again about a year ago. While it was gone, all of the veneer on the left side of the front panel came off. As it turned out, this set was in much worse shape than I thought it was when I owned it previously.

I had some old veneer, and fortunately, I had enough to replace the veneer on the left side. The next photo shows how I have removed the lower molding in front and have already replaced about half of the missing veneer:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...e00001.jpg]

Once all of the veneer on the left had been replaced, it looked like this:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...e00002.jpg]

Then, the bottom front trim was reinstalled on the cabinet, the entire cabinet sanded down, after which grain filler was applied to the cabinet. This photo shows how it looked at this point:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...e00003.jpg]

As you can see, the "new" (old) veneer doesn't quite match the color of the veneer on the right of the front panel. But...veneer that isn't quite the same color is better than no veneer, right?

I assumed that once toner was applied, everything would even out. Well...that wasn't quite so:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...e00004.jpg]

This is how it looked after application of toner. I used Medium Walnut overall, with Medium Dark Walnut on the bottom trim. This time, I only applied two light coats of Medium Dark Walnut on the bottom trim, and you can still see the grain on the trim. I didn't want the trim to look as if it had been painted. A slightly darker shade of toner would have been better here, but this isn't too bad.

Two coats of clear lacquer were applied after the toner.

This past week, I ordered a few Philco decal sheets from Antique Electronic Supply so I could get the proper-looking PHILCO decal. These arrived only three days after I ordered them, and so today, I finished the cabinet work on this set.

First, I wet-sanded the entire cabinet with 800 grit wet-dry sandpaper, sanding lightly. I only wanted to sand enough to smooth the finish and make it just rough enough for the final coats of clear lacquer.

Next, I applied the authentic PHILCO decal and let it dry. This step was followed by carefully brushing some Micro Sol onto the decal, so that it would completely conform to the surface. You want to be very careful with the Micro Sol, because it literally melts the decal! Too aggressive brushing will destroy the decal as will bothering it while the Micro Sol is wet.

So I let it dry (it was laying on its back while the Micro Sol was applied and active). Once the Micro Sol dried, the cabinet went outside for final coats of clear. I used Deft semi-gloss, as I have used on every cabinet I have done this year. It received two coats of Deft on the sides and top, and three coats on front.

Here is how it turned out:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...e00005.jpg]

With all of the lacquer now in place, the color of the veneer on the left side of the front panel now more closely matches that of the right.

I already have a 37-650B escutcheon, chassis, and speaker. This cabinet will become a 37-650B when finished. I also have the proper "Ribbed" cloth.

More photos when it is reassembled...which reminds me, I will need to acquire a complete set of knobs.

I feel that I have learned a lot about refinishing this year, and I'm looking forward to more cabinet projects in 2012.

[TA Forbes]

Hello, Ron: my 38-2650 is in this cabinet.

[codefox1]

Back on facebook I see. I have a number of friends who use this as their primary interface so I tune in frequently. My other world is Linkedin, for business, and yes, there is some overlap for sure.

Harvesting veneer under the molding is a tried and true method as in harvesting tolux scraps under the panel of tube testers and guitar amps to make corner patches. Tips and Kinks stuff.

It occured to me that you have not to my knowledge had a fund raiser to support your site in quite a while. I do not think anyone would be opposed. I could do up a pretty good pitch for you if needed. Yeah, I was in marketing before I went over to the dark side and became a programmer.

Best wishes.

[Ron Ramirez]

Tom - really? Well, that's yet another Philco oddity.

I was contacted by a collector a few months ago who has a 38-690 with 37-690 chassis inside, and he said he bought the set either from the original owner, or from the original owner's estate.

So it looks like even in 1937/38, Philco put together a few of what we would consider "Frankenradios" to clear out stock, in spite of their claims of keeping a tight fist on production to avoid overstocks.

Codefox - yes, I had to rejoin Facebook as part of my job. I do not intend to post much personal info on there, but I will promote this website a little bit.

You (or anyone else for that matter) are always welcome to kick in a few bucks to help the ol' cause in keeping this site up and running...and is always very much appreciated. Thank you.

[Arran]

That's one of the problems with trying to match veneer in a place like that, not only does it have to be of the correct species and cut but in a case like this it has to be from the same fletch (veneer cut from the same log) in order that the grain and the colour will match. When it's on opposite sides of the cabinet or the top it's much easier to hide then when they are almost side by side. At the factory the cabinet makers simply took sheets of veneer directly off the top of a stack of veneer one after the other, so if they wanted a mirror image or book match they just flipped the next sheet over, so the grain and colour always matched on each cabinet. The good news is that you can still get veneer of this cut today, it's called quarter sawn French walnut, so you can still match veneers just like they did in 193? or 194? at the Philco furniture plant. That being said you did a much better job of this then most people would, some would just throw straight cut black walnut on there and call it done, like the guys that put huge square patches in veneer.
Regards
Arran

P.S I really need to build a new cabinet for my Philco 3118, I made one year ago with 1/2 inch birch plywood and I can't stand looking at it anymore.

[Eliot Ness]

That evened out very nicely Ron, the cabinet looks good. The only part I don't care for is the bottom trim, but that will be an easy fix if you decide to change it, and it might look a lot better in person than the picture.

[Ron Ramirez]

Point well taken, I'm not satisfied with how the bottom trim looks, either. This afternoon I'll put some Extra Dark Walnut on the trim, and I will try to spray light coats so it doesn't look like paint.

[Ron Ramirez]

Okay, let's try this!

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...e00006.jpg]

Poor lighting and a quick photo, but you can see I darkened the bottom trim with Extra Dark Walnut. It turned out darker than I wanted, but it does look better than the Medium Dark Walnut that did not give enough contrast.

I tried using light coats, but it came out blotchy looking since I did not strip the Medium Dark Walnut - I didn't want to make a mistake and end up having to do the whole thing over. So I had to keep spraying until the blotchiness disappeared - along with the woodgrain.

Next year, I'll buy some Mohawk Ultra Classic and try it on trim.

[TA Forbes]

I'll get some pics together of the 38-2650. It also has the large dial like the 37-670 that I have. My 38-5 and 38-665 tombstones both have the smaller diameter dial.

[Eliot Ness]

I think that trim looks a lot better now

[Steve Davis]

Ron, very nice job on the veneer repair.

Steve

[Ron Ramirez]

Thanks, John and Steve

Today, I rubbed the cabinet down, waxed it, then installed the 37-650B escutcheon.

Here is how it looks at present:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...e00007.jpg]

Next up: make a backing board and install grille cloth, and then bring in the chassis from the garage and put it all together. Perhaps over the winter, I'll get the chassis restored.

I'll post another photo when it is completely assembled.

[w4rtc]

I guess I will have to stay off this forum, or else I will be eaten up with envy . You did a good job on that cabinet. By the way I missed the Lexington get togather, I had some stiches removed on my back where I had some surgery.The Doctor said that he didnt think I should drive or lift anything, maybe next year. Joe

[w4rtc]

Ron and others
I have a 37-620, the cabinet is in bad shape . It is in the shape of this one but has the Photo stuff on the front. If I sand it off and refinish it it looks so plain. What if I cut some veneer and put it on the center part of the front vertical and cut some strips like your cabinet has and installed it horizontal around the edges . It would not be orignal but maybe it would be o k . It would be walnut veneer.
Joe

[Ron Ramirez]

Joe

Yes, I noticed you weren't at the Lexington meet, now I know why. Ouch. Sorry to hear about your surgery, take care of yourself and get well soon!

Regarding your 37-620B, have you looked into the Stewart Schooley photofinish replacement technique?

http://www.philcoradio.com/schooley/

My friend y2k Bruce gave me a 37-610B that has photofinish problems, also. But I also have a 37-38B in a nearly identical cabinet, with excellent photofinish...I'm thinking about trying to make B&W scans of the 37-38B front panel, filling in any missing areas with Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro, coloring them in and applying to the 37-610B using the Schooley method, perhaps next summer.