[Jayce]

Just picked up my Zenith C835R along with some spare tubes today. It is now fully recapped and much to my shock, the electrostatic speaker is working. I could swear it was dead, but there is enough space between it and the main speaker for me to put my ear close (at low volume) and there is definite sound coming from it. According to other sites, the electrostatic tweeters were never as loud as a regular tweeter and this one seems about right. Now to finish up the details. Still missing a knob and I will post for one in the wanted section later. The edge of the cabinet is dinged on the right front, so I need a good way to reduce that before the final cleaning and the touch up with the Old English scratch and dent repair. This radios sounds really good on FM and decent on AM. Of course, AM in my area isn't great on any of my radios anymore.

[Paul Philco322]

Don't forget to try the tone control in the dial pointer. It's the center knob like piece. I have drag mine up soon. Been too long no play. Enjoy it Jayce. Paul

[Jayce]

I already have the tone control set, Paul. Just like the C845 models, it is very responsive and on FM you don't want to turn it very far from full treble or it gets way too much bass. Well, too much bass with modern FM. Sometimes I wish I could travel back in time and see how these radios sounded in the time they were produced for. Only other thing I might have to do is give the band switch one more shot of cleaner and then carefully lube detents with a drop or two of Zoom Spout. The guy who redid this is VERY stingy with his cleaner spray. Of course he is up in his years. He started out working for Zenith during the very end of the tube era for their TVs! I am glad I decided to take the chance and offer the $15 for this radio.

[Paul Philco322]

I too wish I could go back in time, to hear the content. Then come back! Paul

[MrFixr55]

I'd like to go back in time to fix a bunch of things and I don't mean just radio, cars, etc., and then come back More like relationships, the health of loved ones, etc.

[radiorich]

Hello jayce,
Great score on your part !
Sincerely Richard

[Jayce]

Now the radio gets to go through 'test week' to make sure it stays stable. I think all of us have had radios that play great for a short bit after a rebuild and then crap out. I sprayed some cleaner down the tone control shaft today because when you tuned the radio, it would sometimes turn the tone control as well. That seems to have cleared that up and I also gave the volume control shaft a little spurt as well. Last night it back fed a couple of times, so I unplugged the radio and worked the controls back and forth a few times. Played for over an hour after that with no issue. I just don't want it to start doing the crap the late 50's/early 60's GE volume controls like do do after being cleaned. I have a 50% chance of those either working or somehow shorting out after a cleaning. Radio will play well then start to squawk more and more until it won't work. Of course the back feed sound could have been something in the house as both times it did that, dad was tinkering with something and I think one time he was shaving.

[Jayce]

Okay, here is the radio after a cleaning (though it appears I will have to use Q-tips to get into the corners again) and a light going over with some Old English for dark woods. Looks better for sure and I also replaced a broken, plastic foot that I didn't notice earlier. I had this radio sitting on a piece of cardboard that I use to protect the console underneath and realized it was bulging and blocking the few lower air vents these radios have. After removal, I noticed the radio wobbled bad and discovered the bad foot. Luckily, my parts Zenith has the same feet. Now to just find a correct knob and maybe do some dial cord work. The dial turns fine until you get between 650 and 600 and it then needs help to get the rest of the way to the bottom of the dial. Usually these type Zeniths do that at the upper end, at least in my experience. I did pull the tone knob and pointer to clean the tone control shaft and put a couple drops of oil down there. The tone control would sometimes turn with the dial and it does seem to really grab at the bottom. Maybe the shaft is a little bent?

   

[Paul Philco322]

The nice thing here is often the dials have rust, partially smudged off numerals yours looks really well preserved. You can see the Zenith "dot" at about 100 FM. Paul

[Arran]

Jayce;
My inclination is to replace the dial cords in most sets I get, unless it's one of the very few that uses a bronze cable. Most people hate doing this, but unless it's been changed recently they almost always fail sooner or later, and when it starts slipping that's usually a sign that the cord has stretched or was restrung improperly, what I normally use is what they call "fly line backing" used to tie flies for fly fishing, among other things, and they sell in in most sporting goods stores, and even Walmart, one spool lasts me for years. The trick is that the line sometimes has a bit of stretch so you have to take that into account. I learned how to restring dial cords when I bought an old Phillips with a broken cord, one with a slide rule dial, and I ended up restringing it probably 1/2 dozen times before I got it to work, trying different sorts of string, with varying success.
Regards
Arran

[Jayce]

Arran, what type "fly line backing" do you get? I looked it up and there are different kinds. I am going to hold off judgement on the radio dial cord until we get past this heat wave. We have been having dew points up around 75-76F these past few days and today my bedroom feels rather crappy. That's where the radio is at. We don't have central air, but usually the large window unit in the living room cools our little, single story house fine as long as the humidity isn't in prehistoric levels like today. Even my tube checker wasn't happy when I tried to use it for a couple tubes this afternoon and finally came around once the temps in the work shop cooled down a little. One thing I do know is that sometimes extra humidity and dampness can affect the dial cords in these radios. Actually, no work is getting done until these temperatures drop back down and since I don't have the dial cord diagrams, these will have to be redone by the guy who recapped them. I have to admit, even guys on Youtube often grumble about Zenith dial cords and there is one model from the early 50's that they always break on. Can't recall the number right now, but I have one.

[Arran]

Jayce;
They stuff I get is normally black, and has a tensile strength measured in pounds, I think the last kind had a 40 pound test, the main difference is thickness. You can find a lot of service information online including dial stringing diagrams. It's one thing you can try that is not going to damage anything, and the materials are cheap, I suggest fly line backing because it's much more available then so called "dial cord" even though it's really a similar product.
Regards
Arran

[Jayce]

Thanks, Arran. I'll look for that when I am out next time to see what is available in my area.
Paul, what I lucked out on with this Zenith is that dial ring and badge are plastic and also the printing is color fast enough to be cleaned with the Lysol wipes that I have. I started out cautiously and then cleaned more firmly once I saw that the printing was not being affected. Took a lot of grunge off that dial ring and badge! Now the metal rings on the Bakelite Zeniths, beware! The printing WILL smudge off. Also, the always present rust on the ones I have and find around here.

[Jayce]

Since it is raining out, I decided to pull the chassis out of the radio in my bedroom and I gave every point on the tuner and dial a few drops of Zoom Spout oil. The dial cord is plenty tight, but the tuning parts were getting stiff. When I was in the radio, I discovered a rather old speck of solder on the speaker cone of all places. I left it alone, but I wondered how often that happened over the years as I have had balls of solder come out of radios that have never been disturbed over the years. Now to test the radio and hope no oil got into any places I didn't want it to. That's always the challenge as no matter how good my aim is, a little oil always oozes down the tuning capacitor frame and it is a tight spot to dab up any spills. When you think about it, the dial cord on this style of Zenith is under a lot more load than other styles of tuners. Later on, Zenith went to a worm screw drive for the FM tuner than was direct to the shaft, which I think took the excess load off the dial string.

[Arran]

Jayce;
Yes if the set has a gear reduction drive for the dial then hardened grease would be suspect as well. I once had a tuning shaft, with no gear reduction, that was very stiff, but not seized, I never went as far to take it apart but squirted some WD in the bushing and it loosened up within minutes. I have had others that I had no choice but to take apart as they were stuck, again hard grease was to blame, although mice urine likely contributed in the last one that was that way, it was a good thing the shaft was brass.
Regards
Arran