[Ryanservant]

I have bought a Stromberg radiobar recently and I cant find any information on it anywhere.
I think it is actually a philco.

I have searched every image I can find just for a similar stromberg model, and cannot find one. I am most likely going to have "Antique radio restoration and repair" in Pomfret CT restore it, but I want to see an original picture.

After digging around the internet it seems like maybe this is actually a philco radiobar, that someone modified to work with the Stormberg radio guts.


I have a bunch of photos here of the radio I bought:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryanandkait...807434661/

Here is a link to what I think is the actual radio

http://www.antiqueradios.com/gallery/v/r...n.jpg.html

Do you guys agree that this is a frankestein radio?

Any help in identifying this would be super helpful.

thanks,

Ryan

[Ron Ramirez]

No doubt about it, it's a Frankenradio.

Notice how crudely the opening for the dial was cut into the wood.

Yes, someone added that Stromberg-Carlson chassis after the fact.

[Arran]

No doubt about it, it's a Frankenradio.

Notice how crudely the opening for the dial was cut into the wood.

Yes, someone added that Stromberg-Carlson chassis after the fact.

That's what I first thought but I'm not so sure that it is that crudely cut, if you look at it up closely is has a routed edge. I think that what makes it look crude is that the rubber mounts under the dial mechanism are shot so the dial is listing over to one side, it creates a sort of optical illusion. It is also an octagonal dial behind a hexagonal hole so the corners do not line up, but the hole itself look fine. Whether someone building the cabinet screwed up or whether someone fitted the wrong chassis in there it doesn't look right. I don't know if the Radiobar company used only Philco chassis or used ones from other suppliers. What American makes used hexagonal dials?
Best Regards
Arran

[Ron Ramirez]

Nice to see you here again, Arran. I hope you will feel free to post here more often.

I must respectfully disagree with your analysis of the dial opening, however. A careful look at the photo showing the dial and knobs shows the cut is uneven all around. As an example, the left side vertical flat cut is longer than the one on the right side of the dial.

Someone tried to match this one up, but it also looks to me that the upper part of the front panel was replaced with the piece now in there. Notice the horizontal trim under the knobs? I looked at pictures of similar Radiobar models with Philco chassis, and on them, the entire front panel is one piece with no trim dividing the radio controls from the speaker grille.

When the Radiobar Corporation first started making Radiobars, they used chassis supplied by RCA and Philco. Within a few years, Radiobar was using Philco chassis exclusively.

The cabinet in question is a style which is often seen with 1936 or 1937 Philco chassis inside, by which time Radiobar was only using Philco chassis, according to the (admittedly) little bit of info I have here.

[Arran]

Now that I look at it again I can see what you mean, I wonder if one of the flats is really longer on one side or it that is just the camera angle? I wasn't aware that Radiobars only came with a Philco chassis, I thought maybe they would build to order since they were an independent firm. Since it obviously has the wrong chassis and a modified panel anyhow I would make a new panel that fits the Stromberg Chassis correctly, much as I like Philco that Stromberg is a higher end set then the Philco 620 that probably used to live in there. Still it could be put back to being a Philco, either way the glassware looks missing and that's going to be the hard part to get.
Regards
Arran

P.S Yes it's been a while since I posted on here, just thought I would get away from the other forum and see what was going on here. I was getting tired of reading threads with people citing things from the error ridden Stein books as valid information, the man is an antique dealer, not a collector, and certainly not a historian.

[Ron Ramirez]

I agree, since it has already been modified, might as well cut another upper front panel with a correctly proportioned, octagon dial opening, and keep the S-C chassis. Or the OP might opt to have a completely new panel made for, say, a 1936 Philco chassis. That's completely up to you, Ryan. (I personally prefer 1936 Philcos to 1937 models; the 1936 sets are easier to service, I think. Either year would be correct for this cabinet style.)

And yes, many Stromberg-Carlson sets are of excellent quality, often over-engineered, due at least in some part to their years of experience making telephones before they started making radios.

I've had a couple S-C sets cross my workbench, and was impressed enough to say that I feel these may be one of the "sleeper" brands of the antique radio world.