[MrFixr55]

Arran, you're right. I have seen several of this style cabinet on eBay with the 6V27 6Volt Farm (5621) chassis. Very appropriate as the grille seems to have an agricultural theme and reminds me of a grain of wheat. The 6S27 and console version 6S52 appear in several different cabinet styles. I wonder if Zenith regionalized their cabinetry, and used this cabinet for the 6S27 when sold in agricultural areas.

[EdHolland]

Interesting thoughts. Of course, I have no idea how or when this radio made it to California. It is a mains set - but I have seen parts for the farm sets out there.

[Paul Philco322]

Zeniths are sought after, I do not see as many up here as one would think, either people hang on to them or there were many other choices of brand up here to compete and make them less numerous. I am always interested in a Zenith.

Good luck with it.

Pablo

[Arran]

I think it all has to do with distribution, and dealer networks, in the Northeast Philco, RCA, G.E, and at one time Atwater Kent would have been the big dogs, with several regional, and independent brands. Bob Andersen lives in the Chicago area, but in spite of Stewart Warner sets being built there he seldom sees them. I rarely see Canadian Marconi sets where I am, but Dan seems to run into them in Calgary a lot. Maybe brand Z decided there was too much competition in the North East, who knows?
Regards
Arran

[MrFixr55]

I live in Long Island and have several Zeniths from my childhood:
    The 5619 Chassis from a 6S52 given to me in 1967
    A 1948 6G001 Portable that I found in the Town Dump in the early 70s
    A 1948 4G800 "Zenette" given to me by a neighbor in 1970
    A 1957 M723 AM - FM given to me by a neighbor in 1973
    An early 60s  Zenith J512 give to me by a neighbor in 1967

In addition, I fixed a neighbor's Owl Eye as a kid (Filter Cap), Another black Dial (Shutter Dial, Cant remember  the model, it was in the late 70s.

Zenith TVs were popular around here; I have fixed many.

So, they were relatively popular.  However, there was quite a bit of competition.  Zenith was built in Chicago, RCA in Camden, NJ; Philco in Philadelphia, PA; Emerson and several other brands in Long Island City, NY, GE in Schenectady, NY.  These were the most popular brands around  here and I have a few of each from my childhood.

Best Regards, 

John "MrFixr"

[MrFixr55]

Central California was, and still is, a major agricultural area.  In addition, a lot of "Dust Bowl" Refugees from the Midwest during droughts of the mid to late 1930s may have moved to California during the Great Depression.  So if the radio wasn't bought in California, it may have traveled there.

[Paul Philco322]

I have a few AM/FMs from Zenith, have a 4 tube portable Z but 30's and 40's sets seem to elude me, maybe I am just not in the right spot at right time!

Paul

[EdHolland]

More interesting stuff folks - thanks for the contributions to the thread

Not much time on the radio yet, but I dd complete all the dial disassembly required to fit a new belt, which arrived from "Quality Radio Belts". I haven't put it back together yet, as I want to give the tuning cap a really good clean off the chassis, and also clean up the chassis while it is out of the way. I do now have the gear mechansm properly freed up, and the antui backlash spring drives the cap all the way to unmeshed. Presumably friction in the belt system prevents this "auto-tune" feature once it is all back together.

Most attention was spent looking at the cabinet. I looked at available materials to make something to replace the missing part from the grill and found something suitable which was shaved down to the correct thickness. Since the pattern is symmetrical, I traced the corresponding area on the other side to the back surface of the repair piece, and carefully cut and sanded the shape. It is oversize now - more of the grill pattern than is actually missing while I decide how to integrate it with the original.

I then turned to something never done before - as fund, there was a piece of veneer missing from the left front area of the top. I found and shaved down some material with a suitable grain so that it was slightly thicker than the radio's veneer. I trimmed the broken area to straight edges, and cut the repair piece to match. This was glued in to place. Later I sanded the new piece level with the original surface. With just a little help to match the colour, this is going to look very good. The top is so scratched up that I will refinish it anyway, and I think the veneer repair will look pretty good for a first try. Pics later.

Still on the speaker hunt. I may go modern, add a single ended transformer, and sub the field coil with a 1000 ohm resistor of suitable rating. All this I would mount to the new speaker and configure wiring and a plug, so that an original speaker can be substituted when found.

Cheers

Ed

[Arran]

Post war was a different matter from pre-war, post war Brand Zs were even sold in Canada, and Admiral set up a plant as well. Even so what radios you tend to find the most of depends on the local dealer networks.
Regards
Arran

[EdHolland]

A bit of veneer work. I wiped a little stain over the repaired section, just to see how it would blend in. Since the rounded section hasn't been cleaned up, it makes it appear still to be lifting - it isnt. I think this will be quite respectable when the rest of the top is cleaned up and toned appropriately.

   


And here is a little work performed to pull the delaminated parts of the grill back together. Still working on how to integrate the missing piece, perhaps support from a thin backing, but I have made something, as mentioned earlier.

   

[MrFixr55]

Hi Ed,
This shows so much promise! You are on the way to a really nice restoration. Yes, great idea to mount an output Xformer on the speaker and find a place there to tuck a 1K resistor, and make a harness that ends in the correct plug. Makes it easier to swap in the more correct speaker when you get it, all without having to modify the chassis.
Interesting that yours has a belt. Mine has a long coil spring with ends joined, making the spring into a belt. Was this way when I got the chassis in 1967, but, hey, this thing was 31 years old when it was given to me!

[EdHolland]

Thanks MrFixr

Actually, whatever the original drive link might have been, there was no sign of it in the radio. Another site I found made reference to a flat rubber & fabric belt. I'm sure the round polyurethane replacement will work nicely.

Found some more veneer edges lifting, so am gradually working to get these all reglued. Those are the simple little tasks that one can do a bit at a time even during the work week - a few minutes here and there.

[Arran]

Ed;
  Here is a tip when patching veneer make the patch first, lay it over the area to be patched, and cut around it. Also make the patch and irregular shape, to mimic the rays in a wood grain, straight edges catch the eye more. The top of the cabinet looks like maple veneer, or possibly beech, a white wood with little grain definition.
Regards
Arran

[EdHolland]

Thanks Arran - all advice gratefully received.

With the grill repair, there is some luck in disguising the join, as there are light carving details where the new piece will meet the original wood - in fact these score lines are probably why it broke at those locations. Since the cuts are darkened in the way they took the stain, these features at the break could help disguise the repair, assuming I can tone it to match. I can practice the matching easily on some offcuts.

The top is definitely a light wood that was toned to a richer colour. That is something I'll work to recreate. I'm actually enjoying the cabinet work on this radio far more than expected - some new challenges for me.

[EdHolland]

A bit more today on the cabinet. I selected something that looked suitable to make a repair piece for the top right edge molding, which had lost a piece about an inch long. I worked back the break to make a flat surface, and made an oversize blank piece of approximately the right wedge shape. This is now glued and will remain clamped overnight. One the glue is set, I will carve and sand the profile to match the rest of the radio.

Next I set about gently removing the damaged finish, which has really been knocked about in places. Working outside, I used acetone and a cloth to strip back the crazed and chipped laquer from the front panels. The wood underneath is in nice shape and has great colours -there was no need for sanding, which I'd rather not do. Slight dings and knocks are the character of an 85 year old antique. A light rub over with ultrafine wire wool worked wonders. Out of curiosity, I wiped on a very sparing sheen of linseed oil to get an idea how it will come out - so far so good, but still quite a lot to do.

Pictures tomorrow, when the light is better

Ed