In July 2020, my Aunt drove from Minnesota to Michigan to meet my daughters, and brought my great-grandpa’s 41-608P to give me as well. Over the last year I’ve been slowly working on mildly restoring (refreshing?) it as time permits- my three year old has even helped! I was able to sell a ‘71 Sportster I got cheap from a neighbor to pay for a professional electrical restoration and am doing the cabinet myself.
Some history:
My Grandfather remembers getting it new with his dad in 1942 or 1943. Later, when my grandfather moved out on his own, he was given the radio. In order to continue using it, he had an electrician friend put a Heathkit Preamp and amplifier in it, and also replaced the original phonograph with one made by Garrard that could play 78, 45, and 33 1/3rpm records. Somehow they wired it to the radio and speaker of the Philco- my uncle remembered using all of the normal radio functions, as well as FM. Apparently the police band got a lot of use for some reason! Eventually it got moved to the horse barn, was used out there and eventually sat until they moved in 2003, when it was put into my Uncle and Aunt’s basement until it came to me.
The cabinet is in what I call “perfect for parents with young children” condition, so for now I’m holding off on a refinish, although there are a few cosmetic issues that I feel need to be taken care of. I found an electronic repair shop five minutes away from me (Northern Lights Television and Vacuum) in Madison Heights, MI, that has been locally owned and operated by the same family for long enough that they sold these when they new! They are doing a full electrical restoration and, in the spirit of my family’s ownership history, adding a Bluetooth receiver. I don’t know what I’m going to do with the Heathkit stuff yet, and the Garrard record player was too far gone to be saved.
Hello MoraleBuddy,
Welcome board and you posted that radio on the right forum there are some great members who really know their stuff and love to all things related to Philco !
The cabinet is coming along nicely at this point this can give you a chance to decide about record players and if you want a later one which will play all 3 speeds at least 33 and 45 .
Welcome to the Phorum. Don't throw away the Garrard turntable. It IS restorable despite being pretty dirty. The pre-amplifier was used to match the magnetic cartridge of the newer turntable to the Philco's input. If you don't want these items, at least sell them to someone who will want to restore them. Personally, I would use them as they were intended, the only change being the cartridge of the turntable to a modern stereo compliant cartridge.
Hello and welcome!
I have 3 of this model so if you need anything let me know. I did just part one out for someone and they did not want the BOL record player. It is complete and still has the tracking needle on it. If you have any interest I will sell it for $200.00. Sorry it is high but these are rare to find whole and in good condition.
Have fun with the restoration.
Best,
Kirk
Thanks for the greeting! The repair shop is providing me with a modern turntable that can do all three speeds.
Mike- the problem with the Garrard is that the motor’s guts have turned to a solid chunk of rust, and the complex mechanisms underneath have lost parts over the years. I would love for it to go to someone who could fix it. And while I’m still not sure I want to keep the Heathkit stuff, it will go to a new home and not be thrown out if I don’t keep it. I’ll probably keep the Preamp and find another amp to run off of it, the WA-4M amp is in pretty rough shape, and (according to the internet) isn’t one of the better kits from that era.
I’m hugely excited about this hobby, my first “career” was stage carpentry, and my current trade is as an electrician, so these radios are a good intersex of my skills and interest!
Shame about the rust and other problems with the turntable. It's hard to see these things from the picture. If it is that far gone, you are right, it is beyond hope. Good about getting a modern turntable for it then. You can buy one which will allow you to play even modern stereo records fairly inexpensively these days. The early 33, 45, 78 tables used a mono cartridge which does not have the vertical compliance needed for modern stereo records and can actually damage them. It is important to re-cartiridge them if you use them. I have an E. H. Scott 800B which I will get to someday, and had to buy a turntable for it. I found a newer (1960s) Garrard turntable with a stereo cartridge on eBay for it.
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One can find brand new turntables from China on there also, for even less than I payed for that one. Good luck with your project. When it's finished you will have a working heirloom to continue to pass down to future generations.
Hi and welcome to the Phorum. The push button stations are all from the Twin Cities in Minnesota. WCCO and WDGY are still on the air. WTCN along with WCCO had a TV station also. WTCN in the mid 60s was sold and changed to WWTC, mostly jazz and easy listening. Great station, can you imagine jazz on AM?
First off, welcome to the Phorum! This is an amazing group that can and will help any way we can. I see you are on the other side of town from me. Maybe we can plan to be at the MARC winter expo in January, if it's running. A great source for old gear. If you are not a member of MARC (Michigan Antique Radio Club) I would recommend it. That is a fine looking cabinet. Shouldn't take too much at all to restore it to "daily family use" condition. Take care and BE HEALTHY! Gary
"Don't pity the dead, pity the living, above all, those living without love."
Professor Albus Dumbledore
Gary - Westland Michigan
Rod- those station codes give me a smile, especially WCCO. I lived Anoka county Minnesota until I moved to Michigan when I was 10, so they get that nice, nostalgic glow when I see them. WCCO is the station I used to watch for snow day announcements!
Hello mike,
nice turntable and I need to convert few of my older recorder players so I can play modern records too.
But do have really nice thorens 160 and newer Kenwood thou.
Welcome to the Phorum MoraleBuddy. Don't trash the W-4AM. not as popular as the others, especially the W5M but a W-4AM just sold on ePay for $179, and it is missing the tubes and power transformer!
Correct tubes for this are 5V4 Rect, (5U4 will work for test purposes, but the 5V4 with its heater style cathode is better and safer), 2X 5881 (6L6GC) for the output and 2 6SN7s as voltage amp, phase invertor (cathodyne) and drivers.
Change the power supply filters before attempting to power this up and have a load on it. The WA-P2 Preamp gets its power from the W-4AM or any of the other Williamson Amps in the Heathkit Line.
"Do Justly, love Mercy and walk humbly with your God"- Micah 6:8
Best Regards,
I have 2 sets of 5M and 4M amps with thier own preamps. While I was working on them I took a couple of extra pre amps and built a cabinet and power supply.
P.S. Many of these came with, now, very expensive German preamp tubes (12AX7).
Wow, I haven’t used a dedicated hobbyists forum (Phorum) in years, I forgot how great they are! Thanks for all of the information- I’m going to give that Heathkit another look, although I do a stereo setup before another mono setup.
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