[Ron Ramirez]

I attended my very first Estes auction today.

My only reason for going was the McMurdo Silver Masterpiece VI in a Clifton cabinet. I had heard it was missing the correct speaker and might have been missing the audio amp/power supply, so I decided to take a chance and see what might happen.

Long story short...it followed me home.

Some quick and dirty photos, then a bit of background on this set to follow.

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum..._00004.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum..._00002.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum..._00003.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum..._00006.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum..._00005.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum..._00003.jpg]

Now the story:

Richard Estes announced that this, along with a few higher-end Zenith consoles, was part of a collection previously owned by someone in Indianapolis. According to Richard, the previous owner passed away, and the heirs wanted the radios out of the house - quick - so they could sell the house. Until they called Estes Auctions, the radios had been in danger of being set out, as he put it, "along the treeline" just to get them out of the house!

He went on to say that the Masterpiece's components were scattered all over the house of the previous owner - the tuner in one room, the Clifton cabinet in another, the amp/power supply in yet another. He also said that he and his crew tried to find the Jensen speaker which would have belonged with this radio, but could not locate one anywhere in the house.

I'm sure the heirs are happy they called Estes now!

So after a trip to northeast Ohio, this Masterpiece is back in Indiana now.

Somehow, a Scott/Magnavox 15 inch speaker ended up inside the Clifton cabinet. When I saw this set initially, it had an incorrect power supply inside. I found the correct amp/PS (it was sitting with a Scott chassis!), and told the auction folks about it. They put the Silver amp inside the Clifton cabinet and put the incorrect PS back on the table with the Scott chassis. So, now, it is mostly complete.

Now I have to save up for the Scott I'm wanting...

[Eliot Ness]

Congratulations Ron, that is a real beauty! How many tubes are in that beast? Looks like it's time to stock up on some chrome polish

[TA Forbes]

Oh my goodness! What a radio!!!!

[Glenn Roberts]

Congrats Ron,

I'm glad the trip was worth it!!

It was good to see you and Debbie Friday, and what a score. It's remarkable that something like this could've ended up in the "treeline".

Glenn

[exray]

Great catch!

[y2kbruce]

Well done Ron-A keeper for sure. I have a VI parts chassis if you need something to get 'er going.

Bruce

[Uffda]

Wow, that is some classy shiny stuff. You must be living right to find the correct PS in another set.

[morzh]

Well, some people being idiots comes handy for us radio collectors every once in a while.

Great piece! Congrats!

[Marsupial]

Congrats Ron. I remember reading a post from you a little while ago about those hard-to-find radios, and liked this specific model.
Kind of surreal that very shortly after you get one. lol.

Those radios were made on order? There's a name behind it. Its kind of cool.

I am trying to understand just how those work... it is a receiver cabinet, with a separate amplifier/speaker cabinet?

Congrats on the catch, and on getting the proper PS for it. Good eye.

[Steve Davis]

Congratulations Ron. That is way cool!

Steve

[Ron Ramirez]

Two more pictures.

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum..._00002.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum..._00001.jpg]

[Ron Ramirez]

Thanks to all for the kind words! Now I shall answer the questions, in order:

Eliot (John): The Masterpiece VI has 21 tubes. McMurdo Silver used all-metal tubes in his Masterpiece V tuner chassis, but I read somewhere, or was told by someone, that he started switching back to glass tubes in late production MP V models. The MP VI uses glass tubes in the tuner, all of which (save for the tuning eye) have chrome shields and covers.

My tuner chassis has 13 of 17 glass "ST" or taper-top tubes; three are metal inside the chrome shields/covers, one is a GT glass tube. The amp has ST type rectifiers but modern 6L6GB output tubes, and one has gone to air as you can see in the interior cabinet photos; notice the white spot on one of the 6L6GB tubes.

Glenn: good to see you too Friday afternoon. Hope you enjoy all of your new Philco toys!

Tom, Exray, Uffda (Phil), Morzh, Steve: Thank you all!

Bruce: Thanks very much! I will send you an E-mail on this subject.

Mars: Yes, the original owner received the privilege of having their name engraved on the manufacturer's tag on the back of the tuner chassis.

As with many high-end radios, its audio amplifier and power supply is separate from the rest of the radio. Philco 37-690 and 38-690 chassis are constructed in this fashion, only they do not have any chrome plating.

The good, the bad, and the ugly on this set

Good: The tuner chassis appears to be in very good condition. It has all of its original knobs, original chrome cover in decent - not perfect, but decent - shape, all but one chrome tube shield/cover, the rare and desirable Clifton cabinet, and the correct audio amp/power supply.

Bad: One chrome tube shield/cover is missing. The original back for the Clifton cabinet is missing. The grille cloth is pretty rough and will require replacement. Fortunately, it appears to be rather generic, so I am hoping that will not be an issue.

Ugly: There is rust on the amp/power supply. I'll have to learn the proper course of action to take about this, as I want it to look good.

I have not yet opened up the tuner to look underneath. I am hoping it has most if not all of its original paper capacitors. On this one, I will take the extra step to restuff the paper caps if they are still there. This set is worth the extra effort.

[codefox1]

That is your Christmas Present for this year, a bit early.

[w4rtc]

Good deal Ron

Joe

[Arran]

I think that McMurdo-Silver msut have used a better quality chrome plating then the contemporary Scott radios did. Half of the Scott sets that come up for sale have rusty or pitted chrome on them which leads me to believe that they only flash chromed their chassis. One manufacture that used very good chrome plating was Wells Gardner, it seems that most of the Airline and other private lable sets have reasonably good chrome on them even if the cabinet is trashed. In any even probably the best way to deal with that rusty amplifier chassis would be to bite the bullet, strip it down and have a chat with the local old car restorers about whom the best plating shop is for the money. You should be able to get a decent replating job for under $200 for something like that, and it's cheaper per item to get several things replated at once so keep that in mind.
Regards
Arran