[Groundhog74]

Bought an ugly 39-40 at an antique mall for 16 bucks. It was in their "bargain" room. Very dirty and someone had replaced the grillcloth with some 1970's psychedelic couch upholstery. Bought it for parts mainly. Anyway got it home and it worked, so now I am restoring it as I get time. Shortwave band works excellent. AM receives but is very faint, almost inaudible up to around 1300 on the dial then from there on up a couple of very strong stations come in at about medium volume. Haven't had much down time to really get into it. Found the original antenna wire coiled up and laying in amongst the tubes with a petrified rubber band around it. I've had one suggestion to check the broadcast band coils and maybe adjust. I know it needs re-capped, fairly loud hum. The band selector switch seems a little iffy also when switching into broadcast. As soon as I can I'm going to see what I can find in the switch and maybe try tweaking the coils a bit. The thing has really cleaned up nice and I have changed the grill cloth, and polished the faceplate. A little elbow grease and some Old English did wonders for the cabinet. I need the push buttons but I know I can get them. Any other suggestions appreciated.

[Glenn Roberts]

Good save, probably the next stop would have been the dumpster. Post some pics please. It's interesting to see what kind of cloth people put on them when the original gave out.

Glenn

[Arran]

It looks like it isn't too bad of a set, eight tubes, which was about what the 39-116 has once you take the mystery control section out of the tube count. The good news is that this set apparently did not use the chevron grille cloth, although I don't think that the example shown in the gallery has the correct stuff, it looks like RCA grille cloth to my eyes.
At the moment repro grille cloth isn't being produced and even if it was they may not have had the pattern this set used anyhow. Even if they had the correct cloth available it's sort of a crap shoot as to whether it would be worth the expense, a piece that size would have been in the $40-50 range, and even the best of the 1939-42 Philco consoles are not big dollar sets. So start hitting the fabric stores and see if you can come up with something suitable, like one with a diamond pattern, even if you have to dye it brown you can make something work.
Regards
Arran

[NostalgiaRadioTime]

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=...226&type=3

Here's a Facebook album of my 39-40, which I restored last year. Picked it up for $40 and outside of new pushbuttons, grille cloth, and dial glass, I didn't have to do too much to it other than clean it. It played great, as someone did some work to it recently.

[TA Forbes]

GoJo hand cleaner works wonders on filthy cabinets. Make sure that you use the NON abrasive kind.

Recommend you replace all of the electrolytic and wax paper capacitors and any out of tolerance resistors. Have fun with the brittle rubber insulation on the wires. Test all of your tubes, it saves a lot of headaches.

Ebay has several acceptable varieties of grillecloth for sale.

Would not recommend any adjustments until you have done the above repairs/checks.

Your set sounds like it has a lot of potential. Good luck and do post some photos.

[Groundhog74]

I do plan to re-cap it before I try any alignments. Also I do not currently own a signal generator. I have been getting grill cloth at the local fabric shop. Yes I know it's not original, but I have been able to find a couple of fabrics on sale that have the "look". The lady working there saw me wandering around lost and asked me what I needed. I told her I needed some hideous 1930's looking cloth to replace speaker covers with on antique radios. She laughed, was suprised and also enthusiastic in helping me find stuff. She also seemed to know a little about old tube radios. I have re-covered two Philcos and another set for a friend with what I have found at a total cost of around $10.00. I'm not re-selling the sets...not yet anyway.

[TA Forbes]

Going to a fabric shop is a fine way to do it. Until repop grillecloth is again available, it may soon be the only way.

If you have time, take a look at the grillecloth for sale in eBay, there may be something there that flips your trigger.

[Groundhog74]

NostalgiaRadioTime...I bought some push buttons for this set and they turned out to be the wrong ones. Way too short. Which ones did you buy for yours???

[NostalgiaRadioTime]

I got mine here:

http://www.renovatedradios.com/parts.html

Scroll down the page. They are under the header "Push-Buttons for 1939 Philco Sets (mid-length) (PBPH39MW)"

[Arran]

Larry Bordonaro is the one that makes most of the reproduction Philco plastic parts that most outlets sell:

www.antiqueradioknobs.com

I would try contacting him to see if he has the kind you need.
Regards
Arran

[Groundhog74]

Thanks for the help on the pushbuttons. I'da figured it out sooner or later, but it's nice to hear from someone who'se already been there. What did you do about the clips? I have none. This 39-40, and a realy nice 18X I have are going to be my winter stay sane projects...along with anything else I may pick up in the meantime