[BDM]

Here's mine. Tacked on electrolytics. Added on top of the existing factory can with the original still being attached. Man I hate that! This is probably the 30th set I've seen this on in the last 3 years. Always sends me scanning the schematic for a cap I may have missed....grrrr! Plus, why add on to an already wasted "lytic"? Just noticed this same issue on this 116B I just acquired.

Mind you, these are older lytics, not recently replaced.

[Doug Houston]

Here's the other half of that. An electrolytic replacement from the thirties, with one of the cardboard box replacements, dangling from the bottom of the chassis. Then. possibly, it was twist-spliced on to wire leads from somewhere, and insulated with cloth friction tape.

Oh, there are still some blacksmiths, making a mess out of a radio, but there was an abundance of them in the thirties.

Oh yes, and then, there are the shoemakers who clip capacitor pigtails, and splice the pigtails of the new ones onto them. Grinds my butt.

[Terry Judkins]

Guess I am a shoemaker....

[Texasrocker]

Im most definately a shoemaker also Terry! (hee hee)! Dont feel bad dude! Aint nothin wrong with clippin' out those old caps, making a nice little horseshoe-bend on all connect points, squeezing them together with small needlenose pliers, then soldering them in place!
Heck, I dont even re-stuff orig bakelight, electrolytics, & or orig paper type caps either! Im a shoemaker-deluxe!! What a waste of time!? Most of those old timer radio techs just "subbed-in" new electrolytics across the origs because they were in a hurry in those days! Back then, they figured all those sets would be replaced anyways with a brand spankin new "low price"model instead, if they didnt keep the repair costs minimal as possible. Ive had old radio techs tell me this personally!
About the only thing I can think of right off hand for the next generation of restorers to be PO'ed about, is trying to replace caps again many yrs down the road, and wonders "why-did", someone spend so much time re-stuffing ANY old capacitor, for any reason, other than originality purposes? Removing all that "hot-glue" that many use today, is really gonna give all the future tube techs
a real, real bad case of the red-azz indeed that has to remove all that un-necessary stuff just to get to the parts again! No offense intended to the purists at all!! Not my intention! Just my .02

[Terry Judkins]

I have gone the whole route on some valuable radios but most radios that I have restored are medium to low value and do not justify extreme restoration efforts. A busted band switch or socket caused by completely removing old component leads is not something I relish. I always restuff Philco Bakelite blocks, though. Not so much for authenticity but just because, for me, it is easier and makes things neater under chassis. I have never made a dogbone resistor lookalike. Replaced resistors shine like new money in an old Philco but they sure do make radios sound right and that is my objective. I don't want shelf queens.

[Texasrocker]

...yeah Terry,... guess Im just "lazy" (impatient)... when it comes to those old bakelight condenser rebuilds! Since those type orig cap bodies are already in place anyways, might as well use them, especially when space constraints are at a max! I usually just get the old bakelight housings out of the way, and add a terminal-strip in place of them to make necessary connections.
Sure aint nothin wrong with rebuilding the orig's either!! I can understand "originality" to a certain point, then it gets rediculous after a point ( just my .02) which means nothing anyways. I cant imagine any future "buyer" of a restored Philco Mod 90 asking: well, did the tech rebuild the orig bakelight condensers?.. if not, Im not interested? (hee hee)
Now when it comes to fine-rare- high quality vintage musical instruments items like a (IE) vintage all orig 1957 Fender Stratocaster guitars/ with orig cases, I can see the importance of looking closely at total-originality! Those type vintage musical-inst items sell now for over $45,000.00 each these days!! Ive sold a couple all orig Leo Fender 57 Strats (made at the Fullerton Ca factory), as well as several nice early 50s vintage Fender tube amps in the past (for very high $$ to collectors), but wish I had hung on to them a few more yrs instead! Collectors of those items actually want the bolt-on necks/ pickups removed, to see the actual dates of production pencil marks from the factory! I just dont see that type thing happening to vintage radios produced in much mass quantities in comparison. I may be wrong though!! In comparison, I can see "why" the Atwater Kent early breadboard models sell for high prices, as many didnt survive, and relative small amts were orig made of each model. But even those dont command the high $$ figures as vintage musical instruments do. Hopefully, someday, the Philco 90s will reach those demands among collectors?,.. so all-in-all, it is probably a good idea to re-stuff the orig- caps just in case prices go up on them!!??? Just a thought. Im a real-bad shoemaker, but I do have some nice vintage radios fully restored. I really enjoy the hobby!!

[Doug Houston]

One thing we usually lose sight of is that when our radios were in everyday use, and needed to be fixed, some of the repairs we speak of now, were perfectly acceptable. The radio wasn't expected to go more than 7 0r 8 years, then trashed. So, however the fix was executed, it was OK, because it did the job. I was one of those techs of ancient days, because I worked in a radio shop, on a bench, during WW II. Fortunately, we didn't repair sets with new components dangling from the chassis, nor bridge bad filter condensers with new tubulars. The boss taught us that the open electrolytic could change its mind some day, and become shorted. But remember that in those days, the screw mount aluminum can electrolytics were still in the catalogues, so in the better shops (ours was), screw base got replaced with screw base.

The sets that were the ones most dreaded were intermittents or "faders" (not to be confused with Fada). They were (are) foxy, and defied any attempt to isolate a bad component. Nowadays, intermittents aren't much of a problem, because all capacitors are replaced. and whatever may have been intermittently bad, is removed, anyway.

Sort of amusing even that I like RCA sets as much as Philco, but RCA used the worst junkiest cpacitors in their sets that anyone ever even came close to. They were in little cardboard tubes with a drop of tar in each end, and literally came apart in the set. Those were the only intermittents that were easy to trouble shoot.Almost any tubular cap in the set was falling apart, and we did have customers where they let us totally re-cap a 3 year old radio! There was no other way out.

Probably, the bakelite (note that spelling!) block capacitors that Philco was famous for, don't really bother me. They were tie points when the set was designed, and while new terminal strips can be a neat replacement, I do like ti re-gut the bakelite blocks, more to preserve the appearance oif the chassis, than anything else.

The issue of re-stuffing tubular caps is, to me, a process of shoveling manure against the tide. Even if a radio is to be judged in a contest, judges can't see the craftsmanship beneath the chassis, so I see it as an exercise in futility. When you have as many artifacts as I have (besides radios), I just can't see myself, consuming time with labor that produces satisfaction or acclaim to nobody beyond myself.

[AI2V]

It can be a real nuisance to work on a Philco after the cap blocks have been eliminated. The layout diagrams are no longer valid and the workmanship is sacrificed with flying joints that aren't supported. It only takes 2-3 minutes to completely re-stuff a block once you learn how.

Whenever I see a weather-beaten pre-war Philco, I'll buy it just for the spare blocks.