[Guest]

Hello everyone - My name's Chris, and I figured I'd just go and introduce myself.

I had never even heard of a Philco radio until just yesterday, when I found a 37-620 model at a moving sale, but they only wanted 10 dollars for it so I called my brother and asked him to see if it was worth anything. He told me I could probably turn it around as-is for $60 or so. But once I got it home and did my own research, I had a change of heart and thought it might be fun to restore it. That's when I found this website, and a bunch of others.

Anyway, I'm really excited to get started, and I figured maybe I'll just go ahead and tell everyone here what I'm planning on doing. If anyone wishes to comment, or let me know something that I most likely don't know, I would certainly appreciate it.

I'm sure I'll have some specific questions later on down the line, but for now, here's what I planning:

1. Replace the severed power cord on the back to see if the thing even works. (Need to figure out where to buy parts!)

2. Repair any functional/electrical problems I find after getting it plugged in.

3. Replace missing tuner knob.

4. Replace missing back cover. (The back is wide open. . . it must have a back, right?)

5. Repair minor scratches. In my opinion, there is only minor damage.

6. Refinish? Maybe I should; maybe I shouldn't. Opinions appreciated. I really believe my radio may be in better shape than most that I've seen on the interweb: On my radio, you can still see the original patterning that was stained into the radio face. I have seen pictures of this radio restored, but none with that original patterning.


Well, I think this is enough to get me started. We'll see what I've learned after that to start. Overall, I think I'd like to sell it after restoring, so any repair decisions that I make will be based on how the repair will affect the final selling price. At least that's my plan as of now (who knows, I may decide to keep it).

One thing that I would be leary of in restoring and selling an antique, is that I really have no idea what I'm doing yet, and the last thing I want to do is sell something that is improperly restored. I don't want anyone to be unhappy.

Anyway, thank you all in advance for any advice you can send my way. I'm really looking forward to this new hobby. If anybody would like to see any specific pictures of this radio, let me know and I'll gladly take some. (As soon as I can figure out how to attach photos to this message board. Having difficulty right now).

Chris

[Uffda]

Welcome, my first Philco was also a 37-620, the console version. The experts here will soon chime in on what is important to do. Even I know you should not just plug it in without some precautions.
You could easily burn out the transformer and/or some tubes.

Restoring should be fun, but don't expect to make a large profit when finished. This is a common model and the console at least, doesn't sell for much. If you catch the collecting bug you may need
to look for a larger home, or like me, do without living and rec rooms. Good luck.

[Michael Dennis]

Welcome Chris!

Yes, powering up the radio without making some checks on the electrolytic filter capacitors, and other under-chassis components could allow serious, and co$tly damage to result to the power transformer. Please don't do this. It would be a shame to have more repairs than necessary to perform. I'm sure some of the more knowledgeable fellows here will chime in and advise just what should be done prior to powering up the radio, such as using a device known as a variac to slowly bring up the line voltage. Good luck and welcome aboard!

Mike

[BDM]

Welcome, and as others have said. DON'T PLUG IT IN! All electrolytic caps and bypass caps should be replaced before any power up. How much experience do you have with electronics and tube equipment? The reason I ask is this can be a little more challenging as a beginner set. First, this set uses an RF deck sub-chassis. There are caps inside that are near impossible to get to. I disassemble mine, but again, it's not for the beginner. Great care must be taken with the coils inside. They're easily damaged. Also, Philco uses bakelite capacitor blocks. While this set employs I believe 4, maybe 5? Philco collectors generally re-stuff them by removing the tar, then the caps inside. Some don't, and simply clip the connections at the block. Then tack on new caps to the outside lugs. Doing that, is generally frowned upon. Especially by die-hard Philco nuts like myself

Please, take no offense. I'm just trying to be realistic, not trying to scare you. We all started somewhere. If you have electrical and some experience with these, then you could probably be walked through the process right here. If you've never delved into a radio, maybe it would be better to start on an easier set. As an example, many of the smaller Zeniths are very easy beginner sets to restore electrically. You could shelve this set for a later date as your experience increases. Then the bug really sets in.

BTW, while this is a common set, they're nice performers with their TRF section.