[Art Hoch]

I'm soon to receive this radio from a friend. I don't know what shape it is in but I have NEVER worked on a Grundig before. As I understand, it has BC, SW, and FM bands. I'd appreciate any hints/tips/warnings/heads up on this set. I THINK it is a USA version but will have to wait for a bit to know. I believe there is a European version on this model as well.

Any help would be appreciated.

Art

[morzh]

Art

Those are as much as tube radios as any Philco.
You will likely encounter a Selenium penal-box type rectifier. It might be still good.
Other than the dial pointer being this belt-pulley concoction.....nothing special.

And (good news) - no caps to re-stuff. And (likely) the only ones needing replacements could be the lytics (I would check the paper caps in case they did go bad but likely not, those are newer types. But even if they are). Lots of caps will be molded mica types, possibly some oil.....those are good.

And them Grundigs sound very good for their table size...sometimes surprisingly good.

Pots will be scratchy, both tone control and volume. Keys switching bands might need lubrication, plus they often crack.
Depending on which eye tube they use...vertical miniature type or old 6E5 style....you might have to purchase that one.


Unless it was abused I do not see a huge project.

[Art Hoch]

morzh,
Do you have any idea the date of manufacture? It has the civil defense triangles on the BC band so it's after 1953. I'm guessing early '60s...

Took delivery today. The cabinet will need lots of work. Has had water drip on it I think. Bottom plywood has delaminated and the pretty top veneer is mostly loose. Glue injection coming up. Power cord was cut off.

The chassis has a little corrosion and a little rust. I've seen worse. Ferrite antenna has broken off the little connector wire but IS present. I don't see evidence of hot spots but don't know about the transformer yet.

Dial stringing looks like a headache. I've been told by Frank Karner it uses a separate string for BC tuning and a separate string for FM tuning. Has BC, 2 SW, and modern FM bands on the dial. Dial glass is nice and knobs and buttons appear pretty nice.

If I am successful, it should sound really good with 3 speakers.

[morzh]

Wow....I hope you had a good bargain on this one.
Indeed needs work.

I think those are end of 50s to maybe 62-64.

[Art Hoch]

morzh,
It was a gift. FM played 7/19/14! I think perhaps it's a 1957 or 1958 radio.

[Arran]

Since it's a 1957-58 model it will have at least some paper capacitors, probably the Ero brand kind with the black ends. Another thing to be aware of in Grundigs is the plastic they used in the bandswitch assembly in some of their sets, they used polystyrene which can be attacked by some solvents.
One of the things that many German sets are notorious for is the way they incorporated the power switch into the band switch assembly, so every time you turned the set on you had to select a band, which would wear out the contacts after being used several hundred times. The band switch assembly is also mounted horizontally, which means that any dust or other crap can collect in the band switch assembly.
I never understood why they mounted the ferrite bar antenna on a rotating assembly connected through pulleys and dial cord to a knob on the front panel. It seems like a needlessly complicated gimmick.
Regards
Arran

[Art Hoch]

I NEED a dial stringing diagram BADLY!!! Looks like a nightmare to me. Or course they are all broken.

[codefox1]

You will have fun with this one. Of course if bandswitch is really bad, you could pick a band to restore. one you wou want, and mechanically forbid movement to others. Replacement tubes will be a litle costly too, and of course the caps and probably many of the carbon resistors. Calculate whether this is a project or a campaign.

[Art Hoch]

One shortwave band played tonight...for a little bit. Got several FM stations moving the tuner manually! Still no BC. Probably a grubby bandswitch I'm thinkin'. Time to test tubes and change some caps and resistors. Many of the resistors test right on the money or very close (in circuit).

[gregb]

I have repaired many European made sets and find the resistors are either right on within 5% or open, they never seem to drift. The paper caps are usually leaky and need replacing, the band switches, for reasons stated above, can be a bit of trouble. Sometimes the chassis's are very crowded and not to easy to work on, depends on how elaborate it is. The common thing amongst all of them is when working properly they sound really good.

Gregb

[morzh]

The resistors are 50s technology which greatly improved over 30s, even for carbon types.

[Arran]

If there is one band that becomes faulty in one of these sets it's the AM broadcast band, since its the one most frequently used to turn the set on it ends up with the most contact wear. In my opinion this was a really stupid design common to many German sets, why they could not used a separate power switch, or incorporate one into the volume or tone control makes no sense. Even the Soviet set I have, which also has a piano key style bandswitch, used a separate power switch, and their bandswitch assembly was much better made, with better materials, then most of the German ones I've seen.
Regards
Arran

[Art Hoch]

NO shortwave at all tonight. However, I received 23 or 24 FM stations distinctly. Cap and resistor replacement time coming up! Maybe if I hit the right ones, SW and BC both will play?! I'm hopeful.

[Art Hoch]

Except for the eye tube, all tubes tested good! Whew!

[Art Hoch]

Still looking for a dial string diagram!