[37silverstreak]

Hey everyone,
Well, Craigslist did it to me again! For $50 I just couldn't resist it!!!!! About 70 miles from my home. It was a good day for a little roadtrip and I took my mom along just to get her out of the house for awhile. Also a good chance to try out my new Chevy Sonic. Although it's not nearly as convenient for hauling stuff as my old PT Cruiser, it makes up for it in mileage. I averaged 37.9 MPG on this trip! Here are some pics.
[Image: http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q500...91e2bb.jpg]
[Image: http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q500...716d1d.jpg]
[Image: http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q500...05772b.jpg]
[Image: http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q500...6dbd30.jpg]

[morzh]

THIS! For 50 bucks! Wow...some people have all the luck....

[Eric Adams]

Nothing like that on Crags List in the Chicago area

It looks really nice! Good luck with it.

[klondike98]

A++ find!! Congrats!

[jerryhawthorne]

Very nice and a great price as well.
Jerry

[radiohenry]

Very Nice ! It was a steal at that price.
                            Enjoy.
                                  Henry

[thirtiesradio]

You stole that one! That's my favorite 16B cabinet style.

[PhilcoJohn]

Wow nice steal....I mean find.LOL. I have one and she plays great. Enjoy it!

[Arran]

 That looks like the 1933 version of the peaked top tombstone, does it have four bands or five? Naturally it has the obligatory missing part, the one partially made from unobtainium, the tuning knob, it can never be one of the smaller hex knobs it seems. I seen that somebody made a half hearted effort to strip the top and one side with acetone or something, and there is some rust on the choke and the audio interstage transformer, so it has seen some moisture, but not a deal breaker by any means.
   I got into a bit of an argument over on of these on the alternative radio forum, there was one on fleabay at the time that supposedly sold for around $375, or some similar amount. The trouble was that it looked like it came out of someone's leaky shed, water damage all over the cabinet, chipped veneer, rust, although it at least had a full set of knobs. We held the opposite positions that Mike and I took over a 39-35 a few months back, I thought it would may cost at least $300 to restore, in material and parts alone, the other guy didn't think it would cost $150. Hmm, 11 tube set, crusty rusty chassis, water damaged cabinet, $375 plus shipping, but no need to worry, all the tubes, coils, shadow meter, and the transformers, those will be fine, and the seller will of course pack it properly so nothing gets smashed. That being said it would have been a good parts donor for your craigslist buy, if it was $25. 
Regards
Arran

[Ron Ramirez]

Very nice find! All you need is a large hex knob with a setscrew, and you're good to go!

[Arran]

Ron;
  I thought the 16Bs, after the original cathedral version of 1933, used a sort of stepped knob shaped like a jelly mold? I noticed that the 1935 shouldered tombstone version in the gallery does, and all the console versions for 1934 and 1935 do, did some 16Bs use the large hex knobs whilst others used the jelly mold knobs?
Regards
Arran

[Allen in SB]

Arran:

The early version used a hex knob with a set screw. With this tuning mechanism you pull the knob (and shaft) out to engage the fine tuning drive.  The later version used the two piece knob that you described. The following link shows a side-by-side comparison:

http://www.tuberadioland.com/philco16b_tombstones_1_2_side_by_side.html

All the best,

Allen

[Ron Ramirez]

What Allen said, plus:

The first 16B tombstone, which is what 37silverstreak has, retained the 1933 five-band chassis but added a 10-1/2 inch H series speaker. This chassis has the single shaft tuning control which is pulled out for slow speed tuning and pushed in for faster tuning. So a single large hex knob with a set screw must be used.

This is the earliest 16B tombstone model of the 1935 season, which came out in the summer of 1934. By Fall, Philco had switched to their new four band chassis which requires the concentric tuning knobs.

[37silverstreak]

Thanks Ron and Allen for the info on the tuning mechanism. I had wondered about that, but did not realize the shaft pulls out. Now I know the reason for a knob with a set screw. I have the chassis out of the cabinet now but haven't had much time to look at it.  there is good news and not so good news. The not so good news is that there was some inhabitant of the set for some time as there is substantial corrosion on part of the chassis in the corner and under the tuning capacitor. Hopefully it will look better when cleaned up. Also there is quite a bit of melted wax present on the chassis, so something got hot at one point. the good news is that apart from some of the tubes, it looks like this set has never had any service work done to it. Underneath the chassis looks completely original and our little house guest never made its way down there. I'm hoping to get a little time to look closer at it today and maybe start some cleaning.
Kevin

[Geoff]

Nice find!  You can get a replacement hex knob here:

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

It's about half way down the page.

Here is a scan of the owners manual:

http://philcoradio.com/phorum/showthread.php?tid=6871

Here is a scan of the original sales card:

http://philcoradio.com/phorum/showthread.php?tid=6194

- Geoff