[Music in a bottle]

My best guess would be "a loose nut behind the steering wheel", that day ,back in the early 30s at the Philco factory applying veneers on that particular "day"?.. except the cabinets were similar, but different sizes. If your orig veneer is in good shape, your lucky already!! Ive fully restored a few previous serious "basket cases" in my days of the Philco mod 70 & 90 barn finds cathedrals with nothing left but a good orig front panel & floor, and rusty chassis to rebuild electronically from scratch! Since my customer(s) didnt want to pay Dick Olivers price for a new cabinet after full electronics restorations, I also (helped save orig cabs) to be useable again.I built new rear-arch supports from home-drawn templates, to match the front-panel arch cutout, measured, & used formica to bend for the 1st "ply" to make the cabinet complete again "very sturdy" with original floor. Then, I purchased and applied thin sheets of walnut-veneer, and glued them to the formica & stained the veneer with dark-walnut stain & top coated with clear lacquer. On the mod 90s I restored, I did apply the grain "across",as orig as I determined by the few remaining rotted pces, as opposed to fnt & back wood-grains which would have been easier. I figure Dick Oliver may be able to splain better than I,differences between orig positioning of veneers, as he builds fine new handcrafted Philco cabs from scratch! There is a link here on the Philco "resources" pages to contact Dick Oliver. And MAN!!.. he builds some FINE replica Philco cabs indeed!! My electronics restorations are whats really important here, & I figure my customers can at least use my restored cabs (best as I can do) with no woodshop, until they either find a orig ( natta), or buy one of Dicks fine replicas. At least all my customers are still listening to their vintage Philcos 1st & foremost, without probs, and were also happy with my cabinet-repairs. It really depends on just how anal -retentive some customers can be, on such simple issues of cabinet grain selections. Ive never had a prob with that yet! Once my customers hear their vintage Philco mod 70s & 90s ( rotted to nothing barn-find radios)playing again, they usually dont-worry about the small-stuff. Best of luck in your query for info!! Good Question!! Ive never really wondered about that issue before! Your in the right forum to get your answer indeed!

The veneer is excellent on mine except for millions of tiny cracks in the clear coat. Otherwise, one very small and faint scratch and everything else is primo! The tuning cap like I said earlier, is flopping loose. I'm getting to it though!