[EdHolland]

Intersting topic. Faced with the "Philthy Philco" and some major requirements for restoration of our 16X there were choices to make. Standards can be high when you are the customer...

Here is what I did:

No compromise on electrical safety - all components and wire up to standards or exceeding necessary rating. I did use cloth wire, but original colours and combination colours are not available.

Some parts had to be rebuilt - speaker and audio transformers. This I tried to do following original construction methods and materials.

Caps - fairly easy, as most on this set were Bakelite blocks. I rebuilt each carefully with modern film caps so . The big tin block was also rebuilt with new parts placed within. The main filter electrolytics were replaced with well rated motor film caps, and mounted in the correct spot. I now have a set of rebuilable "Mershons" that could go here but will probably leave things as they are. Other point to point caps are visible as modern stand-ins, not restuffed into old cases. Old parts saved for reference/interest.

I admire the work to preserve appearance and function, and I decided to follow that path in part. Since things are only original once, and our example had seen a hard life, I am comfortable with some new appearing alongside old

Lastly, I will write up and keep with the set, a journal of the project. This will describe the attempt to replicate, but not necessarily conceal the efforts. Removed components will be kept also as a record of original parts.