[Jayce]

After nearly a week of work, I have the GE 417A back home and back together with the better dial placed in the cabinet. Other than the FM being a bit off on the dial due to the dial staying in the cabinet, the guy did a pretty good job of reviving this set. The only two issues left are: The magnetic cartridge needs rebuilt. It's not very lively, even with a full recap of the pre-amp. Probably petrified rubber parts. The other issue is, even after cleaning with lubricated cleaner, the treble control feels rather course. It's fine from the 'off' position to the number '1' position, but after it's a bit rough feeling. Works fine, though and I have the parts chassis. Other than that, I might look into getting one of the speakers re-coned in the future. I repaired seven small cracks around the edge of the original speaker from this unit and four on the spare speaker. Still, the original seems to be holding and sounds good.
In fact, this radio performs surprisingly well and I dare say it is the first late 40's AM-FM console I have ever had that works so well on the FM band. Usually they work up in city, but are weak for here at home. Not so with this GE! You have to make sure you have this radio on the peak for any FM channel, but after that it's a rather clean sounding unit with surprisingly good bass when I set that control to '3', but I'm not going to run it much like that to be easier on the old speaker. I might also give this radio the 'gift' of two more new 6AK5 tubes later on. I replaced the borderline one, but might not be a bad idea to replace the other two if I make this console into a daily driver.