[DarrenWGaransi]

Hi Everyone,

I acquired a Philco 42-1008 for free. The cabinet is a little ragged, the speaker had a rather unpleasant tear and the usual other problems were prevalent. Shockingly the beam of light exciter bulb is not burned out. I recapped the radio which woke up the deaf Short Wave band and then set to work on the changer. I have the bell drive and idler shaft being resurfaced by The Voice of Music. That should arrive a few weeks from now in the mail. 
Once I freed up the changer and tone arm, I attempted to spin the platter by hand while listening. There was barely any sound coming from the speaker. Obviously the photo cell was basically dead. I followed the tips provided by Bill Thompson on his website-I ordered photo diodes (Hamamatsu S875-16R) and wired two according to his circuit which was incredibly easy. They work! Spinning the platter by hand yielded some really clear sound. I can't wait to hear the real deal when the drive assembly arrives in the mail.

So far I've done the following:

Recapped and aligned the chassis
Replaced the bad cord and deteriorated rubber wires
Straightened out the front of the chassis that had been mangled
Replaced the band indicator bulb
Repaired the tear in the speaker
Repaired the plug that connects to the phono input transformer
Repaired the manual/auto switch contacts on the record changer
Sent the bell drive/idler drive out for restoring
Cleaned up the faceplate, etc.
Replaced the original photo cell with new ones as mentioned above.