[glyphmon]

While I'm finishing up the electrical restoration in my other thread, I figured it would be a good time to gather some tips for options for the cabinet.  Below are some photos of the cabinet's present state.  This radio had the photo finish front and there were quite a few damaged spots, but even more than that, I think it had simply sat in the sun and the colors were very washed out.  The contrast was particularly noticeable when I removed the escutcheon - the finish underneath was beautiful, if still fake.  I did initially try to do some color matching repair with some art supplies but the remaining finish was just crumbling, so I decided to take it off altogether.

   
   

I've read that this "white wood" is difficult to stain, so I know it's a battle either way.  I have a couple thoughts.  First, I would be completely interested in trying to reproduce the photo finish design on this radio if I could find anyone with some high-resolution photos or scans of it in good condition.  There's a local print shop and I'd love to take the project idea to them.  So, if anyone has one in great shape that would be willing to take those super-high-res photos, that would be awesome; alternatively, if you know where to find them if you don't have them yourself.

Option B of course is to try to do a digital repair of the original that I have (I've composited six close-ups of the front of my radio to generate a larger high-res image) but this is going to be very time consuming given the number of scratches and bad areas, plus, as I said, the color is very washed out and I suspect the outcome would not be very good.

Option C would be just to apply some different stains to the sections and try to recreate the color pattern of the original.  Given the photos below, I think it could look nice, but there wouldn't be much in the way of wood grain to show off.

Option D would be to do as I've seen done in at least one other case here on the forum which is to find me some veneer and make a front that looks nice, even if not in the original style.  That could be fun, but not sure if it's for me as a first attempt.

Separate from the front face of the cabinet, the veneer around the sides and top seem to be in decent physical condition.  I've taken the old finish off with a razor blade - the cabinet was small enough that this was pretty straightforward to do in about an hour.  There are two sections on top where the prior finish had worn away long ago and so the wood was exposed.  Those are the darker patches in the photo.  I guess my first question is what wood do we think this is, and second, how best to even this up with the darker patches in the finishing process.

   
   
   

Lastly, there is a little black stain around the bottom back corner on one side.  Not sure what this is from - water or something else - but its placement on both the veneer and the base seems to suggest it's not just a regular water stain.  Should I just try to sand it off or is there another thing I should try?

   

Thanks to everyone who has assisted on the electrical restoration so far, and anyone who can offer tips to a novice on the woodworking side of it now.

Best wishes,
Roy