[Sam samuelian]

"MONEY PIT" UPDATE: I hated even glancing at the Philco 38-690 which was abused as opposed to restored by Alex Kowal who's on ebay. Thanks to looking and asking questions, finally Mike Koste heads up the great Kutztown Radio Meets (I'm booked for Sept. with a dealer's table---gotta sell to keep paying for all I buy!) suggested Lewie Newhard who has had his wonderful wares displayed for about 20 years at Renninger's Kutztown (open every Saturday). Lewie was very sympathetic but didn't want to touch a set botched by another technician. But he gave me the phone number of Chuck A. Chuck came out and after spending a few minutes took the 38-690 away. Good timing since my "musuem quality" 37-690 has now been picked up from Minneapolis by the shippers. I heard back from Chuck, and didn't believe it when he told me the BAD hum was mostly the result of a tube that wasn't shielded. OMG! (Note: A good friend told me that Philco had a kind of "war" going with RCA which resulted in their using shielded glass tubes instead of metal tubes). He went on to say the work was done by a hack and that he would rather start from scratch but since I had SO much sunk into the set already (around $3,300), he would do what was absolutely necessary. He re-did the bakelite blocks, aligned the IF, and worked on the magnetic tuning. He is having the bad tweeter restored. All will be ready in about two weeks.

Ironically, a result of all this "experience" was a jump over to the Scott Forum. I got very interested in Scotts and ended up bidding nearly the same as I had dumped into the 38-690 for a Scott Buckingham Philharmonic with incredibly beautiful chrome. Didn't stop there and went for a lovely and stylish Sparton Triolian with tweeters. Then found four Scotts for sale but have not been able to deal with the seller who has let things drag on and on despite my offer to drive down to see them. So, I found on the same forum a wonderful guy who sold me two Scotts from his collection (he needs space for new sets he is buying for his room, aptly called The Great Scott room!). They are a Scott Acousticraft Philly and a Scott AW12 Tasman. ALL are in transit as I write so soon our home is going to be "invaded" by 10 big consoles including a Radiola Super VIII (RCA's first console offering), an Airline "movie dial", a Zenith chairside, an Atwater Kent Kiel, and the most beautiful (fully restored) console I've ever seen--the stunning Arvin "Rhythm Queen".

What's next-? Well, I'm now talking McMurdo-Silver and am looking for something like a Masterpiece V or VI in a Clifton cabinet with 18 inch speaker. In the meantime, I continue to get "fixes" with a steady flow of cathedral, tombstone, and other wood sets, and a nice supply of bakelite and plastic radios--most of which have been painted in original colors with mirror finishes or painted using a striking array of colors like yellow, turquoise, burgundy, black, silver, etc., etc.

Onward and upward!

PS. Thanks to all who have helped me on this crazy road I've traveled. Especially Ron R.