[Dan Walker]

I bought this radio with a about five others and I think it cost me $20.00.
 The cabinet was all there but in need of stripping ,and it was missing the bottom plat on the chassis.
  After I recapped it [during the winter] I got to the cabinet this spring.
  I made a new plastic dial glass and did the cabinet.
   Here are some before and after photos. I hope you can tell the difference.
 Dan

[VntgRads]

I can DEFINITELY tell the difference!  Very nice work on a nicely designed model.  I like the dial, knob layout with the plates (?) above, speaker cutout, veneer patterns, etc.  I guess I like the whole radio!  Give yourself a pat on the back for a job VERY WELL done!

Craig R

[Eliot Ness]

Very nice radio Dan, good job

[TV MAN]

Very nice! Good Job!  

[palegreenthumb]

Wow, that looks great Dan! That's a beautiful radio now that you've got it cleaned up!

-Rodney

[Dan Walker]

Here is another Westinghouse I just finished.
 It is a model 683 and I bought it because I liked the style of the cabinet.
   It had a shorted secondary in the transformer, and I found another radio with the exact same transformer.
    After recapping and doing the cabinet I have a neat little radio.
   The knobs are very different, almost like TV knobs, but they came with the  radio so I believe they are original.
  Dan in Calgary

[klondike98]

[KCMike]

Great job on both radios!

[Eliot Ness]

That 683 is beautiful.  Apparently Westinghouse had a completely different design team in Canada than the U.S..  It seems the majority of U.S. made Westinghouse radios are pretty ugly.

[morzh]

This looks like a cross between an American and a European radio.

[Arran]

Dan;
  I think that you placed the wrong knobs on your Westinghouse, the before picture shows the correct ones, the later ones show it with RCA/Canadian G.E knobs from the 1940s. I also have a Canadian Westinghouse model 512 in the project pile, it's a 512A
to be exact, models 512 X and 512X were console models, and the knobs are more domed like the knobs in the before photo. The 512A is a 1936 model, the 527A is a 1937 model which is similar but only has two bands and a more rectangular dial. In any event I think that the cabinet on my model 512A is a little different, I'm not sure whether it has the contrasting bands of veneer near the ends like yours has. The knobs on your model 683A are correct, Westinghouse made a series of sets using those concentric knobs much like the ones early RCA TV sets used between 1940 and 1949. Canadian Westinghouse's radio factory was based in Hamilton, Ontario, and as such was within driving distance to a number of furniture companies in Kitchener, Stratford, and Woodstock, so that probably explains the fancy cabinets they used.
Regards
Arran

[Dan Walker]

You are right Arran. The original knobs did not have the metal inserts in them and when I put some in they did not fit properly.
I had this set of RCA knobs and they work quite well.  {I just can't fool you guys}
  The 683 does have the right knobs, at least they came with those ones.
 The photo in Radio attic archives show's the wrong ones  and whoever owns that radio  probably
 did the same thing as I did.
  We had a discussion about this on ARF and the knobs on the 683 are probably the same  as  TV knobs.
 Here is the radio attic photo

[Arran]

Dan;
  The knobs on the Westinghouse model 512 didn't have inserts as such, it was a piece of spring steel that fits into the slot in the back. If you are looking for a substitute try cutting some out of the spring found inside a broken tape measure, or some of those steel clips used on paint cans, the latter is harder to cut unless you have a Dremel type rotary tool.
Regards
Arran