A friend has the chance to pick up a very nice 38-116 console. Everything looks great but a cut up back and the dial which seems to be missing something. Can anyone advise what it is and if it's unobtainable?
That is intentional. It is a slot where a lever goes. You use the lever to move the dial to one of the station call letters and it sets the tuner on that station. I will post a picture tonight. It may not be a hard item to make, it is pretty simple. The end has a small knob that you hold when turning the tuning mechanism. I have the same lever on my 38-690. I believe the parts are the same for several of the 1938 models.
The radio should tune and work well without it until you find one.
Steve, thanks so much for the pictures. It may be that the only part missing is the knob that screws on the threaded shaft that I can see in my picture. That would be nice, missing the whole yoke you show could be a real problem. Can't understand why that would be missing as someone would have taken the whole radio apart from what I can see to remove it. Let's pray that it is only the knob.