OK... so now I have one, what do I DO with it?
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Just purchased most of the guts of a 38-690. No speakers, but the tuner and power/amp chassis' appear complete. I've asked the seller to box them separately, after pulling all tubes and wrapping them so they survive.
I plan on having a lot of fun (REALLY!) restoring the chassis. I'm quite thrilled to have such a high end radio to work with.
The thing is, no cabinet..  and I have no illusions of getting cabinet parts for it over here. Given that, what suggestions do you have for me once I get it all up to snuff? I might be able to build a crude cabinet myself, or find a Korean craftsman to make one that looks a lot better than anything I can do personally..
Also, expect that I will have a lot of questions while I'm restoring this.  You folks are all great. There isn't a one of you, even the newbies, that I can't learn something from.
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Perhaps you can put the guts into a more common 38 set like a 38-116 and add a shelf for the amp at the bottom.
I don't know if a 38-116 woofer will work with the 690 guts. Perhaps Ron or Chuck will know.
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Unfortunately, I have no conceivable way to get any console cabinet over here (Lord knows I've tried!).
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Congratulations, that will be a lot of fun to restore! If you can't get a Philco cabinet then your idea of a local craftsman fabricating one sounds very interesting. I was once stationed in the Philippines and if the Korean craftsmen are anything like them you'll have no problem having a cabinet made up. It might wind up such a unique piece that you'll have a radio that is a very special keepsake. I hope the radio makes the journey w/o any significant damage!
John KK4ZLF
Lexington, KY
"illegitimis non carborundum"
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Brenda, this is a cabinet a friend made for me for my Scott Metro. It worked out well. Later he added the fretwork for the grill, to match the pattern used on my Scott 800B and its cabinet. Just an idea. My neighbor had me rebuild an 800B for him and found a nice cabinet with closing glass doors we modified to accept a speaker. Just some ideas.
Jerry
[Image: http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn129...060011.jpg]
[Image: http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn129...010001.jpg]
A friend in need is a pest! Bill Slee ca 1970.
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I would be interested in knowing what that tag is on the panel, under the band switch shaft. Some 38-116 sets had those "Exact Replica of the Ten Millionth Philco" tags in that position, but I'm not aware of any 38-690 sets having those tags?
Edit: Forgot to congratulate you on your purchase.  Have fun with it! What do you plan to do about the woofer and tweeters?
--
Ron Ramirez
Ferdinand IN
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I'm not sure what I'll do about speakers as yet. I would like to have the originals, of course, since these have the requisite chokes and transformers, which I would have to figure out how to duplicate.
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One the first things to do is to REMOVE THE DIAL!!!!! If you don't, you will ruin it while wrestling with the chassis during recapping, etc. There's an awful lot of work to do before you need a mounted dial.
Pete AI2V
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An update:
Finally got both of the chassis in. The power supply/amp showed up yesterday. The tuner chassis showed up today.
After subbing in a few electrolytics, I brought it up on the variac. All the tubes lit up except for the 6B8, which appears to have an open filament. It also appears to have an internal short, since when it's in the socket there is no reception at all. When I pull it, it comes to life.
The only issues I can see, other than still needing to replace all the paper caps, is that the front end (antenna tuning circuits) don't seem to be working. The set is very sensitive otherwise, as it picks up more stations than any other radio I have just off the top of the RF amplifier tube. But, connecting an antenna to the input produces no difference at all. I'll try to figure that out tomorrow.
I will need some pieces: all three of the lamp holders, at least. And a new dial, as the one on the radio is missing a large chunk.
The one thing very amazing is that I find the dial to be spot on on all bands. Add to this, the AFC circuit is working. It may need a little tweak, as it pulls in better on the low side than the high side of the signal, but it's quite effective. The IF control also works, but is noisy, I suspect the pots that are at the end of the adjustment shaft.
Any pointers will be gladly accepted.
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