A client asked me to repair and restore a radio that's been in his family for decades. Sometime in the past a burning candle caused a great deal of damage to the case. He was able to find a parts set on eBay and had it sent to me. At the same time he sent his original set. Both arrived within days of one another.
Besides the obvious damaged case, the front grill / bezel was also not in the best condition. It also had internal damage to the FM antenna that was contributing to poor reception that was noted by my client.
Using a variac, I powered up the original set. One dial light is out and I was able to pick up some FM. AM and SW were just static. The pushbuttons are very poor in responding so they most likely need a good cleaning. The tuning tube EM84 shines bright but is not responsive. The parts set was completely dead despite seeing no apparent issues such as a bad plug or fuse.
The chassis from his original will be used for this restoration. It will be thoroughly checked and anything found out of tolerance will be replaced.
The cabinet will be used from the parts set but the speakers from the original set will be used. There are hairline cracks in the speaker cones on the parts set that I don't want to take a chance with.
The front grill from the parts set will be used. The Norelco logo is in place and there are no cracks or chips. The only thing I don't like is the gold piping around the outer edge. There are multiple dents on this that I can't imagine how they got there. The plan is to try to use the piping from the original set if it cooperates with me. We'll see.
Check back later for more updates!!
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