My Vintage Radio Collection

[tonyb]

This is a 1937 Wilcox-Gay model A46 from the company's line of art-deco metal grilled sets that year. This is the tabletop or "lay-down" model. I found this in a local antiques shop that looked more like an arts and crafts boutique! You never know. I got it for a fair price and it just needed a good refinishing and grille cloth. The original finish was a rather dull even medium walnut. I gave it a warmer tone with toner highlights. A really unusual set.
View attachment 483544

I, for one, quite appreciate your sharing your collection with us here. There must be scores (at least) of online “communities” of old radio collectors/restorers/etc., so I take it as a gift that you choose to post your work here.

 

[decojoe67]

That's very nice of you to say. I'm so glad people like you enjoy these little works of art as much as I do. I wish I had more time to review this site, but I usually only post something. I've been in this hobby as a collector, restorer, and historian, since I was 12. I have close to 180 radios, TV's, and phonographs in my collection, and, almost every night, play one of the sets. it fascinates me to see them doing what they did 80-90 years ago!

 

[tonyb]

Old radios are much more visually compelling that almost but not quite all modern consumer electronics. The old stuff was a more substantial investment and was thought a more permanent household furnishing. People didn’t expect to be throwing them out in a few years, as we do now with our audio and video appliances. So how it looked mattered, and much of it looks really cool.

I have four old (1940s and earlier) radios, two of which actually work, but I don’t use them because they haven’t been “gone through,” and I know through personal experience that using them in a functionally unrestored condition is inadvisable at best. But they are all complete and their cabinets are in a decent condition.

 

[tonyb]

No posts in this thread for more than two months?

What’s up, decojoe67?

 

[decojoe67]

This is a cute, small, depression-era cathedral radio. A 1933 RCA Victor model 100 with 4-tubes and 2-bands. These, once recapped, play surprisingly well with a long-wire antenna.

 

[decojoe67]

No posts in this thread for more than two months?

What’s up, decojoe

Hi Tony. I'm hitting my limits with the hobby after 40+ years. Just a trade once in a while. Check out my recent trade that I just posted.

 

[decojoe67]

I just acquired this on a trade from a friend. It's a 15-tube 1937 Philco "High Fidelity" model 37-116X deluxe version. It has 3-bands, selective telephone-type magnetic tuning, and 3 acoustical clarifiers. The sophisticated chassis is known to be a top performer and it does sound very nice with a basic recap. This set came from the original owner's house in which it had be left in storage for the new owners. The cabinet is an understated design yet really pops with its collage of beautiful veneers. It's built very well and so solid. I cleaned and refreshed the cabinet and replaced the disintegrating grille cloth. Getting the replacement cloth correct with the 3 chevrons appearing in each grille turned out to be quite a battle!

 

[decojoe67]

1933 Atwater Kent model 708. 8-tubes, 4-bands. Top-of-the-line tabletop (cathedral) radio in that year. A large quality set.

 

[tonyb]

1933 Atwater Kent model 708. 8-tubes, 4-bands. Top-of-the-line tabletop (cathedral) radio in that year. A large quality set.
View attachment 522673

Glad to see you back here, man.
Real nice stuff. It’s good to see it preserved.

 

[decojoe67]

Glad to see you back here, man.
Real nice stuff. It’s good to see it preserved.

Thank you. Preserving these sets has been a hobby for me since I was 10 or 12! They look so cool to me. Looks of style and you can listen to any media you want on them for a really cool experience. Regards, Joe

 

[LizzieMaine]

Those magnetic-tuning 1937 Philcos might just be the apotheosis of 1930s mass-market radios. The quality of workmanship was first rate, and while they're not especially easy to work on with that floating-tuning-chassis design, when they're restored and set up properly they give remarkable performance. I've had and regularly listened to a 37-10 for 40 years, and it's the best-functioning piece of electronic equipment I've ever owned.

 

[decojoe67]

Here's a fully restored 1938 Zenith 5S237 5-tube, 2-tube mini chairside radio. It has a solid walnut cabinet and a beefy little chassis that performs very well. The larger section is a two-shelf small bookcase.

 

[decojoe67]

Those magnetic-tuning 1937 Philcos might just be the apotheosis of 1930s mass-market radios. The quality of workmanship was first rate, and while they're not especially easy to work on with that floating-tuning-chassis design, when they're restored and set up properly they give remarkable performance. I've had and regularly listened to a 37-10 for 40 years, and it's the best-functioning piece of electronic equipment I've ever owned.

Yes, it's the best performing radio I ever had. Just beautiful, pure sound. This one seems to just have had a rudimentary basic recap. I just hope it keeps playing as long as possible. I did hear that's it a tough chassis to fully restore.

 

[decojoe67]

This 1938 Philco model 38-15CS small "chairside" radio was in sad shape and given to me from storage of a friend. It has been totally restored from top to bottom. The chassis has 5-tubes and 2 bands. In the 1930's almost every radio manufacturer produced these conveniently styled sets.

 

[LizzieMaine]

During the war Philco was stuck with a warehouse load of car radios originally built under contract to Chrysler -- when manufacture of new cars was stopped by the Government in early 1942, they were stuck with the radio that would have gone in cars that would never be built. So they rigged them up with new power supplies and put them in leftover chairside cabinets and dumped them on discount radio/furniture chains like Davega or Vim. These don't turn up very often but when they do they're instantly recognizable as car radios -- they're worth looking for if you're interested in chairside models.

 

[tonyb]

This 1938 Philco model 38-15CS small "chairside" radio was in sad shape and given to me from storage of a friend. It has been totally restored from top to bottom. The chassis has 5-tubes and 2 bands. In the 1930's almost every radio manufacturer produced these conveniently styled sets. View attachment 529155 View attachment 529156 View attachment 529157 View attachment 529158 View attachment 529159

I’m impressed. It’s great to see these things restored and preserved.

 

[decojoe67]

I’m impressed. It’s great to see these things restored and preserved.

Thank you. I agree. Before I did resto's I would pass on anything that wasn't in very good to excellent condition, but this way I'm saving a piece from the dumpster. One thing I must say is that good cabinet restorations are A LOT of work. Many, many hours of prep and just the right touch when it comes to the final finish steps.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^

As I’ve mentioned before, only two of my four old radios actually work, and I don’t use those because they haven’t been “gone through.” But they don’t take up much space and they’re nice eye candy and they are being preserved.

As to cabinet restoration …

Yeah, that’s a separate set of skills from reworking the innards. Three of my four radios are in pretty good cosmetic condition and the other is worth someone’s trouble to put into better shape at some point down the road.

Among the Facebook groups I follow are a couple devoted to wood furniture restoration and refinishing. It’s unlikely I’ll ever pursue it seriously, but I have spiffed up a couple-three old pieces over the years, and I have since learned, thanks to the people in these groups, that I could have done it differently and gotten “truer” results. Some of the people in the Lane Acclaim group (Acclaim is the late-1950s to ‘60s line of tables [mostly] with the large faux dovetails, highly sought-after by some) would certainly have taken me to task for too much contrast between the walnut veneer top and the solid fruitwood dovetails, but wotthehell, I paid seven bucks for the end table at a thrift store, it’s a handsome piece, and only the purists would know or care that it isn’t “correct.”

 

[decojoe67]

During the war Philco was stuck with a warehouse load of car radios originally built under contract to Chrysler -- when manufacture of new cars was stopped by the Government in early 1942, they were stuck with the radio that would have gone in cars that would never be built. So they rigged them up with new power supplies and put them in leftover chairside cabinets and dumped them on discount radio/furniture chains like Davega or Vim. These don't turn up very often but when they do they're instantly recognizable as car radios -- they're worth looking for if you're interested in chairside models.

Yes, I've seen these in all cabinet versions. They used to be shunned by collectors, but you rarely see these interesting historical sets nowadays.

 

[tonyb]

Yes, I've seen these in all cabinet versions. They used to be shunned by collectors, but you rarely see these interesting historical sets nowadays.

And worth preserving for that reason alone. “Interesting historical sets” indeed.