LizzieMaine
Bartender
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You need to replace *all* the paper capacitors -- the wax-covered cardboard tubular things you'll see all over the underside of the set. After eighty years they get very leaky, and if one shorts out it could fry irreplaceable coils or your power transformer. Don't take chances -- it's very easy to do if you know how to solder, just replace one at a time and be very careful. You can get the correct capacitors from JustRadios in Canada or Antique Electronic Supply in Arizona -- they're very cheap insurance and most sets will work fine once this job is done.
You also need to replace the electrolytic capacitors -- the tall cans on top of the chassis. These are crucial elements in the power supply, and if they dry out, as they inevitably will have done, your set will have a loud 60-cycle hum. If they short, kiss your power transformer goodbye -- and that's a repair job you don't want to have to deal with. You probably won't be able to find exact can-style replacements, but you can get much smaller modern versions that mount under the chassis.
If your set is working now, without a noticeable hum, this work might have already been done. If you see a lot of orange-epoxy or yellow plastic-covered capacitors underneath the chassis, and signs of fresh soldering, somebody beat you to it.
Tubes are rarely, if ever, at fault -- I've had exactly two go bad in all the years I've had vintage radios in the house, and I use my sets daily.
A properly-operating console radio of mid-thirties vintage should have a strong, rich, mellow sound -- much better than any AM radio you'll ever find today.
You also need to replace the electrolytic capacitors -- the tall cans on top of the chassis. These are crucial elements in the power supply, and if they dry out, as they inevitably will have done, your set will have a loud 60-cycle hum. If they short, kiss your power transformer goodbye -- and that's a repair job you don't want to have to deal with. You probably won't be able to find exact can-style replacements, but you can get much smaller modern versions that mount under the chassis.
If your set is working now, without a noticeable hum, this work might have already been done. If you see a lot of orange-epoxy or yellow plastic-covered capacitors underneath the chassis, and signs of fresh soldering, somebody beat you to it.
Tubes are rarely, if ever, at fault -- I've had exactly two go bad in all the years I've had vintage radios in the house, and I use my sets daily.
A properly-operating console radio of mid-thirties vintage should have a strong, rich, mellow sound -- much better than any AM radio you'll ever find today.
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