It worked "okay" when I got it, but I still wanted to recap it and clean up the dirty old chassis too. However, I let it just sit around a long time because it played and I had other radios to restore that needed more attention. A few years ago I rebuilt it and re-coned the speaker.
BTW ...For some reason I just love the deep rich "throaty" sound from this six-tuber and it doesn't even employ a tone control circuit. I just love it the way it is.
The cabinet wasn't in real bad shape so again it sat in the corner for years getting scratched and dusty waiting to be refinished.
Finally the other day I just had the urge to get this cabinet in shape and put it all back together before I never do it!...lol
I wanted to keep the finish looking close to the original color so I didn't re-stain it any darker.
In the past I've mostly only used lacquer as a top-coat and I do love it ....but it does make a mess in my garage getting all that over-spay on everything.
So I thought, this time, I'd use a product I recently had good luck using on some white-oak furniture in my living room. And on some door trim last year.
It's that great new Minwax Wipe-on Poly (in a satin finish)
So that was my plan.
It only took a few hours to get the first stage done:
First I stripped all of the old finish off using 50/50 acetone & lacquer thinner. That brought it down to the base wood color which wasn't very different in original color.
Then, I used 00-steel wool to give the surface a lit bit of "tooth" evenly over everything. ...And then I stained it with Minwax's Red Chestnut penetrating stain.
I didn't allow the stain to remain on longer than a few minuets and wiped the excess off.
At that point I used the green painter's tape to mask everything for the dark stripe around the top.
Then I used Behlens spray-on Extra Dark Walnut lacquer-toner for that nice dark trim.
So far only an hour or two had gone by, but I was impatient as usual and very anxious to get the next step going.
So regardless if the stain was really properly dry or not.. I threw caution to the wind and started applying the wipe-on poly.
Since they both clean-up with mineral spirits I figured the worse that could happen is they will blend together a bit while drying or maybe take longer to dry. At least that was my hope... lol
This stuff is so very nice the way you just rub it on with a rag and it's done!
No brush-stroke type problems, no runs, nothing... just smooth and easy.
That was about 3AM so I went to bed.
Next day in mid afternoon I checked the surface which was a bit dull and not fully dry.
So I placed it out in the yard for an hour or so in the sun and that's all it took. Brought it in for a 2nd coat.
Before the 2nd coat I used 00-steel wool again to go over the entire surface and then blew it clean and wiped it all down with a damp rag with mineral spirits.
Then I applied a generous 2nd coat of the satin finish Wipe-on Poly ....which again went on easy as pie. Just wipe it on and walk away.
24 hours later it was fully cured.
I may use a little Butcher's wax on this... but it looks so nice the way it is now that I may not even bother.
I'm very pleased with the ease of application of this Wipe-on Poly, and especially with the that smooth-satin luster of the final product.
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:Hi! Peter,
Is it safe to post this? Nice job. I noticed that you didn't have to cut the speaker cone to adjust the diameter. Did you just get lucky with this one or did you do something different? Thanks for sharing!
Bob Masse
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::Hi! Peter,
:Is it safe to post this? Nice job. I noticed that you didn't have to cut the speaker cone to adjust the diameter. Did you just get lucky with this one or did you do something different? Thanks for sharing!
:Bob Masse
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Hi Bob:
Just got lucky. It fit like a glove... and boy oh boy does it sound great too.
Rarely do I ever hear a table-top 5 or 6 tube ever sound so deep and rich.
Sometimes certain Zenith models have that "rich" deep and mellow sound. But this one is wonderful.
It's a real keeper.
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Just plain ..old envy and jealousy... right?