Here's another EMERSON radio that I picked up years ago, back in 2005, when I didn't know much about what radios to buy and what to look for.

So when it showed up I just gave it a fast play test and put it on the shelf never even removing the cabinet to see what was under the hood.

So this week I dug this "little TRF treasure" out and opened it up.

I discovered it wasn't looking too well underneath to say the least!

Everything seemed to be just "hanging by a thread" as far as wires and components from previous repairs. All parts were poorly soldered and hanging out in the air and only tacked onto the old leads with sloppy solder.
What a mess.

The chassis too was pretty discolored and rusted and all the wires were frayed and loose.

I can't believe I never bothered to examine this thing back in 2005. Guess I was just trusting that the guy who sold it to me on Ebay knew what he was doing and.. I blindly trusted it.

Y'know ... I'll bet there are a whole lot of innocent buyers out there, even today, who buy something for the nostalgic value and may not know anything about electronics... Right?

Anyway.. I completely re-worked the whole under-chassis circuit (as well as rewiring the top) of course too.

Then, as for the rusted chassis, I used wire brushes and Emory cloth to clean off all the chassis rust.

When it was nice and shiny I sealed everything with lacquer, both top and bottom.

After aligning it I then started on the Bakelite cabinet.

I didn't have to do too much because it was in excellent condition as far as no cracks or dullness.

So I simply cleaned it up very well, and then buffed it with a clean soft buffing cloth.

Then it was looking so beautiful I decided to seal it with a coat of Mohawk clear lacquer.

When dry I waxed it with Boston paste wax.
Now it looks better than new!
Here it is:

Outstanding!

:Outstanding!

"Better than new" is a lofty goal. Well done.

Thank you.

It's always a lot more work than we anticipate. Isn't it?

But it's well worth the effort in the end when it comes out looking nice.

:Thank you.
:
:It's always a lot more work than we anticipate. Isn't it?
:
:But it's well worth the effort in the end when it comes out looking nice.
:

Peter, as always, it is fantastic!

Hey Peter,

Nice work! I was recently given a similar looking Emerson (model 120). I did manage to restore it electrically and achieve a nice gloss with automotive wheel polish. The only remaining issue is the original grill cloth has extreme wear and some holes. Is the cloth on yours original? If you replaced it, where did you get it? I'd like to find a similar pattern to what I have, but it seems unlikely. Most of what I find online ends up looking too "golden" to me as the original is more of a brown color of alternating rectangles in groups of three.

Glad to see you posting some more restorations. Tony

Thank you Tony for your kind words.

I don't know if the grille cloth is original for sure or not but it is what came with the radio when I got it.

Generally:
If I really need to re-do the grille cloth because it's faded or stained but not ripped, I sometimes first try to spray fabric paint or other gold or such type paints on it.
I often get lucky and that does the job.
But otherwise I like to find cloth that is period-typical but I'm not a stickler about it.
I go to the fabric stores or craft shops and try to find nice-looking bits in the upholstery section.

I'm usually pretty lucky to get nice material and not much money as well.