I'm very new to antique radios and I could sure use some help.

After my mom passed away last Oct., my brother and I were faced with the nightmare of cleaning out the garage.

We discovered the first piece of new furniture that my folks had purchased in the late 40's(?) - a Packard Bell Phonocord model 791.

It is in reasonably good shape, has all of the "stickers" (paper labels) still intact inside the cabinet and underneath the turntable.

I don't have the skills to test the tubes, phonograph arms (has 2 - 1 for playing and 1 for recording) or other technical stuff (I'm leaving that to an expert), but I can do some serious cleaning.

The phonograph arms have mildew (?) on them. I think they're made of bakelite. The paper stickers could use a cleaning as well (from sittting in the garage for 35 years).

Any suggestions on what I can use to clean and polish Bakelite would be greatly appreciated.

I have no idea what a person should use to clean the dirt off the old paper stickers - suggestions are much needed.

My wife did go over the cabinet with lemon oil, we're going to leave the finish as it is - still pretty good.

I live outside of Portland, OR. Anyone know of someone that can test and bring this old Packard-Bell back to life?

Thanks for your suggestions.
Ron

Brasso works wonders on bakelite. As for fixing your radio, should it not work, replacing capacitors is easier than you think. I don't recommend turning on that radio without first testing all of the capacitors for leakage. You can use a Radio Shack multi-meter for this. Set it to its most sensitive setting. Disconnect each capacitor in question. Good ones spring up a bit, more for larger values, and then fall back down to infinity. Any that lingers above this by any amount are faulty. Disconnect one lead of each capacitor that you test.

You can try your radio out to see if it already is in working condition by making an outlet-light socket assemby where the outlet is in series with the light socket. Start with a 40 watt bulb and work up to a 100 or 150 watt bulb. Observe radio with each wattage increase. By 150 watts, your radio should be operating at close to normal voltage, so it will probably emit music if it works. If you see smoke or sparks or hear funny noises, stop. If the 150 watt bulb glows brightly, stop. If the radio works normally for about 15 or 20 minutes, you can try plugging it into the wall.

I am not at all in favor of this testing method. It is always wise to just go into the radio and check out the capacitors. Some fail immediately and some fail later. Whether or not your radio works now, there's no telling whether it'll work in the future. Some capacitor could be just waiting to short out or one could be leaky only a small amount, allowing the radio to operate, but also slowly damaging something else.

The cartridge in the phonograph probably doesn't work, though it may. These go bad with humidity and heat. Www.west-techservices.com sells new cartridges and rebuilds old ones.

Thomas

Thomas -

Thanks for the information, it's much appreciated.
Ron