I'm baching it this weekend, so I had no help getting this very heavy beast out of my pick-up truck. So, I pulled the chassis and speaker out of the cabinet, and moved it all piecemeal to the basement. Since the speaker was sitting there on my bench by itself, just for grins I checked it with an ohmeter. The field coil was wide open.
I jury-rigged a spare speaker, brought up the set on a variac, and this thing is a real player! Great selectivity and sensitivity. With push-pull 45s, plenty of power.
This is an 8-tube TRF. The five tuners are ganged together, so it's easy to operate. Under the chassis, everything is original and untouched, including the four filter capacitors (not electrolytic), which work fine - no hum.
Often, something fairly simple went wrong with one of these old sets, so it was stored away. If you just fix that one thing, then the set is back to the way it was 75 years ago. I look for a set with a complete set of tubes. Radios with missing tubes may have big problems, which prompted canibalizing the tubes long ago by somebody who knew it was a basket case.
Once I get the speaker problem resolved and the cabinet fixed up, this will be a very nice radio. I'll probably donate it for a charity auction - I don't have room for it. According to Slusser, it's only worth $140-160, so there's no money to be made.
Doug
Those were expensive, nice, well built, heavy radios. With push pull 45's it should sound great.
Check the tuner. It's pot metal and may bind?
Norm
:I stopped by an antique mall yesterday and picked up a c. 1929 Majestic (Grigsby-Grunow), Model 90-B, lowboy console for $55 (even though I'm on a 10-step, no-more-radios program). It had all the tubes, the cabinet was good (but poor finish).
:
:I'm baching it this weekend, so I had no help getting this very heavy beast out of my pick-up truck. So, I pulled the chassis and speaker out of the cabinet, and moved it all piecemeal to the basement. Since the speaker was sitting there on my bench by itself, just for grins I checked it with an ohmeter. The field coil was wide open.
:
:I jury-rigged a spare speaker, brought up the set on a variac, and this thing is a real player! Great selectivity and sensitivity. With push-pull 45s, plenty of power.
:
:This is an 8-tube TRF. The five tuners are ganged together, so it's easy to operate. Under the chassis, everything is original and untouched, including the four filter capacitors (not electrolytic), which work fine - no hum.
:
:Often, something fairly simple went wrong with one of these old sets, so it was stored away. If you just fix that one thing, then the set is back to the way it was 75 years ago. I look for a set with a complete set of tubes. Radios with missing tubes may have big problems, which prompted canibalizing the tubes long ago by somebody who knew it was a basket case.
:
:Once I get the speaker problem resolved and the cabinet fixed up, this will be a very nice radio. I'll probably donate it for a charity auction - I don't have room for it. According to Slusser, it's only worth $140-160, so there's no money to be made.
:Doug
The pot metal seems to be confined to the rotor pieces of each of the five tuners. Everything else seems to be steel. There is no clashing between the rotor and stator leaves, and the alignment seems perfect.
The pot metal parts show no sign of deformation, cracking, or deterioration. They look to be good to go for another 80 years.
There must have been different grades or alloys of pot metal? Or maybe it was just the luck of the draw?
I didn't know about the pot metal parts, but before buying the set I rotated the tuner knob, and didn't hear or feel any rubbing or clashing.
Doug
:Doug
:
: Those were expensive, nice, well built, heavy radios. With push pull 45's it should sound great.
:
: Check the tuner. It's pot metal and may bind?
:
:Norm
:
::I stopped by an antique mall yesterday and picked up a c. 1929 Majestic (Grigsby-Grunow), Model 90-B, lowboy console for $55 (even though I'm on a 10-step, no-more-radios program). It had all the tubes, the cabinet was good (but poor finish).
::
::I'm baching it this weekend, so I had no help getting this very heavy beast out of my pick-up truck. So, I pulled the chassis and speaker out of the cabinet, and moved it all piecemeal to the basement. Since the speaker was sitting there on my bench by itself, just for grins I checked it with an ohmeter. The field coil was wide open.
::
::I jury-rigged a spare speaker, brought up the set on a variac, and this thing is a real player! Great selectivity and sensitivity. With push-pull 45s, plenty of power.
::
::This is an 8-tube TRF. The five tuners are ganged together, so it's easy to operate. Under the chassis, everything is original and untouched, including the four filter capacitors (not electrolytic), which work fine - no hum.
::
::Often, something fairly simple went wrong with one of these old sets, so it was stored away. If you just fix that one thing, then the set is back to the way it was 75 years ago. I look for a set with a complete set of tubes. Radios with missing tubes may have big problems, which prompted canibalizing the tubes long ago by somebody who knew it was a basket case.
::
::Once I get the speaker problem resolved and the cabinet fixed up, this will be a very nice radio. I'll probably donate it for a charity auction - I don't have room for it. According to Slusser, it's only worth $140-160, so there's no money to be made.
::Doug
People just think of them as heavy junk. They're not. Turn the chassis over. Notice how first it has a bottom cover (and how the tuning condenser is covered). Then open it up. Notice how each coil has its own can shield. Turn each can to the right (opposite of a screw). Look at those really well made coils. Look at how each wire has its own eyelet (not just a simple punched hole). The wires are well arranged, and everything is shielded very well.
The cabinetry is incredible, too. Look at how thick the wood is! Look at the beautiful veneers!
There isn't much to go wrong with the radio. There are no electrolytics. Just make sure that the wiring doesn't short out, because there's enough current in the filament transformer to start a really good fire. Radio Daze sells battery cables that may work for the power cord, though I don't know if the wire will handle enough current. Also, they only have 8 conductors, though this isn't a problem with me, because I've modified my set a bit (may be a problem with you). Originally my set had 4 separate filament windings, which required extra power wires. The power supply is gone, so I'm going about it as I wish. Radio Daze also has nice 4 wire cloth cable that works well for the speaker. For now I have all of the h-v wires replaced with separate ones that run outside of the cables, but soon I'm going to replace the entire cables. AES' larger diameter cloth power cord closely matches the original power cord on these radios. If your cables are bad, look to Radio Daze, and AES for the power cord. AES doesn't carry 4 wire cloth cables. Make sure you get the stranded wire kind and not the tinsel wire kind.
Isn't the sensitivity and selectivity amazing? Just imagine what that chassis will look like all polished up. I don't have money for re-plating, so I'm just polishing steel until it shines. Then I clear coat it with lacquer. My speaker looks fantastic! I took it all apart and polished it!
Thomas.
Everything you say is true. It's a great set, better than any superhets of early-'30s vintage that I've seen. Some of those multi-stage TRFs had too much selectivity which cut the audio highs off the sidebands. This one doesn't - it has good fidelity.
I have already installed a fuse, which is my standard practice (20 lashes with a wet noodle). Also a CL-90 current limiter, which allows use of a fast-blo fuse. So, I'm not too worried about shorts.
Unfortunately, I'm going to have to strip the cabinet. I might be able to keep the front's original finish. The top and legs have to be stripped for sure.
Your chassis must be different from mine. Mine does not have a separate power unit, and there are three filament windings, not four. Does your set have two 45s in push-pull for the final audio?
I've got some fairly serious rust on the chassis back, etc. I'll see what I'm able to do, cleaning wise. I wouldn't want to replate the chassis - not just because of expense, but that is an issue. I think with my lack of skill, removing all the components from the chassis would be asking for trouble. The radio works fine the way it is, and I don't want to tempt fate.
Near here in River Forest (or Forest Park?), Illinois, is the old Grunnow mansion (or is it Grigsby? No, I think it's Grunnow). There was an article in the paper a year or so ago about a couple who had bought it and were trying to restore it. I've been thinking about showing up on their doorstep with a Majestic radio.
Doug
:Told you it's a great set!
:
:People just think of them as heavy junk. They're not. Turn the chassis over. Notice how first it has a bottom cover (and how the tuning condenser is covered). Then open it up. Notice how each coil has its own can shield. Turn each can to the right (opposite of a screw). Look at those really well made coils. Look at how each wire has its own eyelet (not just a simple punched hole). The wires are well arranged, and everything is shielded very well.
:
:The cabinetry is incredible, too. Look at how thick the wood is! Look at the beautiful veneers!
:
:There isn't much to go wrong with the radio. There are no electrolytics. Just make sure that the wiring doesn't short out, because there's enough current in the filament transformer to start a really good fire. Radio Daze sells battery cables that may work for the power cord, though I don't know if the wire will handle enough current. Also, they only have 8 conductors, though this isn't a problem with me, because I've modified my set a bit (may be a problem with you). Originally my set had 4 separate filament windings, which required extra power wires. The power supply is gone, so I'm going about it as I wish. Radio Daze also has nice 4 wire cloth cable that works well for the speaker. For now I have all of the h-v wires replaced with separate ones that run outside of the cables, but soon I'm going to replace the entire cables. AES' larger diameter cloth power cord closely matches the original power cord on these radios. If your cables are bad, look to Radio Daze, and AES for the power cord. AES doesn't carry 4 wire cloth cables. Make sure you get the stranded wire kind and not the tinsel wire kind.
:
:Isn't the sensitivity and selectivity amazing? Just imagine what that chassis will look like all polished up. I don't have money for re-plating, so I'm just polishing steel until it shines. Then I clear coat it with lacquer. My speaker looks fantastic! I took it all apart and polished it!
:
:Thomas.
Mine's a model 180 or 181, depending on what you're talking about. The power supply is, I believe, the 8P6. I can't download files right now, because our work computers won't let us. It originally used two type '81 rectifiers, and two type '50 output tubes. Each output tube had its own filament winding (strange). The rest of the radio ran on a 2.5 volt winding, and of course a 15 volt winding for the two 7.5 volt rectifiers wired in series (providing a convenient center tap for optimum hum reduction).
Talk about overkill! It really is a fine radio, though. Speaking of refinishing, my cabinet has chunks of wood missing. Thankfully they're in places where the lacquer is quite dark. Disguise should be easy. The radio has beautiful veneers. There is eithier burled something, or perhaps it's birdseye maple above and below the central panel. It doesn't really look like birdseye. Whatever it is, it's wonderful.
The radio is now electrically similar to the 90B. I have two G-80s instead of just one. There are also two '45s in place of the '50s.
Gotta go. I'll write more later.
Thomas
How does your detector perform at low volumes. My detector does not like low volumes. Thanks to the AVC circuit I put in, the detector now always receives a good strength signal. Lately I've been piping FM through the phonograph input, though, so I'm not too concerned with the AM band. Classical sounds superb through this radio. I should try lifting the tone condenser in the 1st audio, or try putting it in series with a resistor. The highs could be slightly better, but audio as a whole is all that could be desired. Remember to replace the rubber on your speaker if it is hard. I used thin suede. A foam rubber surround from www.electronix.com will work.
How's the audio? If it's slightly harsh, you can correct it a bit with negative feedback. Pull each 45 tube and notice audio difference. If one is particularily harsh (the one left in place), then this is probably the one out of phase with the 1st audio/detector, and can be fed negative feedback. Let me know, and I'll flip my chassis over and let you know what values of condensers/resistors to use. The total is about 4 parts, all available at Radio Shack. All that is necessary is to lift the plate wire of the 1st audio transformer (2nd in my radio, since mine has 3). The addition is simple, and can be easily removed in the future. My condenser values are .01 and .0047 MFD, but I can't remember the resistor values. You will be pleased, though, if you try it.
Thomas
:Also, the radio can be highly selective. I have adjusted mine so that it's as good as any superheterodyne. However, then it oscillates. The neutrodying process ruins some of the selectivity, but the radio has better fidelity then, and still tunes quite well. It beats my Radiola 16 hands down. It is as good as my Philco 60.
:
:How does your detector perform at low volumes. My detector does not like low volumes. Thanks to the AVC circuit I put in, the detector now always receives a good strength signal. Lately I've been piping FM through the phonograph input, though, so I'm not too concerned with the AM band. Classical sounds superb through this radio. I should try lifting the tone condenser in the 1st audio, or try putting it in series with a resistor. The highs could be slightly better, but audio as a whole is all that could be desired. Remember to replace the rubber on your speaker if it is hard. I used thin suede. A foam rubber surround from www.electronix.com will work.
:
:How's the audio? If it's slightly harsh, you can correct it a bit with negative feedback. Pull each 45 tube and notice audio difference. If one is particularily harsh (the one left in place), then this is probably the one out of phase with the 1st audio/detector, and can be fed negative feedback. Let me know, and I'll flip my chassis over and let you know what values of condensers/resistors to use. The total is about 4 parts, all available at Radio Shack. All that is necessary is to lift the plate wire of the 1st audio transformer (2nd in my radio, since mine has 3). The addition is simple, and can be easily removed in the future. My condenser values are .01 and .0047 MFD, but I can't remember the resistor values. You will be pleased, though, if you try it.
:
:Thomas