I bought an early 60s, vaccuum tube hi-fi set this weekend. It sounds great -- or it did when I bought it. Something got wiggled or jiggled on the way home, and now records won't play. (The turntable works, but nothing comes through the speakers. The radio still sounds fantastic.) How do I fix this? Are there manuals out there? Are there repairmen? Does anyone know anything about this model? (The owner bought it from Sears, so I assume it isn't too esoteric.) I can't find any resources on the web or at my local bookstore. Thanks so much for your help.

check the little wire leads to the needle cartridge..
The rest would be ok if the radio plays (amplifer working..) or check the chassis for the connections from turntable to amp , should be RCA type jacks)
I'd say it's the wires or something wrong with the stylus or cartridge..( it's kind of unusual to find them not worn down to nothing anyway)
Did you secure the player arm down on your way home?..it may have been bouncing or moving around and got damaged if you didnt on it's way home.

truetone was sold by western auto i think and not sears.

I bought an early 60s, vaccuum tube hi-fi set this weekend. It sounds great -- or it did when I bought it. Something got wiggled or jiggled on the way home, and now records won't play. (The turntable works, but nothing comes through the speakers. The radio still sounds fantastic.) How do I fix this? Are there manuals out there? Are there repairmen? Does anyone know anything about this model? (The owner bought it from Sears, so I assume it isn't too esoteric.) I can't find any resources on the web or at my local bookstore. Thanks so much for your help.

Hi,
Truetone was the store brand for Western Auto, but there is a chance the sears he bought it from was a "franchised" smaller town store.

WWW.samswebsite.com
is your best starting point. There may be a "Photofact" on the unit.

If you are not hearing anything on record playback, check to see that there are no loose wires, pinched wires, or broken wires.

You will have a wire/cable that has two RCA ends (usual stereo conector). You should also have 2 pin plugs. One pin plug for the motor power itself, and the other is a connection for turntable control of the stereo- (auto shut-off). (normally this is the scenario)

I would check the wire/cable with the RCA jacks to make sure they did not short out, and also that they did not fall out. If they check out okay, look at the connections under the tone arm to see if the ground wire broke, or shifted in a way toshort things out. If the Stereo is on, and in the "Phono" position, you should hear a "buzz" when you touch one of the shielded wires. If you get buzzing, but no record playback, you need to replace the cartridge as it is bad.

The selector switch can be dirty, but be careful with the spray, and be careful not to disturb the plastic in the center of the switch wafers on the selector. See also if any of the plastic inserts look out of position. Those switches were cheaply made, and often the plastic inserts simply break from their age.

Additionaly, there should be a "Pre-amplifier tube" for a magnetic cartridge (either a single dual unit tube, or two single unit tubes). See if the tube has worked out of the socket, or if it even lights.

Last thing I can think of is that there may be a "mute" or "tape monitor" switched into the phono circuit by accident. If such a switch is not evident, see if headphones work on the headphone jack in "Phono".

: I bought an early 60s, vaccuum tube hi-fi set this weekend. It sounds great -- or it did when I bought it. Something got wiggled or jiggled on the way home, and now records won't play. (The turntable works, but nothing comes through the speakers. The radio still sounds fantastic.) How do I fix this? Are there manuals out there? Are there repairmen? Does anyone know anything about this model? (The owner bought it from Sears, so I assume it isn't too esoteric.) I can't find any resources on the web or at my local bookstore. Thanks so much for your help.