New acquisition of Scott lab 800 console.

[Robert Beadles]

Greetings folks
I just picked up a Scott Lab model 800 am/fm/sw with unknown turntable from an estate sale.

I want to fix it up as a gift for my daughter.

I need a little info about the stereo?????

Turntable: It looks like BSL on the cartridge head/arm. It does not have Girard on the turntable.

Model; Sn is 8005031 on the cabinet Is it an 800 or 800B?

Age: Can anyone tell me the age? I am guessing 1946 model 800?

Repair estimate: I want to take it to an electronics shop. What would a reasonable price range be to have it serviced? In south Alabama.

Parts: Are Tubes still available for it? Average costs tubes? Ha, I am years removed from having to resort to an electronics repairman.

Vale: i have seen prices range from $3500-$10,000 on Ebay. Seems way out there for me. What is an average price for a working unit with a near perfect Chippendale cabinet? What is it worth conservatively to a collector or on the general market?

Any help or insight is appreciated. Thanks in advance for your time.

[Y2K Bruce]

Hi Robert-Welcome to this Scott forum. There were about 10,000 800B's made over several years right after WW2.

I have purchased 3 complete ones in all 3 cabinets offered and I paid $500, $350 and $250 for the 3 of mine. Cabinets are hard to find as most of these seem to have been parted out..

Very nice players when electrically restored. There are several threads here on restorations.

Good luck with it.

Bruce

[David C. Poland]

Hi Robert,

1946 or 1947 is era of manufacture for the Scott 800-B. It is mono, not stereo. Stereo is a late 1950's development. Your radio was originally equipped with a 78 RPM only record changer, likely a Thorens or Garrard model. The 33 and 45 RPM microgroove records came out about 1950. Many older radios/phono combinations were upgraded to multi-speed phono changers in the 1950's.

Any vacuum tubes it may need are readily available from several internet sellers, with the 6L6's the most expensive. The most critical (and unreliable) parts are the capacitors (aka condensers) which are now way past their design life and, even if "good" today, are subject to sudden (potentially catastrophic) failure tomorrow. For a reliable, proper sounding result, they should be replaced with modern capacitors which will last far longer with today's materials.. There are something like 40 of them and replacement is a somewhat tedious part of an electronic restoration, This is a complex AM/FM radio. I have restored one (many hours invested) and it is a great sounding radio when properly restored. Electrical restoration should be handled by a professional or experienced collector/hobbyist. It may take some effort to locate someone willing.

You will need an owners manual to understand how to operate the radio, The TV input can be treated as an auxiliary input, suitable for a CD player, IPOD or from your computer internet source like Pandora.

-Dave