Phantom Front Panel Mounting

[Jim Bradt]

I have a Phantom chassis that I would like to add a wood front panel to. However, I can not figure out how the panel was attached to the chassis. Hopefully someone help explain. Also, what is the thickness of the panel?

[David C. Poland]

The short answer is ... it wasn't. The panel was part of the cabinet.

Scott panels were 3/8 inch plywood with nice veneer. Cabinets were shipped separately from the cabinet factory (many from Rockford Illinois company.) Scott shipped his radios with a finished wood panel bearing all the dial and control escutcheons. Then the owner was expected to move the escutcheons to the radio cabinet. In earlier years, the dial was flush with the front of the receiver and additional hex nuts on the control shafts secured the shipping panel. If you did not order a Scott cabinet, the buyer would likely keep using the shipping panel perhaps retrofitting some other radio cabinet..

Starting 1937, Scott went to larger more modern style dials that protruded in front of the chassis. In a cabinet, the receiver was supported on the cabinet shelf, maybe with some kind of bracket, and the knobs helped it stay put. It phono combination where the dial and knobs faced up, there was a bracket and vertical wood shelf. Note there is provision on the chassis bottom for 4 mounting bolts.

Some models including the Phantoms had a pair 1 1/4 inch long solid shafts mounted at the right and left ends of the the front of the receiver chassis just below the level of the dial, to prevent the receiver being pushed so far in as to mash the slide rule pointer into the glass dial against the front panel.

I assume you do not have a Scott cabinet, but have a Scott panel from a cabinet, or have made your own panel. And that you want to have the receiver in the open on a shelf. If your receiver lacks the solid shafts mentioned above, hope it has the holes and you can make your own solid shafts with a couple machine screws. These set the distance between chassis and the panel to protect the dial. For a sturdy panel, I suggest you sleeve two of the bottom control shafts with something like 1 1/4 inch lengths of small 3/4 inside diameter PVC. Then use the knobs to hold the panel against the 4 supports shafts.

Or you could fashion a platform for the receiver and mount the panel to the platform, and let the solid shafts set the distance to the panel,

Hope this helps. - Dave

[Jim Bradt]

David, your explanation confirms what I had suspected, that is, the knobs themselves pushed against the escutcheons holding the panel against the two solid studs you mentioned. Even sandwiching a felt washer between the knob and the escutcheon would have resulted in considerable wear and resisted the knob from turning.

 

Promotional brochures show the Phantom with the panel attached to the chassis which implies that it was sold to be used without a cabinet.  The above method of securing the panel sure doesn't live up to Scott quality.

[Y2K Bruce]

I have had a few late 30's cabinets with the dial facing up. In these cases, Scott had a wood frame under the bottom of the chassis and there were 2 brackets on the top sides of the chassis to attach the chassis to the cabinet face board, These are hard to reattach if you remove them due to tight space constraints.

[David C. Poland]

Jim - I think a promotional photo is just that. I believe Scott intended the radio be in a cabinet or installation which would secured the panel. His price lists included listing with prices of cabinets available, and noted those that could accommodate a phono or changer. Most cabinet brochures devoted 1 page per cabinet with descriptions and photo.

In defense of Scott quality, the 1930's and 40's was the era of self contained radios, with console models in attractive furniture suitable for the living room or parlor. Scott promoted his exclusive line of substantial, acoustically correct cabinets in a variety of styles and prices, some costing more than the radio. Today, in valuing a Scott, the radio and the cabinet are considered separately. Scott warned of poor sound of a Scott mounted in a flimsy cabinet. His 1930's Scott News issues devoted considerable space to his cabinets and his pioneering work on high fidelity.

Your Phantom predates by many years the component audio heyday that blossomed in the mid 1950's with bookshelf components and the advent of separate bass reflex or other high tech speaker enclosures made possible, in part, due to the WWII development of better permanent magnets (Alnico) that were applied to post war speakers.

Shipping the receiver with a standard walnut front panel 1) made an attractive radio right out of the box that could be played upon arrival, in as much as a Scott cabinet might not arrive for several days, 2) provided the buyer the correctly arranged control escutcheons, dial escutcheon and mounting screws in a "hard to loose the pieces" format, 3) avoided Scott's Chicago shipping department having to coordinate with the cabinet company located in another city and 4) the panel helped the many buyers who wanted the economy of retrofitting an older cabinet (mindful of the Great Depression) or preferred to make some other custom installation. For those past customers who upgraded to the latest model, Scott could supply correct new panels to fit and match the veneer of many of the older Scott cabinets.

The 19 or 20 tube Phantom lacked some features of the Philharmonic, but was no performance slouch. Many 12 or 15 tube Zenith models are well regarded and commands comparatively high prices today, and I really like my 12-A-58, but a Scott (even the 12 tube Super 12) was in a whole other class.

Good luck with your Phantom. - Dave