Philharmonic in a Gothic Grand Cabinet

[Scott Seickel]

I purchased this about a week ago from a fellow collector who had saved it from being parted out.  He had it nearly a year and needed to move it along.  Restoration is not his thing.   Sadly, he was going to part it out, though after seeing the overall condition, that would not have been a bad choice.   It is complete minus the phonograph.  Not sure what phono would have been original to this unit, but if anyone has any suggestions for appropriate phono's, please let me know so I can start the hunt. 

Kent, the serial number is KK-104.  It is dated Dec 6, 1937 and I have no doubts that this set was all original as it came out of an estate in a fairly wealthy area along the Hudson River in NY. 

Cabinet bottom is rough and will need quit a bit of work. 

I have all the escutcheons for it.

Minor disaster on the bottom.  Lucky, I am a rather accomplished woodworker.

Chrome is totally shot on this chassis.  Every cover is shot, and the chassis itself is shot.  The dial on this unit is shot.  It is a parts set... ;-(

The cover was on the bottom so no rodents got inside the chassis and it is indeed in very nice condition underneath.  Looks unmolested other than a couple of replaced capacitors, probably in the 1950's and an added RCA jack.

Speakers in decent shape, though the 15" has a bit of rust on the frame.  Is it possible to safely remove the speaker cone and inners so I can paint the frame?  I would hate to damage the original cone. 

The amp chassis is parts also- the wiring underneath was chewed up by mice.    I have an early Philharmonic amp chassis that I had rechromed and was waiting for a parts donor, so I can now complete this amp.

I am curious about this switch on the back.  Would it have been used for the phonograph?  Is it an item that was added on later?  The only modification I see to the chassis is the addition of an RCA jack right next to the 3rd IF tube.  The RCA jack is wired directly to the plate of the 3rd IF tube- no blocking capacitor!!  I can't imagine what they would be doing tapping into the IF stages of this radio and having 250v on the rca jack to top it off....

Of course, I have a couple of 9 knob Philharmonic sets that need homes (an AM/FM unit and a red dialer that is in the process of rechoming), but no 7 knob sets other than this parts chassis.  So I need to think long and hard about drilling this cabinet out to accept a 9 knob set, and the consequences of doing so.  Maybe I can just use a new walnut chassis face board and save this original board to keep with the set.  I would really like to keep this set intact for historical purposes...wish I had that dial pointer chassis that Willy sold a couple of months ago for $450...a bargain considering it was in very nice shape. 

In the mean time, I have sterilized this chassis and it sits next to my computer.  I am making an "as built" drawing of the set and making corrections to the 7 knob early Philharmonic schematic so it matches the set I have perfectly.  Amazing how many errors were in the EH Scott published schematic.  I hope to get my hands on an unmolested 9 knob AM set so I can do the same.  It should be easy to make the changes once the 7 knob drawing is done and ironed out.  I have been working about 6 hours each night on this....good thing I hate watching TV...  :-)

[Norman S Braithwaite]

Thank you for rescuing the set!  A replacement chassis set is in order and the cabinet will require considerable work but the set is well worth fixing.

The IF tap may have been used for an external BFO or less likely, if the owner was a radio geek, for a panoramic display unit.

The original record changer was probably a Garrard RC-6 or RC-10.

Norman

[Ken Carr]

Nice find, Scott. That is such a pretty cabinet from the front. If there is any way to save it...

I have an old Radiola Electrola that includes a turntable. There is a similar lever switch that was used to change from radio to record player. Call it a signal source selector. That's my best guess for the function of your switch.

[Angelo]

Scott my Phillys BB226 dated dec/37 if I remember right its 12/27/37  7 knob pointer dial.. Dates on bottom of the receiver which is in the cabinet..Waverly Grande cabinet has 2 holes drilled in it ,1 for on/off switch have no idea why the second hole..Angelo

[David C. Poland]

Scott,
The Philharmonic already has a radio-phono switch (at the minimum setting of the sensitivity control). I speculate a former owner needed an additional switch on the cabinet back to choose between the phono and something else, likely an FM tuner.
Great cabinet with lots of potential (envy). Appears you will need to dismount the bottom (look for screws going up from the base into the sides ( visible in the underside photo) and rebuild the base. Maybe you can save and reuse most of the veneer on the base.
As for the panel, you could drill holes for the additional 2 control holes of the later model . But then you are faced with how to handle the hole below the dial knob where the scratch suppressor switch was. Also, the correct escutcheons for the additional 2 controls are a different style for the later style escutcheon set. Making a new panel for your later model Philly seems better, but perhaps retain the old one for future flexibility. I prefer the idea of finding or trading for a nice early pointer of BOL Philharmonic.

[Scott Seickel]

Norm-
I would expect the tap for a BFO to be on a primary side of an IF tube/transformer, not at the plate. Maybe they did not know what they were doing? or maybe there is another method of injecting the BFO signal that I am not familiar with? I don't know...

I did some googling of Garrad RC-6 and RC-10, and it looks like these are as rare as teeth on a hen....lucky me. I will start the search. Thank you for the information.

Ken- Yes, the cabinet can be saved. It is only the bottom that is bad, the rest of the cabinet is in decent structural shape. I cleaned it up since the photos and it looks decent. I will do temporary repairs on the base and then bring the cabinet inside until I have time to do proper repair. A weekend job to completely repair/rebuild the base.

David- I suspect you are right about the phone switch. Maybe it has something to do with the RCA jack added to the chassis. If it would not be original, I will get rid of it. I think I am going to do my best to get a dial pointer chassis back in here.

Angelo- My red dialer is BB-259 with an unknown date. Fairly close to your dial pointer. Bruce has a red dialer that is BB-443 dated 8/22/42. I think that Kent believes that the first 2 letters are the guy who assembled the radio. So Mr BB got around.

[Norman S Braithwaite]

The association of serial number letter with employee is only a theory and a tenuous one at that.

Scott, my first non-Heathkit circuit construction experience was building a cathode follower adapter for connecting a mid 1950s RCA military teletype converter unit (TU) to a shortwave receiver so I could receive radio teletype.  The signal was to be taken from the plate of the last IF amplifier in a receiver having a 455-khz IF frequency.  The circuit was shown in the TU manual with no construction details.  Much to my surprise it worked and I was able to intercept President Carter's speech to the Nigerians half a day before it was spoken (time difference not accounted for).

Norman

[Scott Seickel]

Interesting, but I assume you  were "picking off" a signal rather than injecting one which is what a BFO does.  Maybe they were doing the same here. 

[Angelo]

Scott id be tempted to get that set playing if the transformers were good.Chrome may be bad ,but that would not affect how the set played.Wonder if that switch was used for some type of signal splitter or a converter of some type.Yes seems mr BB did get around.

[Bill Anderson]

I like the chassis holding fixture, looks like the ones I have seen in a video of the scott factory.....did you make that or purchase it somewhere?

[Scott Seickel]

Thanks Bill.  I made it specifically for the Philharmonic and the AW23.  It is not very similar to the factory stands best I can tell.  The factory stands look like you can just flip the chassis into 2 positions- up and down.  This fixture allows 360 degree rotation and locks into any position.  It is made of very light 0.049" thick steel tubing, yet is rock solid.  I wish I had another one right now....

[David C. Poland]

The enlarged Gothic Grand sized for the Philharmonic is one of the rarer cabinets, Interesting the 2 showed up in quick succession.
Scott - I have an original blond panel cut for a 9 knob Philly which I could use to accurately drill your panel for the additional 2 controls if you decide on that route, not that I recommend so doing on account of the scratch suppressor switch hole below the dial. I used my panel as a pattern to cut the panel for my Philharmonic including the backside routing needed to accommodate the dial bezel spring retainer. I also have had preliminary inquiries about making some Scott panels including for a Philharmonic and would consider making a suitable replacement for yours with 2-way booked walnut veneer, but would hesitate to try the staining to match your cabinet.

[Bill Anderson]

Hi David,

on a side note, a few years ago, I acquired a complete fm converter including all of the brackets and the indicator bezal and knob. I found a pic of a gothic grand philly with one installed but i don't think it had a turntable. It appears the turntable may be in the way. Have you seen a gothic grand philly with a rc-xx turntable with an fm converter installed

thanks again