Scott AW 12

[Andreas Reimer]

Hi there, I bought an old Scott cabinet with the chrome allwave 12 in it plus the amp at a thrift store. It looks really great, and I figured I would use it as a cabinet for my coins. Once I got the radio home, there was something about the metal display plate with the name Scott on it that made me think: this is something special. The quality of the cabinet just looks remarkable, and a lot of it is made out of mahogany, so I figured I should dig into it. I found out who this E.H. Scott guy was, and how dedicated to quality he was, but I just can't find the cabinet. I think the AW 12, from what I've been reading, is one of his earlier AW 12 double dial radios. The phonograph is made by some Diehl MF'G. CO. Company in Elizabethport. 
My question now is, could it be an original, and if yes, how much time would I need to spend to understand the whole electrical part and be able to fix it? There is almost no rust and I am very good with working with wood,so I do understand how much work that would be, but I don't know much about vacuum tubes and all that. I don't plan on selling this (although it would be nice to know the value of the whole thing), but I would like to know how much I would need to spend time&money wise, so I know whether I will be able to fix it, make a nice addition to my living room or if I can go ahead and turn this into a cabin for my coins, selling of the parts on eBay or something. After 8 years in Canada my English hasn't really approved, but besides learning a new language, I am a real fast learner. So what do u guys think?

Andy

[Andreas Reimer]

What do I have to do to upload pictures?

Andy

[Norman S Braithwaite]

The Electromatic record changer made by Diehl was offered in Scott consoles during the early 1930s.  Therefore it is likely that the record changer is original to the Scott radio.  It is unusual to find a Scott radio with this changer still installed because the changer did not work well and was often replaced.

Norman

[Andreas Reimer]

The chrome is overall in pretty good shape, it has some rust on the two big transformers, but the rest looks shinny. I got it with a bunch of extra Scott transformers and extra Westinghouse radiotron.
The wood is cherry and mahogany (I think)
Since I'm collecting old coins, I know that often people clean coins and ruin them, so I'm wondering if it is ok to bring it to my local dealer to fix it, or could he ruin something?
And if the Diehl record changer is broken, is it worth to fix it or will it break right away again? And, how much would I be roughly looking at spending to get everything fixed?

[Andreas Reimer]

And Thanks for the Info Norman.

[David C. Poland]

Andreas -
Look below the 'Reply to Discussion" box for the caption "Upload Files". Click on it and you will be able to attach a photo or two to your reply for us to see, Suggest a full front view, full rear view and a close up of the control panel, including dial and control knobs.We should be able to identify both the radio model and the cabinet model.

E. H. Scott was a custom radio builder in the 1930's to WWII. Scott Radios were high end, used leading edge technology, and were noted for sensitivity and superior sound quality. Scott started chrome plating with his 1931 model. And E. H. Scott was a pioneer in high fidelity in the 1930's audio (not to be confused with H. H. Scott of 1950-60s fame). A person ordered the radio from Scott and could also select from a group of exclusive, substantial, furniture grade cabinets Some of the veneers were exotic. Cabinet prices ranged from about $20 to $100 and more, depending on the design, plus optional phonographs for cabinets that could accommodate a phonograph.

[Norman S Braithwaite]

The problem with the Electromatic record changes was not so much operation as design.  By design the Electromatic record changer did not work well from the day it was made.  It was a novel early attempt at a simple record changer as opposed to a turntable (these were the very early days of record changers).  The one in my collection had the magazine removed making it a simple turntable.

Norman

[Kent King]

Andreas -

You should certainly plan to keep the entire set together, even if the phonograph doesn't work. Such complete examples are becoming more scarce these days....far too many people "break up" Scott sets selling the component pieces and then the complete set is lost forever.

Dave noted how to get photos uploaded, please send me a note if you have problems. We will all be glad to help on this! Finally, the difficulty in repair will depend some on the set. Once we see what it is, better advice can be given. And a local repairman may do damage...or not, it will depend on their skill level and respect for historical items. Thanks for joining us!

Kent

[Andreas Reimer]

Hi there,
I definitely plan on keeping & keeping it together. I'll wait till I hear what u guys say before I bring it to a shop.
I tried to upload, but I can't hit the upload button... I thought u would have to be a member for a certain time before u can upload pictures. But perhaps the reason I can't upload them is that I only have acces to the web via my cell...
However, I found a different way;

http://i819.photobucket.com/albums/zz111/Chesstradamus/photo_zps9d1...

I took these before I left town, I can take some more on the weekend, I'm working usually out of town during the week.

[Kent King]

Andreas -

Well, you are correct...you do have a Scott Allwave (2-dial) set that dates from about 1931. Your set is about average condition...this model didn't hold up quite as well as later models. However, it is worth restoring and is a very nice playing set. I do not believe that the cabinet is original to the set, however, in this era, we may not know all the cabinets Scott offered. It certainly has earmarks of being a higher quality cabinet, but isn't like any of the known ones for the 1931 period.

If you go to the following page:

http://ehscott-radio.info

and look in the "Sets" folder and then in the "Allwave (2-dial)" folder, you will find additional information about your set. Please let me know if we can help you!

Kent

[David C. Poland]

Andreas - I agree, not a documented SCott cabinet. However, I do note your front panel seems to have been cut for your model Scott, suggesting the cabinet may be original to your radio. However, your cabinet is not one I recognize. I have found a couple cabinets circa 1930 pictured in ads that escaped inclusion in Jim Clark's very complete EH Scott Radio Collectors Guide (which is again being offered on ebay by Jim).

Especially in the early 1930's there were many very nice 1920's cabinets with obsolete 1920's TRF (tuned radio frequency) models. At the time RCA was being forced to license the superheterodyne circuit which Scott had recently started manufacturing. Scott shipped his radios with a wood front panel and escutcheons suitable to slide into an older radio cabinet if the buyer did not want (or afford) a Scott cabinet. Think of the Red Lion cabinets with a fairly large opening suitable to slide in an Atwater-Kent or other brand radio.

[David C. Poland]

Incidentally, the correct knobs for the 2-Dial model are often seen for sale by knob vendors at radio swap meets.
1 inch diameter, brown bakelite with set screw. There are larger diameter version, but 1 inch is correct. if you want a close up of this version knob, i can do so this weekend maybe.