Wall of Zeniths

[Nolan Woodbury]

I love antique radio, and really enjoy reading the posts on this site. I've made some new friends and learned a lot.

That said, I'd like to show off my latest ‘addition’ which pays homage to my favorite make: Zenith. Now that I have this many, I've begun to branch off and try new brands, but it has been enjoyable to bring the collection to this point. My brother Nathan has also contributed to this number and designed the unit, which is large enough to hold up to 50 (table) radios.

They all work, and get used! I should also say this collection does not include the units at our homes...this display is in the foyer of my business and gets seen by a lot of people.

Zenith Power!

[Midnight Blues]

You have what looks to be a great Zenith collection! Your C845s look perfect. I use mine every day, just an outstanding radio. If you ever want to thin the heard just let me know.....

[Nolan Woodbury]

Actually, what you see in the larger photo is three different versions of the "845" 8-tube style. The H845 (lower left) has an illuminated dial. A C845 sits on the upper right and in the middle is an X337. All similar, but different.

I also have another which is stashed behind the X337, but the bottom tag is missing. It looks to have a factory 'flex' handle -color matches- mounted to the top of the cabinet, and the chassis is completely different; with a kink in the front and the speaker mounted to it, like the older (bakelite) K725. I've tried to figure out the production scheme, but Zenith made so many of these things it is nearly impossible to find out exactly what and when. I'd love to find a resource with model numbers and dates (perhaps a complete SAMS?) but until then, many of these radios are a guessing game.

You're right though; they sound great!

[Jeffhs]

Hi Nolan:

I just saw the pics of your Zenith collection in the wall unit. Nice! I think I saw a pic of something like that here at AK some time ago which was built for a TV collection, but I can't remember off the top of my head who had it.

I've managed to squeeze most of my own small Zenith radio collection into my bedroom, with the exception of my K731 which is atop the refrigerator in the main part of my apartment (being a one-bedroom unit there isn't much room). One of these days I'll get around to taking a picture or two of my collection.

My Zenith collection thus far:

H-511Y (1951)
Royal 1000-1 T/O (1958)
K-731 (1963)
R-70 AM/FM portable (1980)
H-480 AM/FM/FM-stereo clock radio (1980)
C-845 (1960)

[Tom Bavis]

Nolan, download the Universal Schematic Locator program from here: http://techpreservation.dyndns.org/ I have lists of the Riders volumes and Sams numbers by year.

[Nolan Woodbury]

Thanks for the link Tom...awesome! Almost an overwhelming assortment of information and pictures. I'll use it, and remember to bother you when I'm trying to find a Sams on something! Thanks for all you've done in the past man...always a huge help.

And Jeff? Get that camera out and start snapping dude! Don't give us any excuses about room in your apartment...I once lived on the second floor in a (tiny) unit and managed to stuff three vintage motorcycles in there, plus a lathe!

Besides, your not actually *using* that bathtub, are you? :-)

[steve gibson]

Very nice Nolan. How often do you play them? Or do you just have them on display?

[captainmoody]

I have the "poor mans" setup as I am on a very limited budget (as well as short of space). All were either restored by me or were working already when purchased (They have to work,and work good! I listen to WJR and CKLW quite often). My favorites are the Zeniths first, then the high end Magnavox and GE radios.
I have done a similar thing with my console tv's, that way two 6 foot entertainment centers can take the space of one!

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by captainmoody

I have the "poor mans" setup as I am on a very limited budget (as well as short of space). All are either restored or were working already when purchased. My favorites are the Zeniths first, then the high end Magnavox and GE radios.
I have done a similar thing with my console tv's, that way two 6 foot entertainment centers can take the space of one!

Thanks for pointing that out. When I posted here last night, I had forgotten just whom it was here at AK that had the large rack storage units for his radios and TVs.

I'm also on an extremely tight budget and don't have a lot of space, so most of my radios (six antique/vintage Zeniths and a bunch of vintage transistor radios of various makes) are in my bedroom, with the exception of my K731 Zenith which is on top of the refrigerator in the main part of my apartment (one bedroom, so the apartment unit itself is just one large room, as I mentioned in a previous post).

I don't let the lack of space bother me when I have to work on my equipment, either--anymore. An old-time ham radio operator in Colorado called me out several years ago (in an email responding to a post of mine to a Google message board--I think it was rec.antiques.radio+phono) on a complaint I had made that, since I live in a small apartment, I could no longer work on old sets. I had signed my own ham radio call sign after my name, which is probably why this fellow even made the comments he did (among them, why was I complaining about not being able to work on my own equipment, when I had a General class ham license; he mentioned that I must know or have known a few things about electronics when I passed the tests, now almost 34 years ago). Ham radio people are supposed to know their way around electronics (all amateurs must pass a written examination on electronic theory, among other things related to the hobby, in order to get a license) and to be able to work around obstacles such as small work spaces, etc. (My own ham radio installation is on an old computer desk in my bedroom.) About 25 years ago, one young amateur in the New York City area even turned the closet in his bedroom into a radio room, what we hams call a "ham shack"; the story was in an amateur radio magazine of that period. The suggestion was made that I could spread newspapers over my kitchen table and use it as a makeshift workbench; I have since done just that to repair minor problems with my ham gear, and will continue to do so with my radios as necessary. There is no reason why I cannot continue to work on my own equipment when it breaks down, just because I live in a small apartment; there are solutions to almost every problem. Ham radio operators are supposed to be resourceful people; it is because of this quality and the nature of amateurs to be experimenters and innovators that we now have such things as radio (the first radio station in this country, KDKA in Pittsburgh, began as amateur station 8XK in 1920), television, satellites (hams have communicated via satellites for some years), and other technological marvels most people outside our hobby take for granted today.

My point is, just because you may have limited space in which to work, don't give up trying to repair your radios, etc., even if it means working at your kitchen table and using an extension cord for your soldering iron (as in my case).

[Nolan Woodbury]

Yes Steve, every one works perfectly and they all get used. In fact, I think the office folks at my business may think I'm losing it...radios everywhere. I try to keep it tidy though, and usually rotate a radio to my desk for a week. Then I plug in another, and so on. In the first pic, a C730 is pulling duty crisply playing oldies for Laura and the other office workers. Heaven sent!

And speaking of working on radios, this is my latest project; the bottom photo shows an attempt to make one good MJ1035 out of two ratty ones. The chassis in the foreground in the one that got destroyed in shipping last year. If the fix is successful, it'll be the new shop blaster. Hope I'm not in over my head...

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Nolan Woodbury

I think the office folks at my business may think I'm losing it...radios everywhere. I try to keep it tidy though, and usually rotate a radio to my desk for a week. Then I plug in another, and so on. In the first pic, a C730 is pulling duty crisply playing oldies for Laura and the other office workers. Heaven sent!

And speaking of working on radios, this is my latest project; the bottom photo shows an attempt to make one good MJ1035 out of two ratty ones. The chassis in the foreground in the one that got destroyed in shipping last year. If the fix is successful, it'll be the new shop blaster. Hope I'm not in over my head...

Nolan, I was wondering. How is the restoration of that MJ-1035 (the one that was wrecked in shipping some time ago) coming along? If you are using another MJ to repair that one, you shouldn't have much trouble, I wouldn't think.

The desk in your office with the C730 on it looks almost exactly like my computer desk, only the one in your office has the storage cubbyholes stretching the width of the desk; on mine the storage area is only perhaps a foot wide, more or less. I'd put my K731 or C845 on top of the hutch, but my computer's printer is there now (the data cable isn't long enough to reach down to a stand next to my desk where I have my stereo; I used to have my printer on the lower shelf of that stand, but my cat chewed the cable all to pieces!)

I was browsing in AK's Antique Radio forum (this one) earlier tonight and was amazed when I read your thread, "Catching a Buzz . . . " What amazed me was your statement that you used two speakers to test your C730 in which you had an annoying buzzing noise; you said one of those speakers was an 8" one from a junked C845! I was floored. I didn't know (in fact, it never occurred to me) that anyone ever junked radios as well-made as any of the large Zenith table sets were, not to mention the company's other table and console sets from the '20s to the end of their radio era. Was the '845 that speaker came from really in such bad shape that it could not possibly have been restored? I always thought Zenith radios were like cats: they had nine lives.

[Nolan Woodbury]

Hi Jeff,

Nolan, I was wondering. How is the restoration of that MJ-1035 (the one that was wrecked in shipping some time ago) coming along? If you are using another MJ to repair that one, you shouldn't have much trouble, I wouldn't think.

It's going well. I'm in the process of fitting the replacement chassis and still waiting for the new tubes I ordered. This thing takes a whole series of 6v tubes that I didn't have. In fact, did you know the MJ 1035 -Zenith lingo for a 10-tube chassis- actually has twelve tubes? That's a lot for a table radio.

The desk in your office with the C730 on it looks almost exactly like my computer desk...

Well, everyone is into this hobby for their own reasons, but my favorite part is actually using and enjoying the equipment. Although I’m a far cry from the more experienced members of this forum, the only interest I have in working on them is to make them useable. Same with my motorcycles, my cameras (my professional photography is based on vintage twin-lens reflexes; Rolleiflex and the Minolta Autocord) and my antique furniture. If I, or others can't use it, it's worthless to me. Seems to me a properly serviced Zenith is ideal for this kind of thing.

....I was amazed when I read your thread, "Catching a Buzz . . . " What amazed me was your statement that you used two speakers to test your C730 in which you had an annoying buzzing noise; you said one of those speakers was an 8" one from a junked C845! I was floored. I didn't know (in fact, it never occurred to me) that anyone ever junked radios as well-made as any of the large Zenith table sets were, not to mention the company's other table and console sets from the '20s to the end of their radio era. Was the '845 that speaker came from really in such bad shape that it could not possibly have been restored?

The only radio I've ever 'junked' is the MJ 1035 we were speaking of before. It is beyond my skills to repair. I am however, keeping all the parts.

As for the junked C845, that radio was parted out and scattered long before I purchased the remains. This stuff all came from eBay, or surfing in the antique shops near my home. These people know me very well and save any old radio bits they come across. I'm out of room! Right now, the only items I'm interested are Zeniths and German sets. My brother Nathan is also an avid (junk) collector. It's a wonder our wives haven't left us...

[captainmoody]

Nolan, if you don't have one already, get a '69 Zenith Z316L(beige) or Z316W(white) AM-FM table radio. It's the last tube type model they made.
I just picked one up on ebay for 10 bucks.
Oh, and the 1035's are a favorite of mine also, I have several of them. The only model I am not as fond of is the 1035-1 as it's a series string set.

[Nolan Woodbury]

Thanks for the tip captainmoody...the very last Zenith tube model huh? I sure would like to find a resource book or website with all that information. Maybe I should start my own? Nah...like I need more to do!

The Z316L/Z316W resembles this model X323. Other than the wood cabinet, they look identical.



I bought this about 6-months ago. It is kind of a gooey mess because someone brushed gobs of varnish all over it, splattering it all over the metal face plate too. It does sound nice tho...I'll get to it one of these days.

[Nolan Woodbury]

I'd like to take credit, but my brother really deserves the kudos for putting in the travel and leg work.

This Zenith G730 was a $5.00 wreck; knobs and tubes missing, solider joints and dial cord broken, grill cloth torn and the scarred cabinet finished in a thick coat of white house paint. Total abuse. The P.O. said it was used as a door stop.

We stripped and sanded it down to bare wood and just for kicks, took it to a customer of ours who makes custom furniture. He wanted a 'crack' at refinishing the cabinet and promised it would look better than anything we could do ourselves. He was right. Look at that beautiful grain!



Digging through our spare parts, we pieced together a complete, fully functioning chassis that's waiting to slide into this, and found some really nice knobs too. Still looking for a clean dial lens, but the original would probably clean up nicely with a bit of elbow grease and Mothers plastic polish. Not really sure where to source the grill material, but we'll come up with something. One old Zenith, dead and buried, will return to the fold!