Mystery Philco console

[bandersen]

I found this local listing for a Philco - model unknown. The dimensions match many of the 1931-1935 lowboy consoles like my Philco 70.
I called the seller and he couldn't find a label, but I did have him describe the chassis. There's a transformer on the left and "light bulb" looking tube and a bunch more under metal shields along the back and some more on the right. That doesn't sound like a 70

"I have an old Philco radio for sale I don't have any idea if it works or not. It is 40" tall, 12" deep and 23" wide. It is missing 2 knobs and the glass for tuner. The finish on looks fairly good it has turned spindle legs about 12" long. Sorry no pics."

Only one way to find out I guess...

[Reece]

The legs and the "light bulb" tube (if that's describing a globe and not an ST) makes it early thirties.

[bandersen]

Early 30s yes, globe tubes no
It's a lowly model 60L from 1933. I think that was the first year for the ST types. My 1932 Philco is all globes.
I probably should have passed, but the price was right and it followed me home
I figure I can practice on this guy before I restore my 70.

Tube lineup is 80, 6A7, 78, 75 and 42.

Here's a whole bunch of info on this line.

It's missing two hex knobs and the cloth has been replaced, but otherwise is in decent condition.


Pretty small compared to my Philco 70. Of course, that's a 1931 model with big globe tubes.


80 and 42 tubes.


This came out of an old alternator / starter motor rebuild shop. The new owner wanted to clear it out along with an old cast iron stove for sale.
Says it came out of a caboose. I had to pass on it, but it is kinda cool I think.

[radio63]

This is a very nice radio and will be a good performer once it's done. This is a fun chassis to work on.

Gilbert

[bandersen]

That's great, I could use a fun one The last couple TVs I've worked on have worn me out.

Anyone know if this set should have hex knobs or rosette ? It came with two hex knobs, but the set pictured at philcoradio.com has rosette knobs

[ggregg]

Pretty sure that one is hex. I know, big help.

[radio63]

I think the knobs should be hex knobs, at least they are on my 60 cathedral. When you start working on it, check your coils for opens. My oscillator (I think, been a long time) coil was open but the primary was easily re-wound and the radio worked great after that. It's been many years since I repaired mine, but it still works very well.

Gilbert

[leadlike]

The model 60 isn't bad to recap, but yours is early enough that it will likely have those awful open coils. By '35 they had worked out that problem. A friend of mine asked me to fix a pair of Philco cathedrals, which I told him would be pretty simple. On the way home I remembered the coil problem, and sure enough, I had to rewind all of the primaries on both of those to get them running again.

Otherwise, the 60 is a cool little set. It picks up loads of stations, with good fidelity. It should have hex knobs, which are readily available as repros.

edit: I was expecting a bigger speaker, since they put it into a large cabinet, but instead they just used the same speaker that the cathedral set uses-boooo!

[bandersen]

Thanks for the heads-up on the open coil issue. If I do need to rewind any, I have a nice big spool of vintage enameled wire that might be the right gauge.

I was a little disappointed by the speaker too.
Philco made a bunch of sets from 31-35 with this basic lowboy cabinet shape like this sweet 91L.
Now, I have a good idea of just how nice this cabinet can look when refinished.

[leadlike]

You know, you might be okay with the open coil thing-the escutcheon is of the newer style ('35+) which seems to be after about the period where they altered their manufacturing practices. Just having a nice cabinet like that is great: if I had come across this one, I would be happy that I finally had a cabinet for my Midwest chassis.