Dead picture tube? 17GP4

[MadMan]

Pretty sure it's dead Jim, but just wanna run this past you.

17GP4. As I understand it, it's the much rarer version of the 17CP4, the only difference is that the 17GP4 uses high voltage internal focus, whereas the 17CP4 uses external focus magnet. And yes, this is the crt with the metal bell fused to glass. (That one threw me for a loop when I first saw it!)

Anyway, the tv set is old as dirt so I'm not going to turn it on to test the picture tube. Probably wouldn't work anyway.

Initially, I had tested this crt with my Hickok 533a, via adapter. It read 'bad,' but just barely at the line 'Diodes OK'. The pamphlet thingy for the adapter says some crts will be good over that mark, on certain testers. It also says some crts will test 'bad' and be good.

TLDR: testing crts on the Hickok is just guess work!

So I bought a proper crt tester. A slightly off brand, the Lectrotech CRT-100. Now I don't have a manual for this, but I do have the settings to use for this particular tube. Anyway, I initially tested the crt and got roughly the same reading, round about 2.5, right on the border between good and bad. So I tired the rejuvenate button. Long story short, it made it worse. Or maybe it didn't, I don't know. At any rate, it reads nothing at all now. But! It's not actually open, it is still there. If I super heat the filament it will give a faint reading, just above 1, but then it'll drop to 0 as it cools off.

I did recheck with the Hickok to make sure my tester didn't just take a dump, and sure enough, the Hickok gave me the same nothing reading, and also would read a little bit on a higher filament voltage.

Now just today I decided to try one more time. I set it to rejuvenate. And I noticed when I push the button - only when I push the button - I hear what I'd imagine is electricity arcing inside the tube, it's a very faint and irregular crackling. But it's in the bell, nowhere near the gun. At least, nowhere near the actual cathode, can't see anything happening there. Is that normal?

Also, I'm fairly sure the tube hasn't leaked. Neither tester indicates it, and the tube's physical condition looks pretty good. The set itself (I found outside in the garbage) looked like it had been indoors its whole life until it got chucked.

Anyway, how screwed am I?

Pics or didn't happen:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...esting_crt.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...ting_crt_2.jpg