Warning on buying "restored" radios
 

Just a warning about "restored" radios: Just because someone claims to have restored a radio, that does not mean that it's been properly restored. Someone with "restored" radios has a space at one of the local flea markets and I actually bought two of these "restored" radios. It turns out that neither one worked properly and he only did enough to get them to play a little. The other day, Someone brought by a Zenith G730 AM/FM set from around 1960 that they bought from this guy. I actually recognize the set from being at the flea market because it has the wrong grille cloth in it and I think it was priced at around $95. Anyway, the customer said the radio developed an intermittent band switch and after he sprayed some contact cleaner in the switch, the radio failed to work at all. I just now opened the radio; and, no surprise, it hasn't been restored. All of the original paper capacitors, including the "across the line" bumblebomb are still in place, as is the original selenium rectifier and electrolytic filter capacitor. The tube sockets are very dirty and after I wiggled the tubes, the radio somewhat played. I also clipped the bumblebomb loose because the last thing I want is for it to blow up in my face while I'm testing the radio. Then, I checked the output of the selenium rectifier and it's about 35V-40V low; so, that will have to be replaced. The point is, don't take what you read on the tag as gospel. Any restorer worth his/her salt should be willing to provide proof (ie, pictures) of what was actually done to the radio. This is also another reason why I prefer to buy unrestored radios and fix them myself. That way, I know 100% what has and has not been done. So, to you folks out there who want to buy a radio that's ready to use, please be careful. In this case, this guy has already paid $95 for a "restored" radio and he's going to have to pay me another $75+ to actually "restore" the radio.

Caveat Emptor... Same as always, "Buyer Beware"...

While it sucks that the buyer got ripped off, from what I've seen of a lot of flea-market and antique shop 'restorations', it's probably better that the radio hadn't actually been restored. It's never fun having to go back into a piece of equipment to sort out and clean up some tard's bodged 'repair' job.

No kidding. A bunch of botched repairs is one thing that put me off trying to refurbish a basket case Hitachi console. Could have been worse though, some "restorations" include ruining the original cabinet finish.

I stopped buying radios a while ago, but I kind of miss doing so. I only have 3 tube radios in the whole house currently. Seems that radios for me either end up on two polar opposite ends of the restoration spectrum....they're either far too easy and I have them done in half an hour or less and they just sit on a shelf, or I run into an impossible road block and they just sit on a shelf......

Whenever I sell something as restored, I feel guilty if there's even one capacitor that's really hard to get to that I didn't replace. My guess is that the seller in this case has never restored a radio before, beyond tubes.

Yes, the term "restored" as applied to radios has a variety of meanings. To some it means, "fix it just enough to get the radio to play". For others, it means a more thorough restoration job. When I repaired and restored radios for customers, every capacitor in the set was replaced, and all the other components were thoroughly checked. Never had a set come back. I too prefer to find radios and TVs that are untouched, and have had no recent attempt at repairs or restoration. Let the buyer beware. Hope the word gets out about this guy who's selling these "restored" sets.

Gilbert

I might say something to the owner of the flea market, who rents the space to him. She may or may not care, just as long as she gets the rent money every month; but, with the two radios I bought plus this Zenith, that makes 3 of his radios that I've had to perform work on in order to get them to play properly.

Exactly. Crap like this gives the REST of us who genuinely LOVE the old sets, & just wanna a little "Palm Grease" when you fix one up & sell it, a BAD name. And maybe drive away a potential "New" convert..

Good thread! RadioTVnut.
I often wonder if the work I put into a tube radio (100% paper/safety/electrolytic caps, replace bad tubes, add fuse/thermistor and hot-chassis-rewire/polarized plug and clean-polish) is worth getting only "market price", which seems based on something that looks good but little else guaranteed.
Dollarwise, a 1950s-60s 5-toober plastic AM set requires almost as much as a 1930s-40s wood cabinet table model with a shortwave band or two.

If I were to sell a restored radio, I'd include a picture of the chassis below deck showing the replaced caps and other parts.

If YOU were to sell a restored radio, people should line up, does anyone online have a better resource for AA5 radios? I personally would rather have a plastic GE from the 60s with a four inch speaker, which is working like a swiss watch, than a desierable radio which is all out of whack.

I always can't believe it when people rationalize bad performance caused by incompotent repairs as a characteristic of old gear. It doesn't do the stuff any favours.

I did all my radio collecting in the early 90s, when old radios were plentiful and almost always untouched except some ancient repairs from their normal service life.

I guess, in a way, having all my R-3XXs redone by Rick Mish, sort of "Ruined" me for having less than stellar repairs on my stuff. Now, I have Terry DeWick in Knoxville to do repairs on my TVs & "Civilian" sets, THAT will kinda "Ruin" you, too... Terry's the kind of guy, you go to his place to pick something up, & 2 hrs later, you're STILL there, you just CAN'T leave, he's such a nice guy, &SO interesting to talk to.