[gadget73]

I did some simple work that vastly improved the quality of the picture: I removed the glass panel from the front and cleaned the face of the CRT and washed the glass. 50 years of nicotine tar down the drain. Amazingly the halo effect around the picture is gone now. I also managed to fix what I thought was sun fried plastic on the knobs, again more baked-on tar. Its sort of wierd, the set looked reasonably clean to start with, but I guess it didn't really get much cleaning beyond dusting the cabinet off.

Related question, does anyone know a good way to get all the tar and nastiness out of the wood? I wiped the doors down with some windex and it kept turning the cleaning cloth nasty brown. I'd like to get all that old tar out so I can apply some polish or something to the wood, but I don't want to use anything that will destroy the finish. Its not perfect but I'd like to preserve it as-is till I feel brave enough to try restoring it sometime down the road.