Farnsworth GV-260 for Christmas

[Tim]

About a year ago, my wife's uncle told me he thought he had an old Farnsworth TV stored in his attic. It was unreachable at the time and he said that someday he would dig it out. Well he actually did and gave it to me for Christmas this year. It is in fact a 1947 Fansworth GV-260 - not a common set. He said he thought that it was one of the first TV sets in town. It was placed in the attic by his father many years ago.

The cabinet is in very respectable condition however the speaker is missing. Unfortunately, there are also some major parts missing from the chassis. The separate sync chassis is gone. I initially noticed that one of the chassis' 2 power transformers was missing but when I looked underneath, it seems the chassis has been re-wired to use only one (larger?) transformer. Not sure if this mod ever worked or if it is one of the reasons the set was relegated to the attic.

The set has no CRT and both the deflection and focus coils are missing, which were probably attached to the CRT when it was removed many years ago.

He did give me a bag of knobs that appear to be correct but I am not sure if they are all there. He found them in a cigar box near the set.

I have my doubts that this will ever be able to be restored to working order unless by some miracle I can locate a sync chassis and the missing coils. It will make for a wonderful display though and maybe the missing parts are still to be discovered in the attic! Pictures are below.

In researching this early set, I came upon some confusing information. The GV-260 shown on the TV history website http://www.tvhistory.tv/1946-49-FARNSWORTH.htm
does not match my set or the photo in the Riders volume 1 service info for the GV-260. Although the cabinet shape is the same, it seems that it has a metal plate that covers the original GV-260 knob openings and allows a 4 in-line knob configuration chassis to be installed.

The Riders photo and knob layout matches the set I have. The TV History set, with the 4 in-line knobs, matches the control layout for the Capehart/Farnsworth model U-12-A in Riders 2. There is no photo of the U-12-A so I am not sure what it looked like. Maybe they had left over cabinets and wanted to update the chassis? It does look similar though to the Electromatic set shown on the ETF site.
http://www.earlytelevision.org/electromatic_101.html
Anyone ever seen another set in person that looks like the one in the TV history photo or a Capehart U-12-A?

Also, I am wondering if the GV-260 prototype on the ETF site http://www.earlytelevision.org/farns...prototype.html may possibly be the prototype for both the GV-220 and GV-260? A GV-220 is listed as a 10" blonde model on the TV history site. The picture in an ad from an old eBay auction shown below shows a 10" blonde table top model with side grilles and the front rounded top that is solid and not mesh, like the GV-260 top is. I cannot read the model number in the ad. Is that maybe a GV-220?

I have also posted a picture of a brochure from an old eBay auction which seems to show both a blonde and a mahogany GV-260 style cabinet. These are the same as my set with no side grilles and the mesh top. Maybe the blonde model is the GV-220? Riders makes no mention of a GV-220. Again, model numbers in the brochure, if listed, are not readable. Maybe someone here has this brochure and can check what it says?

It looks like the chassis used in the GV-260 is very similar to the one used in the 651-P and 661-P and even the 610-P shown on Chuck's site. http://www.myvintagetv.com/farnsworth_610p.htm Those models used an RCA 630 tuner though.

There is no mention of Capehart on the tag on my set so it was produced before Capehart and Farnsworth merged.

Anyway, several interesting things to ponder. Again, this shows that these old sets are still out there if you dig deep enough or are just in the right place at the right time.

[rld-tv01]

The Farnsworth GV-260 is a great find.

I attached another GV-260 add and picture of a GV-260 at the Auman TV museum and also another clear cabinet GV-260 picture I found on the internet.

[radotvguy]

interesting tv , however its going to be a challedge to find the missing parts

[bgadow]

Great looking set, better than I expected...this sounds like a real long-term project...I have faith that it can be up and running again, someday.

[Tim]

Thanks for the photos and replies. It may be possible to use another focus coil and deflection yoke but recreating the missing sync chassis will be more of a challenge. For now, I'll install a CRT, reassemble the set and display it. Parts may turn up.

[Tony V]

As tight as that chassis seems to fit in the case, where would the sync chassis have been placed? Is it possible to construct a sync chassis using the schematic to use until you found an original one? The yoke and focus coil i would take wouldnt be the worst thing to substitute providing you have or find data to what the original ones ratings would have been. Its a beautiful tv and definately would be worth the footwork to get it going again. These arent that common compared to some of the others so would be worth putting a little bit of change in. Keep us updated on your efforts. Good luck!
-Tony

[John Folsom]

Just a few photos of my restored GV-260. It is a very unique little TV. I hope Tim can bring his set back to its original configuration, it is well worth the effort.

[Phil Nelson]

A cute little critter, and an interesting design. Maybe I will run across one some day.

I guess the sync chassis was the one piggybacked to the side of the CRT.

I would volunteer to help your uncle straighten up his attic, and dig like crazy in search of the missing parts. The sync chassis seems like an odd thing to remove -- what else would it be used for -- unless you are a teenager just fooling around.

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

[Sandy G]

Yeah, extra effort needs to be put forth on this one-Farnsworths are pretty rare byrds, I would think...The Cabinet looks to be in VERY good shape-some judicious cleaning should have it looking excellent...