Zenith 12A58 Baby Stratosphere.

[Reece]

That is a beautiful chassis, what a job! You might try this on the grille cloth: there is a dry cleaning spray called K2R. I've seen it recently in a large Ace Hardware. It's a dry cleaning fluid in a spray can with something that looks like chalk or talc. I'd try this on a hidden corner first to check compatibility with your cloth. You shake shake shake the can to put the chalk in suspension and spray the cloth. Allow to dry thoroughly, 30 minutes perhaps. The fluid dissolves the dirt and the chalk absorbs the dirty fluid. Then you use a soft brush to remove the chalk. In some cases where the baffle board with cloth attached can be removed from the set you wouldn't have to detach the cloth.

[Ampico-kid]

Originally Posted by Reece

That is a beautiful chassis, what a job! You might try this on the grille cloth: there is a dry cleaning spray called K2R. I've seen it recently in a large Ace Hardware. It's a dry cleaning fluid in a spray can with something that looks like chalk or talc. I'd try this on a hidden corner first to check compatibility with your cloth. You shake shake shake the can to put the chalk in suspension and spray the cloth. Allow to dry thorougly, 30 minutes perhaps. The fluid dissolves the dirt and the chalk absorbs the dirty fluid. Then you use a soft brush to remove the chalk. In some cases where the baffle board with cloth attached can be removed from the set you wouldn't have to detach the cloth.

That sounds like the same "stuff" that a company called ChemDry uses to clean carpets, upholstery, etc. It's spayed on in a heavy mist, allowed to dry and then vacuumed off. The cloth in my Zenith is very loose, so whatever it was that held it in position has let loose. I think it'll be easy to remove. Once I take it out and have a better look at it, I'll decide on a course of action. This dry cleaner sounds like a good idea..............

Thanks for the information.
Bob

[Jeffhs]

As others have noted, that radio looks almost like new after all the work you put into cleaning up the chassis; this is one of the cleanest Zenith chassis I have ever seen, in 40+ years of electronics experimenting.

Glad to know the set sounds good as well. Excellent sound fidelity was a hallmark of Zenith radios for many years, until the company went offshore some 30 years ago; those older sets (up to about the end of the '60s) always sound excellent when they are working as they should (I have two Zenith table sets, K731 and C845, that will run rings, as far as sound quality and RF sensitivity -- to say nothing of build quality -- goes, around any of the cheap plastic headphone stereos available today).

BTW, I noticed a segment of one of the tuning bands (150-400 kHz) on your set has a bracket around the range 200-250 kHz or thereabouts, marked "weather band." Was this the 1930s-'40s forerunner of today's 162.55 MHz, et al. FM weather radio service? If so, the National Weather Service (if such was even in existence in the 1930s, which I doubt) was very much ahead of its time, even to have an AM weather radio alert network.