My dad's Zenith - been in the family since new

[TUD1]

I got this Zenith fixed today. All I did was change 1 lytic, five bad tubes, and put on a new cord. After that easy work, it sounds absolutely incredible. Much better than my lowly 8S563. I will be buying a dial belt next week so it can tune properly. My dad got slightly emotional because he grew up with this playing all the time, and it hasn't played since 1968.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by TUD1

I got this Zenith fixed today. All I did was change 1 lytic, five bad tubes, and put on a new cord. After that easy work, it sounds absolutely incredible. Much better than my lowly 8S563. I will be buying a dial belt next week so it can tune properly. My dad got slightly emotional because he grew up with this playing all the time, and it hasn't played since 1968.

It's best to change the bypass and coupling caps, especially the coupling caps in the audio stages. A strong possibility, that the output tubes have positive voltage on the grids.
Maybe the caps were changed in the late 60's, the last time it was used.
I don't mean to criticize your repair job, as I did the same thing, ages ago.
I just repaired it enough, to get it going.

[Findm-Keepm]

Originally Posted by TUD1

I got this Zenith fixed today. All I did was change 1 lytic, five bad tubes, and put on a new cord. After that easy work, it sounds absolutely incredible. Much better than my lowly 8S563. I will be buying a dial belt next week so it can tune properly. My dad got slightly emotional because he grew up with this playing all the time, and it hasn't played since 1968.

Congrats! Your dad sounds like a great guy....and a proud papa!