Just bought an Unknown Model Philco Tombstone

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

You have the last of that sets kind and I have the first of it's kind...a Philco 16B with some significant cabinet issues that I need to get to before I bother with the chassis.

Apparently Philco used 16B on two different Radios judging by the thread you found.
This is my model: .http://www.tuberadioland.com/philco1...tone_main.html

Personally don't like to encourage using polyurethane since stripping products usually don't work on it and you have to sand it off (which can mean sanding through veneer)... If you don't dent or break the wood with lacquer you can avoid sanding and if you never sand you never wear through the veneer which means owners in the future can refinish it the same way as many times as as needed in future centuries. Lacquer is the original and correct material and IMO the most maintainable option.

The block caps are fairly easy to rebuild and there are resources online that allow you to look up the caps and resistors contained along with pinout. I can chip most of the tar out (don't need it squeaky clean and also don't need to refill the block with tar since nobody will see it) along with the old cap foil roll out in under a minute with a screwdriver. Then it is easy to hide a new cap in the block and have the recaped chassis look bone stock. Some of theses philcos go from dead or near dead to perfect with just the block caps changed (definitely do the filters too for safety).