"Bush" Tombstone Pastiche
 

My somewhat tongue in cheek tale is perhaps justified by the fact that it was purchased at the last BVWS auction, at the minimum hammer price; one of the offerings that Mike couldn't knock down fast enough as soon as anyone showed the slightest interest!

Anyway, as I said in the auction thread, it doesn't look that bad from a distance and even has traces of real wood in the cabinet hiding behind the ply, MDF and hardboard. Its worst failing was the quite frankly awful sound it made with its (damaged as it turned out) tiny tinny tranny speaker, plus a slightly higher than desirable 100Hz buzz.

The speaker handily turned out to be 8 ohm and I found in my stash an old Volvo dual concentric car door speaker of 8 ohms. Promising. The new speaker would just fit between the top of the case and the circuit board of the radio, but needed a suitably cut piece of surplus laminate flooring (MDF?) to thicken up the hardboard original baffle so that the top edge of the new speaker cleared the wooden corner reinforcing at the top of the cabinet.

Duly installed, the sound was now much more acceptable- at any rate about as good as the real deal with a 6" speaker in a wooden box. The 100Hz was rather more intrusive, not surprisingly and this was knocked down to a reasonable level by tripling the 2200uF smoothing capacitor on the unregulated mains PSU. A proper regulated supply would improve it, but I reckoned I'd polished the t**d for long enough.

Overall performance is acceptable enough on LW/MW/VHF now for it to be used in the workshop for background noise.

Re: "Bush" Tombstone Pastiche
 

I burn every one I come across. For me there is nothing in them worth saving, even the knobs are despicable.

Re: "Bush" Tombstone Pastiche
 

I remember when these first appeared, I really wanted one! I finally got one a few years ago, and then wondered why I wanted it at all... I got one with the cassette player in the side of it, so really up-market.

The speaker is an awful thing, I had considered changing it, but what I really fancied doing was getting one of these and gutting it out and building a little valve superhet chassis to go in it, and stripping the case and veneer it. Probably better off just building my own cabinet from scratch!

Regards
Lloyd

Re: "Bush" Tombstone Pastiche
 

Chacun à son goût...

There's a useful small mains transformer to be had if nothing else.

A small AA5 chassis would probably fit inside and the cabinet itself is probably the best part of it. A Pye badge might be more in keeping than Bush, though.

Re: "Bush" Tombstone Pastiche
 

Not my cup of tea either, but your mod must have made a very worthwhile improvement for no cost, and if it came to you for next-to-nothing, what's not to like?

I bet it sounds at least as good as many posh new DAB sets with a 3 figure price tag.

Nick.

Re: "Bush" Tombstone Pastiche
 

We often have to be quite diplomatic in expressing our opinions on this forum - and rightly so. But I found Boater Sam's pithy, uncompromising statement above highly amusing!

"…even the knobs are despicable." :-D

Re: "Bush" Tombstone Pastiche
 

Well they'd be no use except for cheap controls with splined shafts.

Re: "Bush" Tombstone Pastiche
 

I take no prisoners, especially faux ones. The Bush "retro" TR82/97s go the same way. Nothing in those worth saving either.
Why do folk buy this rubbish when we have the real deal?

Re: "Bush" Tombstone Pastiche
 

Totally agree Sam, don't forget that horrid Binatone rubbish, that can go on the fire as well. Phew I feel better for that. ;D Mick.

Re: "Bush" Tombstone Pastiche
 

Maybe because they work straight out of the box? (And go up to 108MHz)

Both my VTR103s needed a dose of tin whisker extraction and switch cleaner to make them perform. Easy enough for the likes of us, but would cost more than the repro to pay someone else to do.

Re: "Bush" Tombstone Pastiche
 

dad bought one of these from the auction once, it went straight on the shelf inbetween a vintage egg whisk and a similar sized but more valuable SG Brown set. Never seen inside it, what a paltry little speaker. But if it brings pleasure through its programme material, so be it! I dont wish harm on any radio sets.

Re: "Bush" Tombstone Pastiche
 

I agree with Kevin but I understand the purist approach. I could never tolerate the Dynatron Faux Queen Ann "design" for example but ignorance is sometimes bliss :shrug: The trouble with purism though, is it can morph into fascism. That's why Dylan left folk music behind. If the set actually cost little and you can do something better with it, then that's fighting back surely? Maybe it's more diplomatic as well ;)

Dave W

Re: "Bush" Tombstone Pastiche
 

I am waiting for one to be seen in a TV programme set in the 1930s!

I don't think we should be too sniffy about them. They work, they are stable and they sound as well as many modern sets. I was given one for my 40th birthday and I was delighted with it. It got me into "proper" sets and I have to admit that it has now been consigned to the loft but I bet that if I resurrected it, it would work straight away.

Re: "Bush" Tombstone Pastiche
 

I think the Dynatron styling was a rather different matter - intended to blend in (to some extent) with furniture typically owned by the target market. Technical quality, while nothing special, was pretty decent.
These 'retro' radios are something else, but if there's a market for them, then why not? It's a pity, though, that there are no good reproductions available for the more aesthetically and technically discerning purchaser - or are there?
Edit: I have to confess that I rather like some of the 'Spirit of St Louis' confections - complete nonsense, but rather fun!