[Radio Wrangler]

Back in the mid sixties, I bought an AR88. The old crackle paint on the cabinet and panel was rather ratty and although mum didn't actually say anything, she didn't need to. So off came the panel and the cabinet and they went for bead blasting and stove enamelling at a firm in Brighouse. The choice of colours was a bit limited and crackle definitely wasn't on the menu. So it became silver-hammer. One goof was I forgot to do the bottom cover plate of the cabinet. It's still black crackle. Fortunately it was an early set with an engraved panel.

For a while I liked it, then I went through a phase of regret on finding out it was a very early set, but now I'm relaxed about it. I've owned it longer than anyone else has and there's either a lot of me in the set or a lot of the set in me - I can't work out which!

Still, it's the only silver hammer finish AR88 I've heard of.

David