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Old 2nd Jul 2019, 6:11 pm   #1
MurphyNut
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Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Croxley Green, Hertfordshire, UK.
Posts: 979
Default Bush SAC 31 (1936) Almost lost forever.

This set was destine for the skip, on the off-chance the owner called around my place on the way to see if I wanted it for spares.
The set had been in his loft for countless decades and looked in appalling condition, I couldn't say no, I felt sorry for it......so it found a new home.
This was about 15 years ago, at that time I was quite content in doing up the cabinets and having old radios that didn't work but just nice to look at because I hadn't got a clue how to fix them.
The case was completely stripped and some of the missing veneer replaced it came up very nicely. It then sat in the corner silently until (fast forward) a few days ago when I thought I'd have ago at breathing life into it again.
I must admit when I had a look inside I'd forgotten how rough it looked, the chassis quite rusty and a lot of crumbling insulation on the wires.
I replaced the worst ones (going up to the speaker) and put on a new mains lead. What completely surprised me with this set is there are absolutely no wax capacitors, this is a new one on me! Just a wax box with 2 electrolytic caps inside (8+8) and a tubular paper 25uf. I decided to replace the box but left the paper one as it looked in good condition.
The variable capacitor was all lose, I manged to secure that and replace the broken tuning cord, luckily that was a simple affair. The speaker needed some attention but again all went well.
I powered it up and it actually worked, and not sounding too bad either, I think it must be a fairly cheap set for the day, the quality of construction and sound certainly don't match Murphy sets of the same period.
But I like the set, I've been gradually breaking it in, had it on for half an hour today with no problems.
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