1947 RCA 54B5 "Solitaire"

[batterymaker1]

Here's a pretty one. It was the most expensive personal set of its day. This RCA Solitaire sports a GOLD-PLATED cabinet and Catalin front panel. It went for $75.00 in 1947--that's nearly $700.00 in today's money. In perspective, its more common cousin, the 8B42, cost about $20.00. They share the same chassis, but where the 8B42 has its loop antenna in a lid, the Solitaire--lidless--has its antenna in a small plastic strip mounted on the back of the cabinet.

It was the equivalent of a gold-plated Ipod, so the well-to-do owned them. Cary Grant owned one, as you can see in one of the pics.

My wife purchased one for my birthday, and it had one major cosmetic fault. It was presented to an engineer back in '47, perhaps as a retirement gift, and it was engraved with all the details one one side of the gold cabinet.

Well, some doofus tried removing the engraving details by sanding the side of the cabinet, taking it down to the ugly base metal.

I vowed that if I ever found another Solitaire in decent shape, I'd swap cabinets. Two years ago, I found one on the 'net in excellent cosmetic shape. The chassis was a different story. Previous owner had let the LT battery (a common D cell) remain in the radio, and it let loose its contents onto the chassis.

I had enough spare parts to repair the damage, so I decided that I'd restore the chassis and sell it as a working parts set....

Before I go on, I'd like to tell you how one of the 54B series is restored.

It's not a simple recap job. It has to be taken completely down to bits and redone--caps, wiring and all.

Personal sets are built like watches. Parts are layered on top of another. To give you an idea, I've attached disassembly instructions.

I'd been through this before. Back in '94, I redid one of this sets predecessors, and to help maintain my sanity, I laid out many rebuild notes to guide me through the process. I dusted off my old notes and set to work.

All caps and resistors were pulled, and the dried-out rubber wiring was torn off the tube shelf and terminal boards. I then replaced the caps with yellow poly's and carbon film resistors. Any parts that were corroded beyond repair were replaced with spares pulled from my many 54B chassies--in this case, I replaced the volume control and tuning capacitor. I repainted the volume control thumbwheel to hide the damage left behind by corrosion. I also had to replace the output transformer, as the original succumbed to the acid as well.

Finally sat back, turned it on.

Twasn't right. At all.

Weak signals, sick audio.

Scratched my head, and checked my notes to the chassis connections over and over again. Couldn't find the problem.

With a heavy heart, I set the radio aside, figuring I'd build up the enthusiasm to dive in again later.

A couple of years later, I went to our club's October meet. Not much there I was interested in.

Except at one booth. There was a British collector who'd emigrated to the states, and he'd brought over some of his sets to sell. GEC's, Pyes, even a little French set....

...and tucked in the corner, a Solitaire. Beautiful shape on the outside, but same story on the inside--LT battery corrosion. Volume control was frozen, the tuning knob only made 3/4 rotation.

He wanted more than I was willing to pay, but he said to make him an offer.
$65 I said.

To my surprise, I was now the new owner!

Sooooo, back to the parts set. And back to the rebuild notes.

With a fresh set of "eyes", I took the recently-purchased 54B5 chassis apart--and spotted my wiring error immediately. Turned out I'd placed a resistor on the wrong terminal deep inside the chassis.

I tore down my chassis, repaired the error, reassembled and switched it on.
Near-perfect reception.

I say near perfect, because the audio was a little "schwocky" sounding, and that came from misaligned IF's. And I wouldn't be able to get it just right.

You see, to do a perfect alignment job on one of these sets, you have to have a tuning jig--a 54B5 cabinet drilled with the appropriate holes to access the IF and Oscillator trimmers and slugs.

And I'm not about to do that to a rare parts set.

So, I did an alignment by ear, buttoned up the cabinet, and finished the job. I now have a sparkling, fully rebuilt 54B5 and a parts set.

My next goal is to make a replica set of RCA batteries for it.

[batterymaker1]

Here are pix of the chassis and disassembly instructions. Also a pic of the more common 8B42 radio.

I might add, the set's far from pristine. One side's gold plating has worn away and the bottom shows corrosion effects. But aside from that, it's a real stunner for a 62-year-old radio.

[Brian R Pateman]

What a lovely little set.

You've shamed me into restoring my tiny Emerson. Similar vintage but not nearly so classy!

Having said that it is easier to service.

Regards,

[Colin]

Lovely set Bill ... and its story nicely told!

[dallaslaff]

A great restoration job, well done. The HT battery must be a very compact unit to fit in the available space, what type was it and how long would an original last?

[batterymaker1]

It uses a 467, what you folks would call a B101 67.5 volt battery.

I think it was rated to last 60 hours. The D cell would last only 3 to 5!

[Robert Darwent]

Hi Bill,

What a really unusual and interesting personal set the 'Solitaire' is! I've not seen anything quite like it before, I really love the marble like veining in the case. A nice write-up from you too!

Congratulations on achieving a great restoration, its just superb!

Regards

[newlite4]

What a great little set Bill. It looks like it should be a '50s transistor going by the tuning dial and small dimensions. These sets can be tricky at the best of times what with compacted wiring and fragile tube filaments. Nice job!
Neil