I restored it, but haven't a clue who made it?

[GJR 11L]

I have had the radio shown here sitting around on top of the wardrobe for at least three years, since it came with a bunch of eBay stuff as an unexpected, errrrr... "bonus?"

It was filthy and not working. Nothing unusual there. I stripped it to its bare bones and set about restoring it; nothing unusual there either but the slightly disturbing thing here is that I didn't know what it is and still don't!

AnyRU, the cabinet halves are of polystyrene construction, the set has a fairly conventional early '70s 3-band chassis with a treble control and the unusual addition, for something only just more than shirt pocket-sized, of a DIN 5-pin socket for both in and out connection.

The function was attended to first, since replacing a corroded spring in the battery holder (again unusually for a small set, it needs 4 'C' cells) got it working and then a squirt of Super 10 on the exposed tracks of the volume and treble controls as well as in the bandchange button assembly had it not only working but doing so without noisy switchgear.

A bit of rotten foam on the inside of the battery cover was replaced with window sealing strip and the fitting that's obviously intended to take some sort of strap was dipped in Jenolite jelly for a couple of hours to get rid of the corrosion.

The bared cabinet sections were all scrubbed with the old nailbrush and, once dry, were given some lustre with a silicon-filled shoe sponge.

It now looks clean, and at some point in the future I may mask it appropriately and respray the silver sections of the cabinet where there are some scuffs that show through to the yellow, but it is now clean enough to use without requiring the soaking of my hands in Milton afterwards!

So, someone, what is it please?

I looked back through my eBay history but cannot find it there since it wasn't meant to be in the parcel.

It does mention that a Kenneth G Sadler designed it, moulded into the rear half of the shell, but that doesn't help since, for example, knowing that Jacob Jensen designed a slim B&O wouldn't tell a person who built it if there was no maker's name attached!

Here she be:

[howard]

Hello John,

Well whatever it is (I think it's a Ferguson) it's jolly nice

Howard

[paulsherwin]

It may be an own brand special made for somebody like Boots or Woolworths. It's clearly made for the UK market and not a private import.

Interesting set.

Paul

[michamoo]

You will be surprised but i think its is a Pye! I am sure i had one but in blue and silver. That was back in the 1970s when i was a boy. Think it must have been around ten years old even then.

[GJR 11L]

Thanks for that! For some odd reason, the Pye name kept popping into my mind as well, but I couldn't find anything on the net about this set, either searching "Pye" in various strings or by going to the website of the Architect and design guru who styled the cabinet and appears still to be very much alive and kicking.

I have a (very) vague recollection of these having carried Pye's "Piper" model name at some point but there is now absolutely no sign of any manufacturer's logo anywhere, and I have been through that set piece by piece so would have found something, you'd think.

The name would presumably have been carried on the little aluminium plate at the lower left corner of the front panel, but even though I attempted various tricks to disclose what may once have been printed there, nothing showed up.

I would love to know two things about the set now, in order to perfect the job; what exact style of wrist strap would have been attached to the little, rectangular slot in the tag that protrudes from the edge and is anchored inside to a chassis post and also that elusive identity so that I could mock up and print some kind of replica of the correct badge.

Another thought that entered my mind was that Paul has a point about the set maybe having been made for a shop as an "own brand" item. I have an even more vague notion that I've seen a red one somewhere with a Boots label in that corner.

Howard, I could equally well imagine it wearing a Ferguson tag, but searching under that name brought forth no results either.

It does work rather well though, even though the speaker is only of the sort of size found in a typical shirt pocket set. It even manages to reproduce something resembling bass notes.

[Tom_I]

My first thought, like Howard, was that it could be a Ferguson. Those push buttons look familiar, but I can't come up with anything concrete.

As for Pye, it bears a certain resemblance to the Pye 1404 'Tempest', but it's clearly not the same set.

Tom

[Paul_RK]

My memory's telling me Pye 'Mistral'. It's not always trustworthy, though...

Paul

Edit: Shape and layout do appear right for the Pye 1403 Mistral as featured in 1972-3 R+TVS. I've a sneaking feeling I may have seen the same thing branded as Boots instead when in this colour.

[Tom_I]

There's a small picture of one on this page. It's described as a 'Pye Minstrel', but I guess that should be 'Mistral'.

[Paul_RK]

Originally Posted by Paul_RK

I've a sneaking feeling I may have seen the same thing branded as Boots instead when in this colour.

Aha, seems even more likely now: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Boots-portable...mZ280215009722

[Mike Phelan]

Originally Posted by GJR 11L

The name would presumably have been carried on the little aluminium plate at the lower left corner of the front panel, but even though I attempted various tricks to disclose what may once have been printed there, nothing showed up.

Hi John
A long shot, but have you tried a UV light on it yet? Works on silvered clock dials when the signature has been rubbed off.
Attractive radio!

[michamoo]

Thats like the one i had! I knew i remembered it in a dark colour like Navy blue.
I bet its a little unstable with the aerial all the way up?

[GJR 11L]

Originally Posted by Paul_RK

My memory's telling me Pye 'Mistral'. It's not always trustworthy, though...

Paul

Edit: Shape and layout do appear right for the Pye 1403 Mistral as featured in 1972-3 R+TVS. I've a sneaking feeling I may have seen the same thing branded as Boots instead when in this colour.

Looking very promising...

Originally Posted by Tom_I

There's a small picture of one on this page. It's described as a 'Pye Minstrel', but I guess that should be 'Mistral'.

That would be the very thing! Never thought to look at that particular collector's site, don't know why, just didn't!

Originally Posted by Paul_RK

Aha, seems even more likely now: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Boots-portable...mZ280215009722

Yes, that's the same thing.

Originally Posted by Mike Phelan

Hi John
A long shot, but have you tried a UV light on it yet? Works on silvered clock dials when the signature has been rubbed off.
Attractive radio!

Oddly enough yes, I have, nothing doing!

Originally Posted by michamoo

Thats like the one i had! I knew i remembered it in a dark colour like Navy blue.
I bet its a little unstable with the aerial all the way up?

Ah! You have inadvertently answered the question that I was asking myself regarding the use of 'C' cells when others with similar chassis are fine on AAs.
Ballast! The aerial is only about the length of a Roberts R505 one when fully erected, but due to the weight of the 'C' cells, it can be fully erected and leaned over to the front or rear of the thing and still she won't fall over.

We know what it is now and the clear family resemblance between the yellow one I have and the same shade used by Pye on their slightly different model with the rigid handle suggests that it's actually "Beige"?

In the flesh, it's actually exactly the same colour as B&O refer to, in the case of my Beolit 707's panels, as "Curry" hence my use of the word yellow, since Saffron pods appear in curry and are famously yellow.

That said, in some lights, it looks a bit more like Roberts' "Mustard" as seen on R600s and RIC2s.........

Thanks for your comments and your help with the ID.

I was going to sell the set but now I see that it's probably quite rare it's staying put and I rather like it.

Just as well I don't do this for a living or I'd go hungry!

[Sideband]

That style of pushbutton seems to shout 'Pye' at me as well. Could be one of the Pipers. As a guess to age, maybe around mid 70's? Has to be after the top end of the FM band was opened up for broadcasting.

If I get a chance this week, I'll have a look through the archives at work and see if I can find a picture of it.


Rich.

[paulsherwin]

Originally Posted by Richard_Newman

As a guess to age, maybe around mid 70's? Has to be after the top end of the FM band was opened up for broadcasting.

The tuning dial suggests it only goes up to 100MHz, though it isn't actually frequency calibrated so this is only a guess. I think around 1970 is more likely.

What is the transistor lineup?

Paul

[Tom_I]

Yes, introduced 1970, according to 'the book'.

[GJR 11L]

Transistors are as shown in the following, additional image. I should have noted what these were when I had the thing in bits, and cannot see the tiny lettering on there now, maybe the macro shot will help a bit, but in any case, they are all of much the same sort of style, and no sight of anything in a T07 can!

This is definitely model 1403, there is a label on the speaker that says that much so the service sheet mentioned earlier in the thread would put it at around the first year or two of the '70s.

FM coverage is up to around 104MHz, maybe 105, but although the calibration of the scale and pointer is correct, there aren't any numbers at all on FM to indicate frequency and I don't recognise anything at that end of the scale since it sounds like repetitive chart rubbish...

Now, would the fact that it says '1403' inside there mean that it would have been a Pye-branded one, or would the Boots equivalent have had the same internal labelling?

Some transistors, excuse the small area the camera was able to see, but it is rather cramped in there with the set all reassembled! .........

[paulsherwin]

Looks like Japanese / Hong Kong construction, and the transistors are probably Japanese silicon jobbies.

Paul

[Sideband]

Hmmm. Those transistors and general components are not Pye, unless it was an import job. Still I'll see if I can find anything.



Rich.

[Sideband]

Nothing in the archives....sorry!


Rich.

[GJR 11L]

Originally Posted by paulsherwin

Looks like Japanese / Hong Kong construction, and the transistors are probably Japanese silicon jobbies.

Paul

Quite so, and the tuning gang is one of those little, fully enclosed ones that look more at home in tiny shirt pocket sets, but in spite or possibly because of the Japanese Silicon transistors, the thing works as well as anything else I own, and not a single one of its caps would seem to be faulty.