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Old 7th Feb 2021, 2:37 pm   #1
Gabe001
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Default Phonola 639 - restoration of an Italian classic

Special thanks to Jerry (Cathoderay57) who encouraged me to go ahead with this project, and to David (David G4EBT) who answered all my dial waterslide transfer questions

I bought this Italian set from a well known auction site, on a whim and because I thought I'd have a go at something slightly different. I was also intrigued by the valve lineup, including the 2 EL84s in push pull which I had never encountered in any of the domestic radio sets I restored before.

I was the only bidder. I didn't know whether this would turn out it be a Ferrari or a Fiat, and there is limited information about this set online, and none on this Forum

First impressions
The radio was Delivered by Parcelforce a few days later. True to their name, Pacelforce had applied excessive force to the parcel. It arrived with a smashed dial, all the knobs had been knocked off, and some elements of the chassis behind the dial were bent by the force of impact (see picture). The case was scuffed, but not badly so. One of the knobs was missing a bright. It was also much larger than I expected. The speaker was huge.

The seller was great and gave me a partial refund. I wan't convinced that I had the required skills to fix this set, but Jerry encouraged me to try and I'm glad I did.

Electrically all the valves were, surprisingly, in one piece. Underneath it was built like a tank, with German Philips and Siemens parts. All non electrolytic capacitors were rated at either 1500V or 3000V - maybe they used the same stock for TV sets? There was evidence of an old leak from one of the large electrolytic capacitors (see pic) but otherwise everything looked reasonably fine.

Electrical restoration
Feeling rather intimidated by the fact that I needed to create a new dial, I started with the electrical restoration first. I replaced the electrolytic capacitors and the 2 grid coupling capacitors (one for each of the EL84s) and after some basic checks prepared for first switch on using the limiter.

...and it was dead.

It came to life on the gram input though, which was encouraging. Taking out my DMM I proceeded to check some voltages, focusing on the IF and RF stage. This quickly revealed the fault; there was no anode voltage on V2, due to an open circuit resistor R9. This was replaced and the set came to life. The magic eye (EM80) was dim, as expected, but responsive and the set worked on both SW and MW. The set has no LW band.

Interestingly, it had a couple of "continental" electrical quirks I had never seen before. The first was the use of the mains wiring as an aerial - which I promptly disconnected for safety. The second was the "motorino" sockets, which were directly linked to the mains and are meant to provide power to a record player. These were also promptly disconnected. Thanks to the guys on the forum who helped me work this out. The final was an 5 setting waveband style "tone control" instead of the usual potentiometer. Oh, and yes, 4mm banana plug sockets instead of the usual 3mm wander plug sockets

In any case, a thorough recapping (except for one capacitor in the tone control settings, which I cannot reach) had the radio working well and the voltages were spot on. The fixed setting tone control gave a surprising wide range of tones, broader than anything I've come across before.

Finishing electrical touches included cleaning the vanes of the crackly variable capacitor using paper strips from an old Christmas card, and the application of Servisol to a noisy volume control.

Cosmetic restoration
The case, which was scuffed, responded to retouching with a naphta stain and a polish with burnishing cream, which brought out a nice shine. The speaker paint was flaking badly, so a repainted it with grey primer. The front plastic grille was loose and was re-attached with epoxy.

This left me with the 2 issues, the dial and the missing bright.

Remaking the "bright"

After various attempts with this brass sheets, which were unsatisfactory, this was refashioned using a self cover button used in upholstery. It was actually a suggestion from the wife. They were the correct size, but they are convex instead of concave - nothing a bit of downward pressure couldn't solve.The second problem was that they are rather matt, and also the wrong colour. A very thin application of Goldfinger paste gave it the right colour. A coating of varnish gave it a bit of shine. The end result is very good, and it is actually indistinguishable from the original.

Remaking the dial
I initially considered doing a waterslide transfer but later abandoned the idea as I felt it would be too transparent when the dial was lit up. The other problem was the dial itself. Mine was badly damaged, so a scan and countless hours of "cloning" in photoshop didn't yield a result I was satisfied with.

Noting that a dial scan was uploaded on radiomuseum, I managed to track down the original uploader through his Ham radio handle, who thankfully sent me the high quality radio dial recreation he used for his restoration. It was perfect! I printed this on photo paper, cut out the windows carefully with a scalpel and sandwiched this between 2 carefully cut pieces of perspex (fret saw to avoid chips).

Conclusion
This restoration was hard work, mainly because I had never done a dial before, and I wasn't sure that I had the skills to pull it off.
I'm glad I restored this phonola though, it sounds great, with good volume and a broad range of tones. The dial and the new "bright" look excellent and I'm pleased with how it turned out.

Here is a video of it playing through the gram input.

https://youtu.be/V3BsGaSAHuA

Gabriel
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Last edited by Gabe001; 7th Feb 2021 at 3:01 pm.
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Old 7th Feb 2021, 4:56 pm   #2
Kentode
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Default Re: Phonola 639 - restoration of an Italian classic

That's handsome! Well done Gabriel, it must be heartbreaking to open a parcel of broken bits, but you've done a sterling job.
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Old 7th Feb 2021, 5:26 pm   #3
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Default Re: Phonola 639 - restoration of an Italian classic

Bravo - great looking set ... and restoration!
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Old 7th Feb 2021, 5:33 pm   #4
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Default Re: Phonola 639 - restoration of an Italian classic

Very stylish, very classy.

David
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Old 8th Feb 2021, 10:06 am   #5
vinrads
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Default Re: Phonola 639 - restoration of an Italian classic

Wow! That looks fantastic, especially the new dial, I suppose it could have been worse and had the front grille broken, by the looks of the packing in the picture it wasn't packed very well. Mick.
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Old 8th Feb 2021, 11:24 am   #6
Gabe001
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Default Re: Phonola 639 - restoration of an Italian classic

It could have been packed better, although the impact did break the glass, bend the tuning needle and dent the underlying metal sheet so I think they played football with it!

Thank you everyone very much for your kind comments.
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Old 8th Feb 2021, 4:25 pm   #7
cathoderay57
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Default Re: Phonola 639 - restoration of an Italian classic

Well done Gabriel, an impressive result that is well worth the effort! Jerry
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Old 9th Feb 2021, 10:15 am   #8
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Default Re: Phonola 639 - restoration of an Italian classic

Very well done. I was going to say how much more stylish continental radios are compared with many British offerings of the same period but I suppose that, being Italian, it would be!
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Old 9th Feb 2021, 6:05 pm   #9
David G4EBT
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Default Re: Phonola 639 - restoration of an Italian classic

Really well done Gabriel!

A very attractive radio which sounds great too.

You must have been highly chuffed to have been the only bidder and to 'win' the auction, but really crestfallen when you unpacked the radio and saw the damage done, which at first sight probably looked beyond redemption. The dial is such a focal part of the radio and you've done a really top class job of reproducing it.

Success stories are always uplifting and inspiring to read, and this one is up there with the best!
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