Marconi Radiogram Refurbished

[slidertogrid]

Hi, I bought this Marconi radiogram last year from the original owners, an old couple in their 80s,who had owned it for 50 years. it came with a lovely story of how they saved money each week in a shoe box to buy it as they didn't believe in H.P.
It saw a long service and was eventually retired in the 1990s when the grandchildren had grown up and moved on to CDs. it then was put in an unheated outhouse for around 10 years.
I removed the chassis and autochanger from the cabinet and vacuumed the inside, I cleaned the chassis, replaced the drive cord spring, cleaned the controls and valve holders, cleaned the valve pins and replaced the wax caps. The Plessey oil filled caps all checked ok as did the electrolytics, so after replacing the dial bulbs, the mains lead and gram motor supply cable with 3 core cable (so the deck can be earthed) I powered the set up.
Despite the output valve and rectifier looking well used and heat stained the warmup time seemed normal and the set worked well with plenty of undistorted volume.
These pictures show the radiogram as bought, the (dirty) autochanger and chassis as removed, and the chassis recapped cleaned and working.
Still awake?
The autochanger was stripped cleaned and lubricated the only problems were the speed selector being seized solid and the cartridge having no output, this was replaced with a later type I had to hand.
The grilles and speaker were then removed, more dust! I resprayed the grilles re stuck the anti rattle felt and put the whole lot back together.
I gave the cabinet a clean, oil and polish and left it at that, a few wear marks and battle scars are all part of its history.
Rich.

[Nickthedentist]

Nice one Rich!

I like to see these unloved things saved.

Have you told the former owners what you've done? I think they'd be delighted.

Nick.

[slidertogrid]

The radiogram is to go to a friend who lives in central London near Soho. AM reception is not very good with lots of background "mush" over the whole band, he blames this on the neon signs, (his flat is above a pub), so I hope you will excuse the modification shown in the last photo, I have installed a Sansui Fm tuner and a changeover switch for gram/FM. This is easily reverseable and means at least he can use the radio when he is not playing 78s.
The sound is very good with plenty of volume and good clear Bass, I am delivering it next weekend so I have a week to play... sorry a week to "test" it.
hope you like it !
Rich.

[slidertogrid]

Hi Nick,
Thanks, I will send the original owners a set of photos with a letter as they were keen to see it go to a good home, one of the family had suggested they strip it out and use it as a cocktail cabinet, these projects never seem to get past the strip it out stage and then it ends up on the tip!
My mate will look after it and cherish it he is under instructions that it is not to go anywhere other than back to me if he does ever tire of it
It was very much a refurb with parts I had to hand bit of a mixture of caps but it works well enough!
Rich.

[Tazman1966]

That's a nice resto, Rich. Well done. I hope the new owners love it as much as the couple that had it for years.

Cheers,

[Steve_P]

Nice job. Well done! Are radiograms starting to move at last I wonder?

Cheers,

Steve P.

[slidertogrid]

Hi Just got back from delivering the radiogram to its new home in Soho, it was very busy, I had forgot it was Chinese new year we hauled it up six flights of fire escape and after putting some records on settled down for a well earned (did I mention my mate's flat is above a pub which he runs? )
He is delighted with his present it sound great on 78s and even picks up some stations on MW during daylight hours ! The FM "conversion" works well and there is no need to adjust the volume between FM and gram, by luck the output of the tuner must be near the same level as the output from the cartridge. ?
Steve I don't think much has changed as far as radiograms go this one was on e bay twice the first time the start price was £10 and it went unsold, I resisted a bid as I have enough already, a week later it was relisted at 99p. My friend from London was here for a few days and I mentioned what a shame it was, and that (in my opinion) if it did not sell a second time it would probably go to the tip. so we agreed to place a £10 bid and see what happened, if we got out bid we would let it go at least it had been bought and saved. You guessed it ! we won it for 99p! no one else bid!
Just as an aside I paid the owners £10 as that was what we were prepared to go up to and it seemed a cheek to give them 99p as it cost more than that to put it on e bay!
The owners were just glad it was going to a good home as they were sure the family would just dump it when they eventually inherited the house.
What we need is something to stimulate the general publics interest in radiograms somehow make them "trendy" and the must have toy like juke boxes and the like.
If only Inspector Morse had owned a Radiogram as well as a MK2 Jag!
Iv rambled on enough.. Rich.

[Mike Phelan]

Very nice, Rich; it feels good that one of these nice pieces of furniture is not being scrapped.
We can only hope that what Steve says might be true ...

[JoshWard]

I somehow missed this thread, that's one lovely radiogram. I'm restoring a McMichael radiogram in a similar style, the sound quality of these radiograms always surprises me. I too bought mine from an elderly couple who were just going to dump it. Nothing like 78s on a big wooden radiogram, I certainly agree with that Inspector Morse comment .

[ben]

Great job Rich, with a satisfying end too - my fave type of story!
I particularly like the front access - lift up tops end up being a pain, as invariably you end up putting clutter on them and never use them `cos it`s too much hassle!