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Old 12th May 2020, 3:29 pm   #1
vinrads
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Default Columbia radiogram restoration finish

I bought this from a friend in 2002. now it is finally finished .
it is a battery radio and a windup record player from the 1930's , the speaker grill was damaged part of it missing ,using the good part I made a template and constructed a new bit it's the curly bit at the bottom , the cabinet was stripped and given a few coats of patina, all the valves were ok replaced the paper capacitors and a few resistors ,got the radio working ,had a new dial made ,lost it for a while but found it eventually , the arm was missing on the deck , as luck would have it I had one , this I fitted with a X5H cartridge , I don't like to see shavings coming off my 78's , to get the tracking weight correct a spring was fitted at the rear of the arm , fun was had with the volume control as this only work's on the deck , eventually got it right , sounds pretty good ,from the push pull out put stage . Mick

PS the turntable is wrong , I have the correct one somewhere . Oh the motor was stripped and cleaned removing all the old grease yuk !
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Last edited by vinrads; 12th May 2020 at 3:53 pm.
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Old 13th May 2020, 8:13 am   #2
unitaudio
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Default Re: Columbia radiogram restoration finish

You'd never know the speaker grille had ever been damaged! Superb job.

Regards,
Paul
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Old 13th May 2020, 12:33 pm   #3
Nickthedentist
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Default Re: Columbia radiogram restoration finish

What a beautiful thing, and great work.
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Old 13th May 2020, 1:06 pm   #4
Whaam68
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Default Re: Columbia radiogram restoration finish

Beautiful job.....looks stunning!
Mike
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Old 14th May 2020, 4:03 pm   #5
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Default Re: Columbia radiogram restoration finish

Brilliant job Mick, it's great when you use many different skills, and then see them all come together.
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Old 14th May 2020, 5:53 pm   #6
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Default Re: Columbia radiogram restoration finish

Nice looking gram due to your hard work! Pre war grams are quite rare these days. They are great fun. John.
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Old 13th Jul 2020, 7:48 pm   #7
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Default Re: Columbia radiogram restoration finish

I have just come across this thread. The 'gram looks really good. How did you manage to fit a modern cartridge into the arm?
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Old 14th Jul 2020, 9:19 am   #8
vinrads
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Default Re: Columbia radiogram restoration finish

Hi Paul it was easy ,having removed the old pickup ,I screwed a small piece of ply to the arm using the holes left by the old pickup, then screwed the bracket to the ply, the ply has to be the correct thickness for the new cartridge, a spring was fitted to the rear of the arm a trial and error thing to get the correct tracking weight. Mick.
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Old 14th Jul 2020, 9:38 am   #9
PaulR
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Default Re: Columbia radiogram restoration finish

Thank you Mick. I was thinking about something similar for the pickup on my McMichael 365 but the Garrard arm and head is the sort where the arm itself doesn't pull up and you turn over the head itself to change the needle. There isn't much scope for springs on that
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