1956 Bush VHF62 MW/LW/VHF 8 valve radio

[howard]

Hello again,

It didn't take a lot of work to overhaul this old Bush so I'll be brief.

I bought this from Julian a few weeks back in working order and in good cosmetic condition and it was totally original. It is a very nice piece of furniture and it's the only wooden cased valve set that I have. It was a touch insensitive on VHF and didn't play very loud, the magic eye didn't close properly and cosmetically it had just one scratch next to the 'U' on the front.

I fixed the scratch simply by dampening it to lift the exposed wood slightly and then when dried applied several coats of clear varnish over it - it's still visible but only just. I then polished up the case with Lord Sheraton's Pure Beewax Balsam.

I replaced all the wax and a couple of cracked Hunts capacitors with ones I acquired from the USA, all 630v and exact values ie: 0.002uF, 0.003uf, 0.004uf, 0.005uF etc. and then replaced some of the valves which all seemed a bit tired, the ECH81, ECC85, 2 x EF89s, EABC80, and the EZ80 (which was really knackered). I tried replacing the EL84 but that one was fine as was the EM81. There are still around 10 original Hunts capacitors in there but none were cracked and as the radio was now working so well I left them. When tuned into a station properly the magic eye now closes completely.

I'm very pleased how well this old Bush radio works now, it manages to pick up Classic FM which is the weakest VHF radio station where I am without an external aerial, and on MW/LW it picks up everything. It's not quite as sensitive as my later VHF90s but this one sounds a little nicer than those no doubt by virtue of its larger size. It can also play extremely loud comfortably and it doesn't hum either.

I will be having all the original valves tested and any which are still in good condition will be fitted into my next project, my similar bakelite cased VHF61.

Howard

[Neil Breward]

Hi - Glad you've had success with the VHF62. I'm very fond of this model myself - the first one I restored is still our regular domestic valvey (used every day) and four others are with friends, and also still working well. The only weak spot seems to be the waxies and the Hunts decoupling caps, which seem to go o/c rather than leakey. The one that decouples the discriminator is a real pain, as an o/c decoupler here makes alignment very difficult.

Enjoy!

Neil

[howard]

Hello Neil,

So you have restored five VHF62s, wow ! If they're in good cosmetic condition these sets are elegant pieces of furniture, as well as good radios to listen to.

As for the remaining Hunts capacitors, I'm never sure where to stop replacing them. Many here would simply replace the lot (which in fact I usually do) and I guess that would ensure the set's long term reliability, but then when I evaluated this radio after the worst of it's capacitors were replaced, I couldn't fault it

I'll be using this VHF62 for a while now and should it at any time start playing up then all the Hunts capacitors will have to go.

Howard

[ianj]

Yes, Howard, these really are nice, cute, well working sets--I use one on FM quite a lot, and find it too closes its magic eye completely on a decent signal--ianj

[Neil Purling]

Those little brown/black Hunts capacitors are endowed with such a poor reputation from forum members practical experiences. For long-term usage you would be better off replacing the remaining examples.

[howard]

Hello Neil,

Yup, we are in fact now doing that and checking the electrolytics as well to avoid any possible damage to those nice new Mullard valves. I'll report again when it's done. I doubt if it will work any better but may continue working longer.

Howard

[howard]

Hello again,

I've replaced all the Hunts capacitors now, I found 14 of them. It didn't make any difference whatsoever to the sound quality or performance of this set, but I guess I can relax now and not worry about when one of them is going to expire. There are a couple of electrolytics in there which I may have checked in due course.

Howard

[don2233]

You've done a nice job on the 62 howard.There is a rifle stock oil called"true" oil which you apply by hand, which i use on my rifles. it is perfect for repairing water marks etc,and it blends in perfectly with the original laquer,and leaves no brush marks as you rub it in by hand.PS if you know anybody who has a restored one for sale i would be greatful if you could let me know. cheers don.

[Tazman1966]

That's really lovely Howard. There's something really attractive about these and the VHF61 sets too.

Cheers,

[don2233]

I've recently bought a 61 and a 62,i took the chassis out of the 61 and polished and painted the cabinet,in the meantime i bought the 62 off e/bay,itook both sets over to richard boothd for complete overkaul and will be hopefuly collecting them both this week,there is a small chip out od the 62's cabinet,which i should be able to repair,but the gold pinstriping around the top edge is missing,does anyone know of anything tape wise that could effect a repair,Cheers Don.

[Leon Crampin]

I would agree with the comments regarding the Bush VHF61/2 - possibly the best made British table AM/FM radio ever. The extra IF stage really helps the FM performance, the build standard is up to Bush's finest and it has both a gram button (for when the 'phone rings) and an on/off switch separate from the volume control which saves wear.

When correctly aligned (mistake on discriminator transformer core locations on Trader sheet) the eye closes completely on a good FM signal and is therefore useless for tuning. I have fitted a 3:1 attenuator in the FM eye feed on both of my VHF61s.

The only real weak point on these sets is the Plessey switch wafers which track from high voltage contacts to various other points. If you ever get a mysterious crackle on FM which is hard to find, this is the problem. It usually tracks from HT to the feedback correction contacts which increase the FM feedback. There are enough spare contacts to work around this if you are good at lateral thinking and wiring.

It's a great pity they didn't fit a bigger 'speaker with a tweeter to this set, but then there's always the VHF64 - but it's a bit large.

Leon.

[don2233]

I found some gold lining tape from a car spares shop,full of dust it's that old but the colour match is perfect,it was just a little bit to wide,a scalpel and straight edge saw to this.i silk varnished the line and have oiled the cabinet,the 62 is now looking like a well looked after set and i'm looking forward to putting the chassis back where it belongs,i agree with you entirely leon,they are the most sensitive set i have and with a good speaker this i feel would have been a great improvement as my phillips and blaupunkt sound much better with much better mid range.

[don2233]

just a picture of my VHF 62 http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...3/DSC00703.jpg the pinstipinf on the cabinet came from a car spares shop,the chassis was overhauled by richard booth

[howard]

Originally Posted by don2233

just a picture of my VHF 62 http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...3/DSC00703.jpg the pinstipinf on the cabinet came from a car spares shop,the chassis was overhauled by richard booth

Hello Don,

I've fixed the link so folk can see your VHF62 below ....

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...3/DSC00703.jpg

That is super

I like these too, they are straightforward sets to restore, just the Hunts capacitors in them take a while to replace. Any way, I found another one at the NVCF for £18 so I bought it. It should be restored by the end of the week.

Howard

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...1&d=1210529622

[Patrick Dixon]

Ahh, so that's your secret. You start out with a set that looks pretty near perfect to begin with

[howard]

Originally Posted by Patrick Dixon

Ahh, so that's your secret. You start out with a set that looks pretty near perfect to begin with

This set is 52 years old, it probably hasn't been used for at least 30, it is covered in scratches including a nasty one on the front right hand side but it is overall in pretty good condition.

Not all my sets are acquired in this condition, take a look at some of my before and after pics!.

Howard

PS: Take a look at this one ....

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...8&d=1210531278

[Patrick Dixon]

I'm kidding - I'm just envious that you achieve so much and me so little!

[howard]

Hello again,

I've completed restoring the Bush VHF62 which I bought at the NVCF. This one started the day at £50 and I eventually walked off it with after lunch for £18. This was in good cosmetic condition when purchased, with just minor scratches here and there and a fresh graze on the front. Amazingly its original gold coachline was intact and perfect, first time I've seen one like that. The fabric on the speaker had shrunk leaving a gap along the bottom above the brass trim but that's common with this model, and the varnish along the sides where the base and side panels meet had cracked, again typical of these but hardly serious.

It worked well when I got it home, nothing really wrong with it. Looking at the chassis, it had had various brands of new valves fitted and its wax capacitors, audio coupling cap and its low voltage discriminator electrolytic capacitor had been replaced with small WIMA caps, but not necessarily of the correct capacitances. All the original Hunts capacitors were still in place and a couple of them were cracked.

As this was obviously going to turn out a nice cosmetically original set I replaced all the non-Mullard valves with NOS Mullards. I then replaced all the Hunts and WIMA caps with new North American metallized polyester film tubular axials of the exact capacitances and the discriminator electrolytic with a new modern 5 uF cap - the original had been replaced with a 10uF.
That took me two days to do those as there were 21 of them and it takes some time to remove old caps from Bush sets as the leads were wrapped round and round the tags.

Virtually all the marks on the case vanished after a coat of Topps Medium shade Scratch coat polish - the graze I dampened a few times to lift the surface of the wood a little and then gave it a couple of coats of polyurethane varnish before the Topps polish.

I took the speaker baffle board out, carefully removed the cloth and stuck it back on about 3/8 inch lower so that there would be no gap along the bottom. This fabric does not stretch at all but there is enough overlap at the top by the wooden case surround to move it downwards without a gap appearing at the top. I rubbed some coloured Liberon wax crayon into the gaps around the base which did a good job disguising the cracked varnish there.

These Bush VHF62s are very elegant wooden cased sets and sound better than the bakelite cased VHF61s which have the same chassis. This one is gorgeous and it works perfectly yet it's worth only a fraction of what I could sell for my mint VHF61 for

Howard

[don2233]

Hi howard,just out of interest,just how much would a very good overhauled 61 be worth,ATB Don.

[howard]

Hello Don,

I don't want stray off topic here so I'll suggest values for both the VHF62 and VHF61. I would have thought an excellent fully working wooden cased VHF62 would be worth around £60 - £80, and a mint original fully working bakelite cased VHF61 probably £120-£150 or even more. The best price I've seen for the latter on eBay last year was £110 and that set was in good (but not mint) condition and had been overhauled.

Howard