I'm not really into phonographs, but I couldn't pass up this Sentinel phonograph and AM radio. The owner said it had been in the family since 1952.
It's a fairly good match for my Sentinel TV from 1951. The difference being that the TV is made from Korina (AKA Limba) wood while the phonograph is Limed Oak.

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The AM radio works fine. The phonograph can do 33, 45 and 78 RPM. It was playing when I picked it up and seemed to work OK.
Upon further inspection, the platter sticks sometimes, needs new felt and the tone arm doesn't return all the way to the right. Any suggestions ?
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The AM radio has a nice vernier tuning knob. I wonder if those decals have darkened over time ?
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I has the original back. The owner says it's never been removed, but I did find one RCA tube in the chassis. The rest are Sentinel branded. It has three nice speakers in there.
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Here's the tube chart. I wonder if that's a date in the corner ? If so, it's really from '54 not '52.
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Overall the only thing I'm not happy about is the speaker grille material. It's some sort of plastic mesh material. I like the white fuzzy cloth on the TV better.

That's a Webcor changer with an old Sonotone 2T/3T cartridge. I have a similar setup and installed an Astatic 89T and am very happy with it - and it doesn't track at 8 grams!

There are Sams for those changers all over eBay, and someone here may have it too. It probably needs all the old grease cleaned out, and perhaps a new idler wheel. The amp will be very easy to refresh. As far as the flocking goes, I can't answer that one - I'd probably salvage a mat from another table.

It has civil defense markings on the dial - maybe it is a '54/'55 model. Those little phonographs can sound quite good :)

Thanks for the info. What are the civil defense markings ?

It's actually a Webster changer. I'm not sure about the model #. I'll try to get a better picture.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4083/5011952897_c408bdd215_z.jpg

Webcor=Webster-Chicago.

LOL - Thanks. There's plenty of stuff listed under both names on eBay.

I love phonographs. That is a beauty. There is a thread here:
http://www.antiqueradios.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=102547&sid=fc90ef0c3904f688d119144dadb07db6
that gives instructions for electrostatic reflocking using the "final anode connection of a small tv set" for the high voltage.

Is that the same Webster that made wire recorders? I long for a nice console radio/turntable/wire recorder combo.

Thanks for the link. I have a few items that could use a re-flocking and plenty of TVs to tap into for the HV :D

Yes it's the same Webster. Check out this site devoted to them: http://www.webster-chicago.com/

I was checking out the West-Tech website. Perhaps it would be best if I sent my changer to an outfit like them for restoration :scratch2: They do re-flocking too.

I like these types of phonographs and radio/phonograph combinations, especially the type like what you have with the PP audio output stage and a power transformer driven amp.

It would certainly be more convenient to send the changer to west-tech for service, especially if you are not comfortable with servicing the mechanism yourself.

That thing should sound great once it's overhauled.

Yeah, I'll just have to save up for that.

I've heard that playing modern stereo LPs with their "V" groove is a really bad idea on a unit like this with is mono "U" groove needle. I suppose I should stick to older vinyl then.

Here's a better shot of the insides. I'm really not used to a spotless chassis - it's not even dusty :D
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It's definitely from 1955.
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Here's the chassis. The controls were very scratchy when I got it. A little DeOxIt took care of that. The radio is playing very nicely now without a recap. Even so, I will do one sometime soon.
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I see two bumblebee caps that you could probably take out and sell to the guitar amp crowd who like to install old leaky caps in their equipemnt; and, will sometimes pay good money for those old leaky caps. At any rate, I'd replace all of those tubular paper caps before you get serious about using this player.

And, you are correct in that it's not a good idea to play stereo records with one of these old mono cartridges, unless the record is already somewhat worn and you're not concerned about it's condition. You could upgrade the cartridge to a more modern stereo cartridge that's wired for mono. Like it is, it would be good for 78's (especially the post-WWII records), mono LP's, and mono 45's. Mono LP's were phased out around '68 and mono 45's held on until the early '70's.

I see two bumblebee caps that you could probably take out and sell to the guitar amp crowd who like to install old leaky caps in their equipemnt; and, will sometimes pay good money for those old leaky caps. At any rate, I'd replace all of those tubular paper caps before you get serious about using this player.



Sell them all!
http://cgi.ebay.com/Big-Lot-Used-Vintage-Paper-Wax-Capacitors-Tube-Radio-/290477606218?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43a1d0854a

ID-10-T-s!!

Cheers,

I've seen your YouTube videos and firmly believe you are more than capable of servicing that changer.

Sell them all!
http://cgi.ebay.com/Big-Lot-Used-Vintage-Paper-Wax-Capacitors-Tube-Radio-/290477606218?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43a1d0854a

ID-10-T-s!!

Cheers,

LOL I've been sitting on a gold mine!
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I've seen your YouTube videos and firmly believe you are more than capable of servicing that changer.

Yah, everyone's been telling me that. I guess I'd better go for it :)
My GE 802 only does 78s so I think I'd better pick some up.

Thanks for the info. What are the civil defense markings ?

Back when the cold war was still going, and we had an air-raid drill, we could tune to the civil-defense points on our AM dials and get information from our government.

This marking was still used on car radios up into the 1960's.

Can anyone else enlighten us more here?

Bruce

This link gives some information. Every radio when I was growing up had the little white triangles, and I remember lots of public service ads on radio, tv, and in print reminding us to tune to 640 or 1240 in the event of an attack.
Paul

Wikipedia has a good article on the CONELRAD system: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CONELRAD

LOL I forgot to add the link to my posting. But yeah, that is the link I meant to include.
Paul