Leaving tomorrow for north Texas to go visit a friend for several days. Along the way, I'm stopping in Dallas to drop off a 21FBP22 to be rebuilt at Magna-View where Fred H had his CRT's rebuilt a few months ago.

This rebuilt toob will go into my Curtis Mathes combo set. Although I was able to brighten it up a few months back by raising the heaters in it, it has slowly faded back to the dark picture it had before. The emissions on the green gun show to be very poor, and the blue and red aren't much better. A friend had mentioned to me that it is likely that this CRT has been shocked at some time in the past.

Hi Charlie,
I've tired 2 of my rebuilds and they work great. You should come back with an excellent tube. Email me when you get back to East Texas.
Fred

Just got off the phone with the folks in Dallas about the 21FBP. Turns out this attempt failed. Everything was going along fine until the stage of evacuating it. The guy heard the pump making a funny noise, and he knew it was due to a leak. The toob developed a crack in the area where the funnel and face come together.

I have another I am going to bring up there in a couple of days. Hopefully they will have better luck with this one.

Charlie,

My sincerest condolances on your loss of a loved one. Better luck with the next one. BTW, what do these folks charge to re-gun one of these roundies?

It's $165 for the job. Seems a lot better than taking a chance on one from ebay! Well, of course if the rebuild is successful. Seems that someone could get a tube on ebay... pay 200 dollars for it, and then still need to rebuilt it.

Just pulled two more weak roundies out of donor sets I had in the garage. Decided to take two to Dallas in case of another unfortunate failure. Or, I would get back two successful rebuilds.

One of the sets looked like it had some dirt or grime on the safety glass. Turns out, there were several chips on the face of the CRT glass. This tube is marked as an FJP, so it appears that it probably had cataracts, and someone removed the bonded glass and reinstalled the tube with an FBP safety glass. Some of the chips are 1/2 inch in diameter. There are quite a few of them. Someone must have been really rough on this tube when they changed the glass. I'm sure this is a big-time safety hazard, so I'll leave it behind when I go to Dallas.

The chips are very visible. I'm sure they would be even more visible if the tube was operating.

Just found out today that my FJP rebuild was a success with great results and is ready for pick-up! Just in time, too. Looks like i am returning to the ship this coming Monday. I'll probably leave tomorrow to go get it.

I asked those guys to save me the FJP safely glass. I won't need it, so any of you guys are welcomed to it. Being that I am about to return to the ship, I probably won't have time to get it boxed up to ship. Would have to wait till Dec. 1st when I return home.

Just picked up my CRT. Wow she looks great! So fresh and so clean! I travel back home tomorrow. Hopefully I will get a chance to install it before leaving for the ship.

Charlie,

Was this an FJP22 and they removed the safety plate and left it off making it now an FBP22? If so I don't think you should run it in the Curtiss Mathes without a safety plate. I wouldn't.

Good going! I'm glad someone is still rebuilding these tubes.

Rob,

Yes, this rebuild was an FJP, and now is a FBP (which is what the Curtis Mathes' original tube is). So i will still be using the seperate safety glass that is currently in the set. It's somewhat dark looking with the set off, and IMO looks a little more attractive than some of the lighter ones... especially better looking than those olive-green Zeniths!

The CM still has it's original FBP in it now. After i get them swapped out, I'll take the old one in for rebuild.

I have a CTC15 Beauchamp that will likely get the next rebuild... once I get around to workin on that set.

Charlie,

I've got the same CM but mine is not as wide! I am missing only the knobs. As I recall it's clean chassis looks RCA all the way.

Yes, I believe it's a ctc15.

The speaker layout in mine is kinda neat. The stereo has 8 inch speakers behind the side panel wicker covers, and the tweeter for the right channel is below the TV's volume knob where your TV speaker is located. The left channel tweeter is on the left front. The TV's single speaker is just to the left of the tV screen behind the wicker.

When watching TV, i use the stereo amp to get sound from 4 speakers.

Hey charlie,

Can you give me some info on magnaview? Id like to send them 2 of mine to get rebuilt. 2 of my fbp22s are toast. If they have shipping boxes for the 21" that would be great.
Thanks-doug

The number is 800 323 9278. Ask for Phil Frierson. Shipping could be a problem because he doesn't have boxes for roundies, and seems that he really hates taking a chance on shipping. You will have to discuss that with him. He says he is glad to try rebuilding the roundies for us, but can't really make any guarantees being these tubes are not something they rebuild on a regular basis. When I spoke to him last, he still had two gun assemblies in stock. He can get more if need be. Also, if you would like to have two rebuilt, you might consider sending him three duds in case of a failure.

Hi Doug,
I'm the one who got this started with Magnaview. I took 6 duds there in the Summer and got six good tubes back. One even had some air in it. The leak was by a pin and the new gun assy fixed that. UHaul has a box that will work for the 21 in round tubes. I cut a sq piece with a hole in the middle to hold the neck in place and put some foam in the bottom of the box. I only use Fed Ex Ground. I wouldn't trust OOPS... er, I mean UPS with a box of stainless steel ball bearings. Phil IS concerned about shipping. I drove mine up from Corpus Christi and then went back to pick them up. It's a six hour drive. Good luck with your tubes. And Charlie, let me know when you get home. Fred