An interesting Zenith Porthole TV on Ebay ... - Page 3 - Videokarma.org TV - Video

charokeeroad · #31 03-21-2012, 05:35 AM

Hi Eric, I thought it might go for more since it was open to national and international bidding. I was expecting something in the 300-350 range. Fortunately it went for under 200 so I was happy about that. In a day or two I'll post some good photos. Don't mind shareing my good fortune. The only thing I've done so far is check the CRT. It was very slow to come up but after about four hours on the meter it showed in the medium good range.

John

charokeeroad · #32 03-21-2012, 03:12 PM

Cabinet shots.. I'll pull the chassis this weekend.

http://s1184.photobucket.com/albums/z324/charokeeroad/

charokeeroad · #33 03-21-2012, 03:26 PM

a couple good choices for grill cloth. The Orly Ginger (2) comes closest in design an color but the ogee ribbon parline (3) or the tiper wheat (1) wouldn't be bad choices, original (4).

cwmoser · #34 03-21-2012, 03:54 PM

Those are pretty close matches. Where did you find them?

BTW, have you seen John M's near mint version of your TV:
http://videokarma.org/attachment.php...2&d=1301759672

Carl

charokeeroad · #35 03-21-2012, 06:29 PM

Carl,

John did a beautiful job on restoring that set. Hope mine comes out that well. All the pieces are there to make it happen. I think John's set has the original cloth or at least if he did replace it I haven't found the seller yet. I looked into having my grill cloth rewoven but couldn't get anyone to do it.

The ones I showed came from: http://www.onlinefabricstore.net/dec...d-supplies.htm I didn't look through all the 5,692 item they have shown.

Phil Nelson · #36 03-22-2012, 12:32 AM

I'm no audiophool, but I believe that speaker grille cloth needs a certain degree of "acoustic transparency," so if you're looking at drapery fabric, avoid anything that's too heavy or densely woven. All of the original grille cloths that I can recall were pretty light stuff.

Phil Nelson

***Eric H*** · #37 03-22-2012, 12:42 AM

If you have a Jo-Anns nearby go in and take a look at their Drapery & Upholstery fabric, some of it would make a decent grille cloth, the biggest obstacle is that the nicer stuff can get pretty pricey, $40-$60 per yard and sold only by the yard afaik.

cwmoser · #38 03-22-2012, 06:40 AM

For my "Cinderella" porthole restoration, I went to a local JoAnns Fabric store and found some upholstery cloth. I took the original cloth with me and found something very close in color. I found the back side of a piece looked closer to the original speaker cloth - so I exposed the back of the cloth rather than the front.

Here are my 2 portholes:

Neither of these are the original grill cloth.
The one on the left (Cinderella, 16") has the back side of a piece of upholstery cloth. The color of this cloth is very close to the color of the original cloth - that is the section that was not exposed to sunlight and faded. The one on the right is a redder color and has some gold sparkles in it. Not entirely pleased with the result, but I think it will do until I get the urge to look for something better.

My speaker cloths are not prominent like you need with your TV. A major part of the look for your TV is the grill cloth. But, I think you may have gotten really close with the samples you found.

Carl

charokeeroad · #39 03-22-2012, 11:24 AM

Carl, I thought those two sets had the original GC. They could certainly pass for original.

I searched a bit more and came up with a different option for my GC.
http://www.robertallendesign.com/contract/specials.aspx

I'll be darn lucky if they will make a small quantity but it's worth a try.
Answer: .. 1000 yards minimum. I did learn that the the pattern is called a Trianon
There are a couple of different websites that will try and locate a pattern for me so we'll see how that works. If they don't find it I think I have some good possible replacements.

John

charokeeroad · #40 03-22-2012, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil Nelson

I'm no audiophool, but I believe that speaker grille cloth needs a certain degree of "acoustic transparency," so if you're looking at drapery fabric, avoid anything that's too heavy or densely woven. All of the original grille cloths that I can recall were pretty light stuff.

Phil Nelson

No doubt about that. It's just a question of which takes priority looks or sound. Since any one set of mine doesn't get played that much I'd lean more towards the looks.

charokeeroad · #41 03-22-2012, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric H

If you have a Jo-Anns nearby go in and take a look at their Drapery & Upholstery fabric, some of it would make a decent grille cloth, the biggest obstacle is that the nicer stuff can get pretty pricey, $40-$60 per yard and sold only by the yard afaik.

And it just goes up from there.. I looked at some that were over $100 per yard.