Another 621

[miniman82]

Just rescued this one from CT, with the kind assistance of my good friend Bruce Von Kurt out of Long Island. Guess the blonde will have a companion, only paid $100 for it.

[decojoe67]

Nice score! If the CRT is good you paid less than it's worth alone. Looks about as nice as they come and should be an easy resto. Taking everything into to consideration, it's easily the top vintage TV of all time. A Vassos classic. Enjoy!

[Electronic M]

Wow, can't believe you scored that for a c-note?

Wish I could find one that nice half that cheap.

[M3-SRT8]

Don't you love it?

Mine. Before:







And After:

[DavGoodlin]

Great find Nick. There can never be too many 621's. You can only go straight up with a "concours restoration" like M3 did in the picture above.

[Samuel1981]

There is one on eBay right now in sub-par shape. It's tempting. Can anyone speak to the different screen bezel?

[Eric H]

Originally Posted by Samuel1981

There is one on eBay right now in sub-par shape. It's tempting. Can anyone speak to the different screen bezel?

I've been watching that one too, it's a short drive from me and if I didn't already have one I'd probably bid on it.

I'm pretty sure the bezel is someones home made hack to get a larger viewing area, though it looks like a nice job.

The set is in pretty sad shape, it's also cobbled together from a Blonde knobs and bezel and a Mahogany or Walnut cabinet.

It doesn't look water damaged though and the CRT has some life in it, and with a cabinet like that you can feel free to "go to town" and do a full on restoration without feeling guilty about stripping a marginal original finish

[M3-SRT8]

Originally Posted by Samuel1981

There is one on eBay right now in sub-par shape. It's tempting. Can anyone speak to the different screen bezel?

Yup. I noticed that. Looks homemade.

[decojoe67]

Originally Posted by Samuel1981

There is one on eBay right now in sub-par shape. It's tempting. Can anyone speak to the different screen bezel?

Through the years I've noticed what appears to aftermarket masks that make a "double-D" out of the old rectangular masks of '46-'48. They just look too cleanly done to be home-brews. Maybe even some repair shops offered this customization (?)

[M3-SRT8]

Originally Posted by decojoe67

Through the years I've noticed what appears to aftermarket masks that make a "double-D" out of the old rectangular masks of '46-'48. They just look too cleanly done to be home-brews. Maybe even some repair shops offered this customization (?)

Yeah, but I don't get the advantage. Don't you lose screen area in the corners with a double D mask? It's not like you're going to have focus problems on a 7" CRT.

[M3-SRT8]

OK. Say, you have a GE 800 Series "Locomotive" or a 12" Andrea TVK-12, which both came in square or Double D masks. Which came first? The square or the Double D model?

[M3-SRT8]

Oh, I take it back. The Double D gives you more square inches of viewing area.

[earlyfilm]

Originally Posted by Samuel1981

There is one on eBay right now in sub-par shape. It's tempting. Can anyone speak to the different screen bezel?

Samuel,

At first glance, I thought the current eBay set was a conversion to 10 inch but looking more carefully, and after some perspective measurements, I think that someone just made a double "D" out of a normal 7" KCS 21 set.

That mask looks like it was cut from a single piece of wood, so they probably ruined the original in their first attempt. (If you ever tried to use a router on something like this, you will know why.) You also can see a new joint in the side of the cover. Frankly the conversion would have looked better had they just blackened the mask.

Another thing noticed, is those knobs look like they belong to a "blonde" (RCA called it "Toasted Mahogany") set or they were spray painted.

I've never seen an original RCA knob of that era discolor like that.

James.

[decojoe67]

Originally Posted by earlyfilm

Samuel,

At first glance, I thought the current eBay set was a conversion to 10 inch but looking more carefully, and after some perspective measurements, I think that someone just made a double "D" out of a normal 7" KCS 21 set.

That mask looks like it was cut from a single piece of wood, so they probably ruined the original in their first attempt. (If you ever tried to use a router on something like this, you will know why.) You also can see a new joint in the side of the cover. Frankly the conversion would have looked better had they just blackened the mask.

Another thing noticed, is those knobs look like they belong to a "blonde" (RCA called it "Toasted Mahogany") set or they were spray painted.

I've never seen an original RCA knob of that era discolor like that.

James.

Yes, those knobs are from a "toasted mahogany" 621. The funny thing is I've never seen a restored blonde model with these proper painted knobs! They usually use typical dark knobs which look terrible against the light finish.
I still believe there was an after market service to make these early TV masks "double-D" style. I've seen them done very well. An example is the RCA 8TS30 which looks factory, but is not. I can't picture owners doing this themselves:
http://www.radiomuseum.org/images/ra...j_1_407192.jpg