I am new to this board. I have always been fasinated with old tvs and electroic equipment. A friend gave me an old Curtis Mathis b/w tv. He said he got it in 1964. It is a small console about 20''. The chassis is a vertical type that mounts around the picture tube. The only # I could find was 15A253 on the chassis tag inside. It has the screw on legs so it can be used as a table model. Well it had been in his barn for years,filty as heck. I hooked it up and it seemed to have sound but picture tube would not lite up untill i turned it off and a narrow line with a dot in the center would show up for a second. The flyback may be bad. It has some cracks on it. Would this old TV be worth messing with or best going to the trash heap?
John.

The CM black and white TV's are pretty well made, I'd say worth a fix.
You probably have a problem in the video output circuit or brightness control because if you have a line appear as you shut it off you are getting some high voltage. The flyback is usually still OK even with some cracks to the coating.

Watch out though cause some of the CM tv's around this time use a HOT chassis (power line connected right to chassis).

I'll try and see if I can find the set in the sams photofacts at the shop tomorrow.

Welcome! The fix could be something simple; if you like it keep it & fix 'er up. You could have a lot of fun with this.

John,

Welcome to AK!

I have a '63 Curtis Mathes 23" B&W set in one of my entertainment centers. After replacing the capacitors, it has been a great player for 10 years now! I haven't done anything to it since the re-cap other than clean out the dust once or twice. Mine has a horizontal chassis mounted at the bottom and I love the way it's put together... extrememly easy to get to every component.

I tried punching the number you gave into the Sams index page... it did not bring anything up. It's possible that there might be another number in there. My set (chassis model 8E) had the number stamped in ink on the chassis. I recall it took me a while to find the number... they sometimes put them in the damndest places! :yes:

I looked at the chassis and found TV 16 and 57 stamped in different places. I also found one of the wire wound bars has fallen out of the tuner so the tuner will probably need replaced. The veneer is coming off the edges of the cabinet and part of it is broken and missing. It is a very basic tv nothing real out of the ordinary about it except its old and I like tube tvs. They are not real easy to find anymore since most have been trashed.
John.