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We're talking Holy Grail here...
Put your bib on & get ready to drool: http://cgi.ebay.com/HALLICRAFTERS-SX...item19b7579099
According to a ham forum I'm on, the owner has the reserve set at 10 grand. One sold not long ago for over 8...and this baby's as close to brand new as you'll find. I hope to find one at a garage sale some day for $10. |
That shore is purty ... but $10k? I'll have to stick with my $5 S-38
But all kidding aside. It is a very nice restoration. |
Those are nice, but I think I'll keep my $400 SX-73, & my $375 SX-62A...
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I got mine over a dozen years ago. Fine receiver, but honestly not the mystical, magical treasure that some folks make out. I can't imagine paying today's cult prices for one. I also have an SX-28 and SX-42, which cost almost nothing compared to this guy's reserve. If you blindfolded these bidders and sat them down in front of all three radios for a Pepsi Challenge, I wonder what the results would be. I have mixed feelings about this dude's scorched-earth re-manufacturing style of restoration, but perhaps that's another topic. Phil Nelson |
Exactly, Phil. I REALLY, REALLY doubt its any better than either one of my R-390As, the EK-07, the SX-73, or my "new" iron, a JRC NRD-545. My SX-73 is almost as rare as that set is, too. It was even more expensive than an SX-88 when they were new, $975 vs $595, & they were contemporaries. The SX-73 is, however, just about the UGLIEST "Uber-receiver" I've ever seen...It looks rather like the north end of a southbound jackass. That's alrite, tho. It ain't goin' anywhere...(grin)
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I'll stick with my $10 S-38, my $20 Zenith TO A-600, and my $40 DX-160.
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You know I like these old things to show some age. Not beat all to hell and back but well used.
i did an old wooden Airline table radio last year. I left the cabinet as is. Was still solid, just old and character. It was for my better half's son-in-law and I believe he felt the same way. To each their own though... |
i own an 88 that i have preserved for the last 30 years.
its on the deaf side and has a bit of hum. several times i have been tempted to restore it.but then its not original any more! i knew it was a rare bird when i got it and it has been well preserved. this is the one rig i would take the time to restuff caps on. i am sure opinions are all over the place as to what to do with it but as it sits it will not deteriorate any further. |
I think the appeal lies in the rarity rather than the performance...kinda like a CT-100. (Although I'll bet a well-setup CT-100 will beat the picture quality of a lot of modern sets) Even with about a tenth of the total production of a CT-100, a larger percentage of SX-88s have survived in one form or another...still not many around, though.
That being said...if I were a collector of mid-20th century industrial design rather than radios I think I'd want one in my hands. It is the essence of purposeful US industrial design. As an art object it may well be worth that kind of loot. (And I love my $25 RME-45!!) |
I honestly think I had an identical set back in about 1995. I bought it at garage sale for 3.00 It didn't work, it was missing some tubes.
I was young and dug around and found some tubes that fit. It came to life, but I didn't know anything about the set. I'm pretty sure that set, along with about 30-40 other various radios got taken to the dump when I moved away to college. I just looked at the picture again. I am about 99% sure that is the same set. I was about 15 and thought it looked like the cockpit gauges in an old airplane... I also remember the h logo in the middle. |
Weird...that was your 88th post, too!
Speaking of Holy Grails, drooling, etc...this is the one I craved as a kid: http://cgi.ebay.com/RARE-NATIONAL-NC...item35a46b640b I didn't know an SX-88 existed back then...all I had was the National catalog and dreams of an NC-400 on my desk. |
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Yeah, if you restore it too much it looks more like a reproduction than a restoration and where's the fun in that ? |
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Phil |
One of my first auction wins (personally attended, not online) was an SX-99 that I got for $17.50. For the kind of money he is asking, I could get a Greenlee chassis punch and add a few tube sockets and come up with the SX-99 for a fraction of what he is asking. (I have already made some modifications and more wouldn't hurt.)
But, he has his bidders and this market is pretty knowledgeable, so good luck to him. |
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John |
It is relisted with a BIN of $10K.
Phil |
I'd happily sell my R-389 for that, or my 1935 RCA AR-60 either one...The AR-60, there are like a dozen known examples of it. It was $495 in '35, when a new Ford V-8 could be had for $650... The R-389 is almost that rare, maybe 700 made 1954-55, there are couple hundred, maybe, left... Or the R-391, an Autotune version of an R-390. 1200 made early '50s, maybe 50% survival rate...SX-88s ain't the ONLY "THAT rare" sets... Even my EK-07, there were only 1000 or so made 1958-73 for the West German Army, there are likely only 3-4 dozen on this side of the pond...
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Not so fast with the "perhaps another topic" brush-off Phil and no offense intended but, what qualifies you to criticize someone else's restoration work when your own attempt at restoring an SX-88 involves replacing the easy to get to capacitors and passing on the hard ones? Your own words state that you hoped the capacitors which involved too much work to get to were still OK and IMO the miniature yellow Chinese polys would look more at home in a much smaller chassis. While your SX-88 is certainly good, still it does not compare with the one you are criticizing and you are supposing you are ready for a Pepsi Challenge with 50 year old capacitors in one IF stage, two RF stages and the mixer? http://kawi2strokes.com/forum/images...s/icon_eek.gif The receiver you are criticizing did sell for $10K. The eBay auction resulted in an off-site transaction afterwards where the seller adjusted his selling price to $10K plus shipping cost minus what the final value and PayPal fees would have been. Buyer mailed a cashiers check and the equipment was shipped successfully to Seattle. Two weeks later buyer sent a thank you message and was very pleased with his purchase. Is there a note of professional jealousy in your remarks above? Perhaps even a little envy over the $10K selling price? Or is it because this was the fourth SX-88 to sell at that level so far? Or is it the Internet pictures showing the quality of workmanship which requires 100s of hours to achieve. Below is a link to receiver test results for The Hallicrafters SX-88. Note that these results only apply when the receiver is fully restored electrically and properly aligned. http://www.w1vd.com/HallicraftersSX-88.html |
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10 Large is a lot of dough for most people who participate in this forum, so a bit of sarcasm is to be expected. Not all of us can cough that up on a whim. It's nice that someone out this way had that amount available, be it wages from Boeing, MS, BT, Powerball, Sonic the Hedgefund or National Bank of Daddy. Truly a Sport of Kings at that price. Alright, now for the sore spot. Much of the resto work on these threads show skill, ingenuity and pride. Phil's restorations in particular are something to behold. All his restos are meticulously documented on the website as well. If you're willing to post pix, I'll offer an honest opinion, tech-to-tech. I began soldering in '63, and in 2013 will still be putting flying 0402 parts down in a hurry to support a developer in a rush for results. QFN anyone? Lastly, I chide everyone here about buying foreign no-name parts, but many on here are on a budget, or haven't the burning desire to keep their restos true to bill-of-materials. I just keep that little stars and stripes thingie in my heart as I tell vendors to keep their offshore stuff where the sun don't shine as often as practical. |
I won't put down anyone who restores radios for nostalgia reasons. But I don't think an SX-88 is a great receiver. If you want to listen to short wave, there are much better ways to go. Yet there certainly is charm in playing with an old radio.
You can take any modern transceiver and it will outshine the SX-88 in every way except the joy of older stuff. My Kenwood transceivers have better sensitivity, selectivity, stability, calibration, and whatever else you want to measure. But the lovely dials and pilot lamps and big panels of the old stuff is worth a lot for sure. Well, maybe the audio power output and AM listening quality isn't as good but that's usually minor. I see the handwriting on the wall, that even AM radio will go digital and the old radios won't work on the BC band any more. That won't happen for a while, but sooner or later I do believe it will. And foreign broadcast seems to be much less than it was. I don't hear HCJB any more but maybe I am not listening right. |
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Joe Walsh (from The Eagles) bought one of these on eBay for $10,000 all the way back in 2003. I wonder what condition his was in?
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