Majestic 120 restoration
 

Here's a set I picked up at the ETF 2022 fall swap meet.
It's a seldom seem Majestic 210 I'm, guessing from 1949.

This cabinet style has a leatherette wrapped cabinet with bakelite front panel.
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Lots of unusual features. For example, the AC interlock is at the top of the back. The masonite back is well designed to lock into the base with two pins and secure with screws at the top.
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Doggie photo bomb!
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That's better.
I believe the flyback is under the metal box on the right. It appeared to be lacking a horizontal output tube until I realized it used an octal 6AV5 beam power tube to drive the flyback.
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The little support arm on the anode lead is a nice touch. It will prevent the lead from shorting to the chassis if it comes loose.
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At least one original Majestic tube remains.
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Oh no! An Ellenbagen Re-Fractor :sigh:
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One of the deadest CRTs I've encountered. Aggressive rejuvination got emissions to about 3 ticks above 0 on my CR-70. Oh well, I have a spare 12LP4 I can use.
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Apparently the 6AV5 was designed as a horizontal output. Go figure…

Majestic must have liked that 6AV5 horizontal output tube as my 1955 21-inch model uses one. On further inspection of your pictures, it looks like the chassis and tube layout is very similar to my later Majestic!

Does the vertical use the 6C4 and 6BL7 in that right and corner?

--
Matt Davala

Hallicrafters also had a model with a 16GP4 that used the 6AV5 as the Horizontal Output tube.

6C4 and I think 6K6 or 6V6.

Spent a little time tonight examining the front more closely. I've been hoping the dull bakelite will clean up.
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Yes, it's in fantastic condition under the crud! No cracks or chips.
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I’ve also seen 6L6s used as H outputs, and one weird set had a quad of 50B5s

I don’t know the motivation…

What was the brand of that weird set with the 50B5s. Curious minds want to know.

The 6L6 is just a 6BG6 with the plate lead out the bottom, and the 6BG6 is just an octal 807....Granted the voltages they could take before arcing over at the base get better the more 807 ish the tube version gets so hams prefer the 807s.

The front is only held on by four screws and easy to remove. Amazed that there are no cracks, scratches or chips!

Don't think the CRT face has ever been cleaned.
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The safety glass is held on with those damn Tinnerman push on nuts
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I think the escutcheons are solid brass. If so, it will be easy to polish off the corrosion.
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That's as far as I got last night.
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It was a Stewart-Warner set, used in two models! A trio of them.
One 10" model used all kinds of 150ma radio tubes and was designed to work on 120 volts, AC or DC. :scratch2:

The 6BG6 is closer to an 807. So early GE and Dumont sets used an 807 as a horizontal output!

You're right. I punched in the wrong number. I ought to remember it better...I remember as a teen back when I lived in Florida I had a few tubes I needed at a FAWG swapmeet then I bought a restored 4 band Silvertone console with wire recorder, but no tubes (and it uses a TON). I hit up ESRC1 since the meet was in their parking lot and the total came out to some 3 figure sum...When I got home and started populating tubes I found the 6B6 I needed for some set was replaced with an incompatible 6BG6 for something like 4x the cost...I wasn't amused but let it slide and made a note to check that they pulled what was on my list properly...

If it was a 6B6, it could be replaced by a 6Q7.

Back then teenage me only had 7 and 9 pin Minature tubes....most of my stock is still mineatures but I've got a caddy or 2 worth of octals and about a caddy's worth of fat pins.

I really need to sort my stuff better. Roughly half my mineatures are unboxed used pulls and I often give up and buy new when the boxed and labeled stuff isn't what I need or a listed sub in one of my books.

Here's the schematic for anyone interested. Found this in Riders vol 6, and more in vol 7. Also covered in Sams 127-7, but I don't have a copy.

Looks like a pretty conventional design to me with 3 IF stages.
They did economize a little with the use of a germanium detector diode. Also, one of the earliest sets to use a 6AV5 hor. output tube which came out in 1949. Notable because it does not have a plate cap.

Note you can click for a larger version.
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Capless horizontal outputs didn't come back untill the 6p0's or so, especially with those cute Japanese sets that combined it with the damper.

I'm guessing a ceramic socket cost more than a plate cap and some wire...

The design includes an interesting DC restoration circuit, identical to the RCA 621TS and 721TS. I found that black level was reasonably well clamped by grid rectification on the final 12AU7 stage. The sync is positive going at the 12AU7 grid which will cause it to draw current, charging the 0.05uF coupling capacitor to peak sync level. This will bias the 12AU7 with the sync tip close to ground. The plate of the 12AU7 is DC coupled to the CRT grid.

When I was restoring my 721TS I was surprised how well it seemed to work. Has anyone seen reference to this clever design?

It's not ceramic - looks to be the same plastic as the other octal sockets.

The HO and the damper tube sockets could be Steatite or Mica-filled. A slightly different color!

I pulled the chassis last night and it appears it has never been serviced. I was hoping this was the case as all six chassis mounting screws were present and matched. Seems a few go missing whenever a set is serviced ;)

The cabinet is a bit crude. Just a lightweight plywood box. A bit odd that they used perforated masonite for the bottom. I'm not surprised it is damaged.

The chassis is sealed on the bottom with a metal pan. Makes the perforated masonite seem all the stranger.

The construction is a bit different than what I'm used to seeing. Many of the components are mounted directly on tube sockets rather than terminal strips.
Electrolytic cans are mounted horizontally up front by the controls. The flyback is right out in the open.
Overall, the underside it is in outstanding condition. No doubt due to the metal pan sealing it off.

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The HO socket in the middle of the trio is different, but the damper to the right is the same as the others.

Here's a look "under the hood" at the 1X2 HV rectifier tube.
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Nice, unmolested looking. Bob, you have your work cut out for you!

A specimen so nice that if it weren't for the white bumblebee caps and the micamold papers (that I know these use from my old 20" majestic) it would almost be worthy of a restuff.

Yes, that is rather clever. Here is how it is described in the service info.
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Time for a long overdue update.
I tried a slow, variac power up and was able to get a bit of a raster plus a horrible hum out of the speaker.

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The main filter cap was getting warm so I gave up on trying to reform and tacked in some replacement electrolytics for that can.

The side panel of the chassis come off allowing easy access. The chassis is quite well made for an off-brand.

Majestic was going through a bankruptcy around when this set was made. Wilcox-Gay bought up their assets so they may be responsible for the design.
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Progress!
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Replaced more a bunch of paper caps with little improvement. Finally, found a way out of spec resistor in the vertical hold circuit and got a lock.
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Replacing the other electrolytic mostly fixed up that horizontal ringing.

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I tested the caps afterwards and every section has very high leakage. Considering how baked the CRT is, I expect this is a high hour set.
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Amazingly, I was able to boost emissions using 'Manual Restore 2' on a CR70. Enough that I was able to remove the booster and still have a good image.
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Some interesting discoveries during the project.
This hunk of solder was wrapper around the burned out 1/4 Amp fuse.
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The original Majestic 6AV5 horizontal output tube is on the left.
A newer RCA 6AV5A is on the right.
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It really cooks!
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The 12LP4 CRT is stamped Stewart Warner on the dag coating. I don't know if it is the original or if there was any connection between the companies.
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The ion trap magnet is an interesting clip-on design.
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A few of the original tubes are still good like this tiny 1X2 HV rectifier.
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Finally, detailing. Most of that corrosion on the top of the chassis cleaned up easy with CLR.
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A little Simichrome of the tuner tube shields. What a difference!
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More of the same on the other side.
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Had to remove the CRT to really get in there.
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Now circling back to the electrolytics. I picked up some "adapt-a-cap" boards to try.
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I gotta say I'm really digging it.
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Out with this temporary mess
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Very well made boards. All the holes lined up perfectly and the little square, triangle, ect. symbols match up.
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One down, one to go.
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Here's a look with the opposite side of the chassis removed. I replaced the AC line caps, and made final adjustments with a test pattern generator. I'm calling the electrical portion of the project done.

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Now on to the cabinet.
The leatherette on top is quite dirty. Gojo did a great job cleaning it up.
I used some isopropyl alcohol on some paint splatters. A sharp blade helped loosen up some stubborn areas.
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That was follow up by some Howards Restor-a-finish Mahogany to put some color back in. Finally, Howards Feed'n Wax.
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Although I was able to improve the CRT emissions with rejuvination the CRT is really on its last legs. Also the dag is flaking off badly.

So, I decided to install this rebuilt, good 12LP4 I picked up this at last year's ETF convention.

Curious that it states it is a single ion trap, but works best with the dual magnet that came with the set. When using a single magnet, it had to either be all the way back against the base or up against the focus coil.

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That's better. It's also tinted glass so glare is reduced a bit. Last thing I need to clean some gunk off the face.
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Here are some shots of the TV all back together. I had trouble getting a good photo due to the shiny bakelite.

I intend to experiment with tinting the brass. Possibly with toner lacquer (or stain + lacquer) to both darken and protect it. I think that's what was on them originally.
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Beautiful restoration. I’ve had disappointing results with metallic paints restoring plated parts. The only paint I’ve used with a good outcome is a Krylon stainless steel paint that actually has steel powder in it. I’ve used it on chassis parts and it works well. I’m seriously thinking of putting together a plating apparatus. You can do it on the cheap by getting a secondhand power supply and some thick wire stock. I’d love to nickel and brass plate some of the trim parts on my radios and TVs. Should give a better outcome than paint. There are some amazing powder coating paint colors for a metallic finish but I’ll try the more economical process first. Your tv is simply beautiful.

Luckily these are solid brass. However it has some sort of coating on them to tone down the brightness and prevent tarnishing. That's what I'd like to replicate

Cant resist!! i know that scene!

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Then a toned nitrocellulose lacquer should do the job. I built a cherry china hutch for our dining room and I sealed the brass with clear nitro lacquer and they are as bright and as tarnish free as the day I installed them 20 years ago. The tinted lacquer will add the toned look u want and also stop the brass under it from darkening your desired result further. I’ve used JE Moser dyes to tint my woodworking finishes and they are available as water, alcohol and oil soluble powders.

I've done similar with toner lacquer meant for wood on bright brass to age it and prevent re-tarnishing...I also used blond toner lacquer on a Motorola logo for a TS-18 that had lost most of its brass plating and was some kind of pewter looking base metal underneath...It looks like mint bright brass with the blond toner lacquer.