Frankenradio - Ware B-1 Chassis

[bandersen]

Here's my latest find. I could tell from the picture on craigslist something wasn't quite right, but it was close by so I took a trip.


It turned out to be a Ware B-1 chassis and I believe the matching speaker. However, the cabinet is clearly not original.
Too bad, the Ware B1 cathedral is one nice looking radio. Here are some pictures of one.
The veneer appears to be in decent shape underneath the scratches and carved initials.




There's a marble stuck in one unused control hole


Anyone recognize the cabinet ?


On the plus side, the set came with a complete matching set of majestic globe tubes 3x24, 27, 45 and 80. All test good and were installed on Dec 3rd, 1938.
Seems pretty late for someone to be messing with a TRF radio Aside from a small hole, the speaker looks OK.



So now what to do ? Keep it in this cabinet and get it working or part it out ?

[Reece]

That's an interesting cabinet. Wonder what the original radio in it was? Looks like a rectangular airplane dial and two knobs below: probably a lot of chassis would "fit."

I'm not sure what I would do with this radio right away. Fix the unused knob holes with veneer? Move the lonesome volume control over near the tuner? Wait for a cathedral cabinet? I think I'd put this on the shelf somewhere and let it haunt me for a while. Some good idea would pop up eventually.

[leadlike]

I doesn't seem like it would take much to make it "fit" properly-just mask over those holes where the controls on the old chassis were. I like the deco cabinet more-I would guess it may be a farm radio, due to that shelf inside-for a battery, maybe?

Edit: On second glance, it looks like they hacked up the old Ware cabinet to have the bezels match properly!

[bandersen]

Originally Posted by leadlike

I doesn't seem like it would take much to make it "fit" properly-just mask over those holes where the controls on the old chassis were. I like the deco cabinet more-I would guess it may be a farm radio, due to that shelf inside-for a battery, maybe?

Edit: On second glance, it looks like they hacked up the old Ware cabinet to have the bezels match properly!

I think it's a cool cabinet too and in pretty good shape. The joints seem to be strong and square.

They did appear to salvage as much as possible from the Ware. Possibly the speaker board and grill cloth as well as the area around the bezel and knob. The placement of the volume control is close to the original.

Here's a closer look at the chassis. I like the color coded tube sockets

[bandersen]

It just occurred to me to check under the cabinet for a label Here's what I found.

Perhaps someone had a spare Ware chassis and ordered this cabinet for it

[Reece]

I love a mystery. So this sample cabinet got shipped to Mr. Spruill who worked for Sears, I guess to approve the design for some set. Don't remember seeing a Silvertone with this cabinet. If someone has that Silvertone book, it might be in there. Maybe it got rejected. Spruill kept it or got rid of it and somebody adapted it to take the old Ware chassis. That's my guess.

[bandersen]

Originally Posted by Reece

I love a mystery. So this sample cabinet got shipped to Mr. Spruill who worked for Sears, I guess to approve the design for some set. Don't remember seeing a Silvertone with this cabinet. If someone has that Silvertone book, it might be in there. Maybe it got rejected. Spruill kept it or got rid of it and somebody adapted it to take the old Ware chassis. That's my guess.

Sounds reasonable to me

[bandersen]

I did a little exploratory surgery tonight. Here's what I found.

First, I had to disconnect the speaker. It had been spliced in and wrapped with old cloth electrical tape.
One of the five speaker wires is not connected. Maybe it's a center tap ?


Here's the chassis. The tuning cap turns freely, but someone pencilled in some call letters on the dial


Here's the underside. It appears to be more original than I had expected.
There's a coupling transformer inside each of those copper boxes.


One section of this bulging Ariston Lab. cap isn't connected. I suspect it was a replacement for the big old can capacitor.


Cool Aerovox cap label.


I wonder if these Sprague "midget" caps are original ? I don't think the wax caps are.


Here's the speaker. The surround is just an extension of the cone. I wonder it it's been reconed ?
The cone moves well with no scraping.

[Reece]

I'd say the Spragues are original. The only "modern" thing I see is the Motorola cap. Cloth wiring looks great, old B-E-D resistors are colorful (but may have drifted off into space?) and the xfrmr isn't drippy. I like it.

That's a zero to one-hundred dial which they soon got away from in the early thirties. It was not uncommon for people to write stations on the dial. I turned down (regrets!) a 1930 Edison console (for thirty bucks!) a few years ago. That set was designed to light up a portion of the dial where the owner could write in call letters. One of the stations written in was famous flagship WEAF, ancient of days. Maybe keep your scribbled stations, history of the chassis.

[leadlike]

Lots of those log dials will have pencil markings on them-I think that is something that can only add value to a set. The 1 mike cap is cool, too-I typically find those in 20s battery sets. Those cardboard box lytics always test as junk whenever I find them-were they a budget item for repairmen?

[Buzzsaaw]

Hi Banderson,

Great pics! Do you suppose those Airovox and ariston caps are re packable? I've been totally amazed at some of the Ecaps you've repacked in the past. And they sure look great and a lot better than just sticking the new caps in the area.

Simmer them over a low heat; add 1 cup cheese and BBQ for 1 hour on high!...

Buzz

[bandersen]

Originally Posted by Buzzsaaw

Hi Banderson,

Great pics! Do you suppose those Airovox and ariston caps are re packable? I've been totally amazed at some of the Ecaps you've repacked in the past. And they sure look great and a lot better than just sticking the new caps in the area.

Simmer them over a low heat; add 1 cup cheese and BBQ for 1 hour on high!...

Buzz

LOL Sure, I figure they can be unmounted and opened up for restuffing. I think the Ariston may be from an old repair though. I'm not sure if I'll leave it in there.

[bandersen]

Whoever designed this set didn't give much though to repairs. I found a big multi-section box cap wedged tight under the tuner cap.

The only way to get it out is to remove at least one of the tuning cap mounts. To get at those, I'd need to open up one if the copper box shields and unmount a coil. Way too much work and too great a chance for damaging something. So, I'll just disconnect it and mount new caps under the chassis.



The paper box cap was definitely from an old repair. It was soldered directly across one side of the original 2/14 MFD can cap.


I love these color coded tube sockets

[Reece]

I just noticed it has a globe 45 and a globe 80. You could sell those and retire.

[jeyurkon]

I've never seen a paper box cap before. Thanks for the the closeup.